Introduction:

India has 2.4% of the world’s land area with about 17.78% of the world’s population; every 6th person on the Earth is an Indian. India is a country having the first highest population in the world with the population of 1044 billion. At the current rate of growth the populations of India will double every 30 years. The present rate of growth of population per annum is very high and needs to check by the positive efforts with the advent of planning, There where extension of medical facilities and there was a short decline in death rate. Bu there was a short fall of birth rate as a result there was a population explosion in India. The demographic features if Indian economy are.

Features of demography:

i. Size and growth rate of population: In India, we have vast natural resources. at the same time the population of the country is also growing at a rapid rate. On the background with the help of the following test of overpopulation we can test and verify whether India is over populated or not.

1. The population in India is growing at a very rapid rate that is at 1.93% per annum
2. this rapid growth is eating away the fruits of economic development
3. Growing population is creating lot of problems like poverty, unemployment, food problem, housing problem etc.
4. Due to rapidly growing population pressure on agriculture is mounting. there is reckless destruction of forest and there is a problem of ecological imbalance
5. The per capita income in India is extremely low and the people are suffering from grinding poverty.
6. There is a great pressure on land, housing, transport, health etc.

India’s population registered the average annual exponential growth at 1.97% during 1991-2001. Increase of population during the decade of 2001-2011 is 17.64%, while it is 21.54%  during the decade of 1999 2001. Bihar has recorded maximum increase in population growth whereas Kerala registered the lowest growth.

India’s population was the order of 121.2 crores as on March 2011. Among them females are lesser than males’ population. Uttar Pradesh is to be the most populated with the 16.49 percentage of the country’s population followed by Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh.

ii. Density of population: The density of population refers to the average number of persons per square kilometer. The figure of the density is arrived at by dividing the total population of a country by its area; it refers to the land man ratio. With the increase in population the density of population has more than double since independence. The density of population in 2011 is 1382 persons, where as it was 117 in 1951. The density of population is not uniform all over India. it differ from state to state. as per the census of 2011, Bihar state happens to the most densely populated state with 1102 persons living per square kilometer, followed by west Bengal with 1029 persons.  In international sphere, India is a country with the medium density of a population that can be supported in any country depends upon the availability of natural resources and extent of use of technology to exploit the resources. India’s density of population is 488 people per square kilometer as of 2024.

iii. Age composition: The age composition of the population helps us to find out the dependency ratio in the population of a country. It is expressed in terms of the young population and the old population to the active working population of the country. The working population consists of the people in the age group of 15 to 60. This is also called work force of the country. The age structure of India is described as bottom heavy age pyramid which means that the  population of non working age that is 0-14 and above 60 years age group is very high 46% of the non working population is dependent on the earning of 54% of the working population.

iv. Sex composition of population: The number of females per 1000 males is called sex composition or ratio. It is generally adverse to women in India. It has also decline over the years except in 1981 when it’s slightly improved. The sex ratio was 927 in 1991.  In 2011 it is 940. In India the state of Kerala has a number of female then males 1084 females for thousand males. A sex ratio of 950 and above can be considered favorable to females in India. But now India’s sex ratio in 2023 is 1,020 females per 1000 males. The sex ratio at birth has improved accordingly.

v. Rural urban composition: The rural urban composition of India’s population reflects on the pattern of living of the country’s population. as a matter of fact the ratio of rural urban population of a country is an index of the level of industrialization of that country. As the industries gets momentum, ratio of urban population goes increasing. As India is predominantly agricultural country, ratio of urban population is less as compared to rural population among the various states of Indian union; Tamil Nadu is the most urbanized state with 43.9% of the population living in the urban areas. The share of urban population in India in total population is more than 30% in the state like Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Mizoram. The ratio is less than 20% in the state like Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa and Meghalaya etc.

also read: explain the features of Indian economy.