"Big India"

And to think in Australia we're worried about cracking 36 million population by 2050. India - a smaller (yes, more fertile) land mass, has just hit the 1.2 billion figure.


As reported in today's The Hindu:

India’s population is now pegged at 1.21 billion, an increase of more than 181 million in the last 10 years, according to the provisional 2011 Census report released on Thursday. 

The population comprising 623.7 million males and 586.5 million females is almost equal to the combined population of the United States, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Japan put together.

The population has increased by more than 181 million during the decade 2001-2011, the report said. The growth rate in 2011 is 17.64 per cent in comparison to 21.15 per cent in 2001.

The 2001-2011 period is the first decade — with exception of 1911-1921 — which has actually added lesser population compared to the previous decade, Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner of India C. Chandramauli said in the presence of Home Secretary G. K. Pillai.

Among the states and Union territories, Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state with 199 million people and Lakshadweep the least populated at 64,429. The combined population of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra is bigger than that of the U.S. The highest population density is in Delhi’s northeast dstrict (37,346 per sq km) while the lowest is in Dibang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh (just one per sq km). 

Child sex ratio in 2011 is 914 female against 1,000 male — the lowest since Independence. 

According to the data, literates constitute 74 per cent of the total population aged seven and above and illiterates form 26 per cent. The literacy rate has gone up from 64.83 per cent in 2001 to 74.04 per cent in 2011 showing an increase of 9.21 per cent.

These figures just blow my mind!