Key Statistics on Population

India has a tradition of conducting a census every decade for the last century.
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                            1991                1981-91
                        _____________             CARG
                        (mln)     (%)             (%)
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   Population

      Total              846      100            2.14

      Male               439       52            2.15
      Female             407       48            2.09

      Urban              217       26            3.14
      Rural              629       74            1.80
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The absolute addition to the population in the decade of 1981-91 was 163 million. This is almost equal to the population added during the three decades of 1931-41, 1941-51 and 1951-61. The annual average exponential growth rate in population has come down from 2.22% during 1971-81 to 2.14% during 1981-91.

The rural areas are not devoid of purchasing power. On the contrary, a whole host of consumer nondurables, and (increasingly) durables, are purchased by rural families.

A major part of the population is relatively young as seen from the age structure.

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Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, Bombay
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Last updated: August 1995.