Population

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• Summary

The population is defined as the total number of people who reside in a particular locality at a particular point of time.

The people are important to develop the economy and society.

Primarily concerned with three major questions about the population:

1. Population size and distribution: How many people are there and where are they located?
2. Population growth and processes of population change: How has the population grown and changed through time?
3. Characteristics or qualities of the population: What are their age, sex composition, literacy levels, occupational structure and health conditions?

1. India is one of the most densely populated countries of the world.
2. Population density is calculated as the number of persons per unit area.
3. The population density of India in the year 2001 was 324 persons per sq km.
4. Densities vary from 904 persons per sq km in West Bengal to only 13 persons per sq km in Arunachal Pradesh.
5. Assam and most of the Peninsular states have moderate population densities.
6. Hilly, dissected and rocky nature of the terrain, moderate to low rainfall, shallow and less fertile soils have influenced population densities in these areas.
7. The Northern Plains and Kerala in the south have high to very high population densities because of the flat plains with fertile soils and abundant rainfall.

1. According to the census of 2001, India has the population of 1028 million (102 crores 8 lakh)
2. They are unevenly distributed over the vast area of 3.28 million sq. km.
3. The most populous state with 166 million people in U.P.
4. A least populous state is Sikkim with 0.5 million and Lakshadweep has only 60,000 population.
5. About half of India’s population lives just in 5 states. They are Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal and Andra Pradesh.