Demographics of India

2017: Population Structure of India

According to the 2011 census, India's population was 1,210,854,977 (1.2 billion). For 2018, the population was estimated at 1,352,617,330. The Indian state of Uttar Pradesh alone , with its over 200 million inhabitants, would be the sixth most populous country in the world and the most populous subnational entity . In India, around 18% of the world population lives on only 2% of the world’s land area. A relatively young average age is characteristic of India's population structure. The median age of the population is estimated to be 28.4 years in 2020. This is a consequence of India's long-term high fertility rates . However, due to better access to contraceptives , targeted measures by the government to control births and the modernization of society, this is on the decline. The total fertility rate per woman was 2.2 children in 2017 and is thus approaching the average of the industrialized countries , although there are strong differences between individual regions and social groups in the country. In 1960 the number of children was 5.9 per woman. At the same time, child mortality among under 5s in India fell from over 27% shortly after the country gained independence in 1950 to 3.9% in 2015 and is estimated to be 3.4% in 2020. Due to the great demographic dynamics in the past, the population development shows a growth momentum despite the falling fertility rate, which is caused by the high proportion of young people of childbearing age. It is therefore expected that India will replace the People's Republic of China as the most populous country in the world by 2022 , with a population of over 1.4 billion. The United Nations' mean population forecast assumes a population of 1.6 billion for India in 2050. In the second half of the 21st century , it is assumed that the dynamics of the population will flatten out and that the population will decline.

As a country of continental proportions, India has a very wide variety of ethnic groups, languages, cultures, customs and religions that surpass that of any other independent land-based state. The country does not form a homogeneous unit and is therefore more comparable to the continents of Africa or Europe than to the People's Republic of China, with which India is often compared. India has hundreds of ethnic groups and every major religion is represented, as well as four major language families ( Indo-European , Dravidian , Austro-Asian, and Tibeto-Burmese ) as well as isolated languages ​​and a variety of regional dialects. 23 languages ​​are officially recognized in India, of which English and Hindi are most likely to have a national meaning. Further complexity arises from the large differences between the population groups in terms of social parameters such as income and education. The social situation has improved for large parts of the population in today's India thanks to modernization and economic growth, which is also reflected in demographic indicators such as increasing life expectancy and falling child mortality. At the same time, India remains the country with the highest number of poor people and the country with the largest number of malnourished people.

A population census is carried out in India every 10 years. The last census was in 2011 and the next one is scheduled for 2021.

Historical development

Due to its fertile soils and advanced civilization, India and South Asia made up a significant proportion of the world's population in all of human history . The Indus culture is considered the oldest civilization on the subcontinent and is also one of the oldest advanced civilizations . It developed around the years 2800–1800 BC. Along the Indus in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent (predominantly today's Pakistan). Although there are no verifiable population estimates, it has left the remains of large cities. A change in the population structure occurred with the arrival of the Indo-Aryans on the subcontinent around 1500 BC. BC, which heralded the beginning of the Vedic period . During this time, the caste system was introduced, which still shapes India's society today. To what extent this is also based on ethnic criteria for the separation of Indo-Aryans and the original population is controversial. In today's population there are therefore two dominant lineages: ANI (historical North Indian) and ASI (historical South Indian). While genes of the historical North Indians occur predominantly in higher castes and among speakers of Indo-European languages, the genes of the historical South Indians are mainly distributed in South India and among speakers of Dravidian languages. While the genes of the ANI are related to peoples in Europe, the Caucasus and the Middle East , those of the ASI occur almost exclusively in South Asia.

Most estimates assume a steady increase in the population of the Indian subcontinent from the arrival of the Indo-Aryans up to the year 0. At the beginning of the first millennium, the average population was around 60 million. After that, there was a slowdown in growth. In the early Middle Ages to 1000 AD, the population was largely stagnant. Population growth then increased in the late Middle Ages (during the Delhi Sultanate ) between 1000 and 1500. India experienced a rapid population expansion during the Mughal Empire (16th to 19th centuries) due to agrarian reforms that intensified agricultural production and proto-industrialization . In addition to the economic boom, the country also experienced increasing urbanization and around 15% of the population lived in cities in the 19th century, which was a higher value than in Western Europe at that time. For 1820 a population of around 200 million is assumed on the Indian subcontinent.

During the British rule (from 1857) and even before that under the influence of the British East India Company , the proportion of the population that lived in cities stagnated. Population growth was relatively low due to high mortality and poor living conditions. India fell significantly behind compared to the world regions, which experienced their industrialization during this time . During the British rule, there were repeated severe famines. At the beginning of the 20th century , population growth slowly began to accelerate thanks to better living conditions. The population was 293.6 million in 1901 and rose to 389.0 million by 1941. Average life expectancy in 1925 was estimated to be 27.6 years.

India gained independence in 1947. The subcontinent was divided into two states , the secular (Hindu) state of India and the smaller Islamic state of Pakistan . A separation was made on the basis of religious criteria with no historical precursors. When the two states were created, there was a population exchange between the two states, in which the Hindu population of Pakistan fled to India and parts of the Muslim population emigrated to Pakistan. The first census in what is now India in 1951 showed a population of 361 million. After independence, there was a real population explosion in India. The reasons are the government's efforts to ensure better health care for the population, while at the same time cultural attitudes about the traditional extended family changed only slowly. Population growth sparked widespread famine and overpopulation concerns. Thanks to the Green Revolution from the 1960s, however, the supply situation for the population could be improved and the population continued to grow. In 2000 the population of India finally passed the one billion mark. However, with urbanization and better education for women, relative population growth began to decline.

Population estimates up to 1820

The table below provides estimates for the population of India (including what is now Pakistan and Bangladesh) through 1820.

year	Maddison (2001)		Clark (1967)		Biraben (1979)		Durand (1974)		McEvedy (1978)		Average
	population	Growth per century	population	Growth per century	population	Growth per century	population	Growth per century	population	Growth per century	population	Growth per century
10000 BC Chr.	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	100,000	-	100,000	-
4000 BC Chr.	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1,000,000	3.9%	1,000,000	3.9%
2000 BC Chr.	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	6,000,000	9.4%	6,000,000	9.4%
500 BC Chr.	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	25,000,000	10%	25,000,000	10%
400 BC Chr.	-	-	-	-	30,000,000	-	-	-	26,600,000	6.3%	28,300,000	13.2%
200 BC Chr.	-	-	-	-	55,000,000	35.4%	-	-	30,000,000	6.3%	42,500,000	22.5%
1	75,000,000	-	70,000,000	-	46,000,000	-9.3%	75,000,000	-	34,000,000	6.5%	60,000,000	18.8%
200	75,000,000	0%	72,500,000	1.7%	45,000,000	-1.1%	75,000,000	0%	39,000,000	7.1%	61,300,000	1.1%
400	75,000,000	0%	75,000,000	1.7%	32,000,000	-18.6%	75,000,000	0%	45,000,000	7.4%	60,400,000	-0.7%
500	75,000,000	0%	75,000,000	0%	33,000,000	3.1%	75,000,000	0%	48,000,000	6.5%	61,200,000	1.3%
600	75,000,000	0%	75,000,000	0%	37,000,000	12.1%	75,000,000	0%	51,000,000	6.5%	62,600,000	2.3%
700	75,000,000	0%	75,000,000	0%	50,000,000	35.1%	75,000,000	0%	56,500,000	10.3%	66,300,000	5.9%
800	75,000,000	0%	75,000,000	0%	43,000,000	-16.3%	75,000,000	0%	62,000,000	10.3%	66,000,000	-0.5%
900	75,000,000	0%	72,500,000	-3.5%	38,000,000	-13.2%	75,000,000	0%	69,500,000	11.4%	66,000,000	0%
1000	75,000,000	0%	70,000,000	-3.5%	40,000,000	5.3%	75,000,000	0%	77,000,000	11.4%	67,400,000	2.1%
1100	81,000,000	8th %	72,500,000	3.5%	51,000,000	27.5%	81,300,000	8.4%	80,000,000	3.9%	73,200,000	8.6%
1200	87,500,000	8th %	75,000,000	3.5%	65,100,000	27.5%	88,200,000	8.4%	83,000,000	3.8%	79,800,000	9%
1300	94,500,000	8th %	75,000,000	0%	83,000,000	27.5%	95,700,000	8.4%	88,000,000	6%	87,200,000	9.3%
1400	102,000,000	8th %	77,000,000	3.3%	88,800,000	7%	103,700,000	8.4%	94,000,000	6.8%	92,900,000	7%
1500	110,000,000	8th %	79,000,000	3.3%	95,000,000	7%	112,500,000	8.4%	100,000,000	6.4%	99,300,000	7%
1600	135,000,000	22.8%	100,000,000	26.6%	145,000,000	52.6%	135,800,000	20.7%	130,000,000	30%	129,200,000	30.1%
1650	150,000,000	22.2%	150,000,000	125%	160,000,000	20.7%	149,100,000	20.7%	145,000,000	24.4%	150,800,000	36.2%
1700	165,000,000	22.2%	200,000,000	77.8%	175,000,000	20.7%	163,900,000	20.7%	160,000,000	21.8%	172,800,000	31.3%
1750	182,100,000	21.8%	200,000,000	0%	182,700,000	9%	180,000,000	20.7%	170,000,000	12.9%	183,000,000	12.1%
1800	200,900,000	21.8%	190,000,000	-10.8%	190,700,000	9%	-	-	185,000,000	18.4%	190,400,000	8th %
1820	209,000,000	21.8%	190,000,000	0%	194,000,000	9%	-	-	200,000,000	47.7%	198,300,000	22%

Modern censuses from 1871 to 2011

The following census results apply from 1871 to 1891 for British India and from 1901 for today's Republic of India within its current borders.

Census year	population	Growth (%)
1871	238,831,000	-
1881	253,896,000	6.3
1891	287,223,000	13.1
1901	238.396.327	-
1911	252.093.390	5.8
1921	251.321.213	−0.3
1931	278.977.238	11.0
1941	318.660.580	14.2
1951	361.088.090	13.3
1961	439.234.771	21.5
1971	548.159.652	24.8
1981	683.329.097	24.7
1991	846.421.039	23.9
2001	1,028,737,436	21.5
2011	1,210,854,977	17.7

Demographic indicators

Births and deaths

2011: Fertility Rate in India by District

Typically for developing and many emerging countries, the number of births clearly exceeds the number of deaths. This is mainly due to the low average age of the population and a fertility that is still slightly above the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman. Almost every fifth child worldwide is born in India and India is the country with the world's highest natural birth surplus. India is also the country with the largest number of children and young people globally, which represents a considerable challenge for the educational and social system. Child mortality has been significantly reduced over time. Nevertheless, an estimated 6.2 million children under the age of 5 died between 2015 and 2020.

period	Number of births	Number of births per 1000 people	Number of deaths	Number of deaths per 1,000 people	Fertility per woman	Child mortality per 1000 births
1950-1955	85,614,000	43.6	51,953,000	26.4	5.90	271
1955-1960	91,482,000	42.5	50,661,000	23.6	5.90	250
1960-1965	98,225,000	41.4	49,564,000	20.9	5.89	232
1965-1970	104,822,000	39.8	48,413,000	18.4	5.72	218
1970-1975	113,184,000	38.4	47,377,000	16.1	5.41	202
1975-1980	121,169,000	36.7	46,431,000	14.0	4.97	178
1980-1985	131,823,000	35.5	46,995,000	12.7	4.68	153
1985-1990	136,793,000	33.0	47,921,000	11.6	4.27	134
1990-1995	137,918,000	30.0	46,721,000	10.2	3.83	116
1995-2000	139,249,000	27.6	45,914,000	9.1	3.48	99
2000-2005	139,071,000	25.2	46,147,000	8.4	3.14	81
2005-2010	135,812,000	22.8	46,484,000	7.8	2.80	65
2010-2015	124,420,000	19.6	46,199,000	7.3	2.40	49
2015-2020	121,189,000	18.0	48,673,000	7.2	2.24	36

Ethnic groups and languages

→ Main articles : Languages ​​of India  and Indian Scripture Circle

The language families of India

Dominant language in India

Ethnic boundaries and identities in India are complex and can be intertwined. According to the CIA World Fact Book , 72% of the population belong to the Indo-Aryan people, which make up the majority population and fall into various ethno-linguistic groups such as u. a. Divide Hindustani , Punjabi , Bengal or Marathas and settle the north and center of the country. The Dravids make up 25% of the population and speak Dravidian languages . You include u. a. the Tamils , Telugu and Malayali . The Dravids settle in southern India and have their own cultural identity. The regional party Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam even called for an independent Dravida Nadu state . Almost 3% of the population belong to the other groups, including many peoples in northeast India , who are related to the Southeast Asian peoples and the population of Ladakh , which is close to the Tibetans . Another minority are the Anglo-Indians , who emerged from connections between British colonial officials and local women. Almost 9% of the population belong to the tribal population, also called Adivasi . Castes do not represent ethnic groups, but the casteless and under-cast population is recorded in censuses. The disadvantaged Scheduled Castes made up 16.6% of the total population in 2011. Even today, Indian society often differentiates between categories such as language, ethnicity, religion, caste or skin color.

In India there are several hundred mother tongues, including major dialects even more than a thousand, which belong to different language families and some of which also have their own writing systems . SIL International lists 415 languages ​​in India. 24 of these languages ​​are spoken by more than a million native speakers and 114 by more than 10,000 native speakers. Some of the languages ​​listed are critically endangered. 23 languages ​​are officially recognized, of which English and Hindi are the national languages. Other recognized languages ​​are Asamiya , Bengali , Bodo , Dogri , Gujarati , Kannada , Kashmiri , Konkani , Maithili , Malayalam , Marathi , Meitei , Nepali , Oriya , Panjabi , Santali , Sanskrit , Sindhi , Tamil , Telugu and Urdu . The borders of the 28 states of India are drawn according to linguistic criteria and multilingualism is the rule. Hindi, which bears no resemblance to the South Indian languages, provokes resistance as the official language, especially in South India. Therefore, English, which was introduced by the British colonial rulers in India, often serves as a bridge language between people from different regions. Despite the strong presence of English as a language of education, only just under 10% of the population have a command of the language.

Most spoken languages ​​in India (2011 census)

language	Language family	First speaker		Second language speaker	Third language speaker	General speaker
		number	% of the population			All in all	% of the population
Hindi	Indo-European	528.347.193	43.63%	139.207.180	24.160.696	691.347.193	57.09%
English	Indo-European	259,678	0.02%	83.125.221	45.993.066	129.259.678	10.67%
Bengali	Indo-European	97.237.669	8.03%	9,037,222	1,008,088	107.237.669	8.85%
Marathi	Indo-European	83.026.680	6.86%	12,923,626	2,966,019	99.026.680	8.18%
Telugu	Dravidian	81.127.740	6.70%	11,946,414	1,001,498	94.127.740	7.77%
Tamil	Dravidian	69,026,881	5.70%	6,992,253	956.335	77,026,881	6.36%
Urdu	Indo-European	50,772,631	4.19%	11,055,287	1,096,428	62,772,631	5.18%
Gujarati	Indo-European	55,492,554	4.58%	4,035,489	1,007,912	60,492,554	4.99%
Kannada	Dravidian	43,706,512	3.61%	14,076,355	993.989	58,706,512	4.84%
Oriya	Indo-European	37,521,324	3.10%	4,972,151	31,525	42,551,324	3.51%
Punjabi	Indo-European	33.124.726	2.74%	2,300,000	720,000	36,074,726	2.97%
Malayalam	Dravidian	34,838,819	2.88%	499.188	195,885	35,538,819	2.93%

religion

See also : Christianity in India , Islam in India, and Judaism in India

2011 Largest religion in India by district

Hindus

Muslims

Christians

Sikhs

Buddhists

Other

India is the birthplace of several important spiritual and religious traditions. Religions that arose in India are Hinduism , Buddhism , Jainism, and Sikhism . The Christianity in India probably came shortly after Christ's death in India and the country has some of the oldest Christian communities in the world. The Islam spread through Arab traders and various empires, which long dominated large parts of the Indian subcontinent. According to the 2011 census, the religions are distributed as follows: 79.8% Hindus, 14.2% Muslims , 2.3% Christians , 1.7% Sikhs, 0.7% Buddhists, 0.4% Jains and 0.7% % others (for example traditional Adivasi religions, Baha'i or Parsees ). A total of 0.2% of Indians indicated no religious affiliation in the census or indicated that they were not a religion. A large part of the Hindu population of the world thus lives in India. Hindus form a majority in almost all parts of the country with the exception of Jammu and Kashmir where Muslims and parts of the northeast where Christians form the majority. Most of the world's Muslims also live on the Indian subcontinent. About a third of all Muslims come from South Asia. By 2050, India's Muslim population is expected to grow to 311 million, surpassing Indonesia to become the world's largest Muslim population, although India will retain a Hindu majority (of around 77%). The Christian population of around 30 million is concentrated in South India (Kerala) and the Northeast. A large part of the Sikhs live in the state of Punjab . Buddhism, which was once the dominant religion, now has only a small following scattered across the country.

There are significant differences between religious groups in the socio-economic situation. Muslims have the lowest literacy rate among religious groups, while Jainas have the highest. The gender balance is particularly imbalance among Hindus and Sikhs, suggesting the abortion or killing of female infants.

Share of the population of different religious groups 1951 to 2011

group	Share 1951	Share in 1961	Share 1971	Share 1981	Share in 1991	Share 2001	Share 2011
Hinduism	84.10%	83.45%	82.73%	82.30%	81.53%	80.46%	79.80%
Islam	9.80%	10.69%	11.21%	11.75%	12.61%	13.43%	14.23%
Christianity	2.30%	2.44%	2.60%	2.44%	2.32%	2.34%	2.30%
Sikhism	1.79%	1.79%	1.89%	1.92%	1.94%	1.87%	1.72%
Buddhism	0.74%	0.74%	0.70%	0.70%	0.77%	0.77%	0.70%
Jainism	0.46%	0.46%	0.48%	0.47%	0.40%	0.41%	0.37%
Zoroastrianism	0.13%	0.09%	0.09%	0.09%	0.08%	0.06%	not counted
other or no religion	0.43%	0.43%	0.41%	0.42%	0.44%	0.72%	0.90%

Population distribution

Population density of the Indian states

In 2018, the country's population density was 455 people per square kilometer of land area. The population density is thus well above the global average and that of almost all European countries including the Netherlands . India's high population density is historically made possible by its fertile soils. In 2016, 52.6% of the country's area was arable land , which is one of the highest values ​​in the world. However, the population density varies considerably from region to region. It is mainly concentrated in fertile areas such as the Ganges plain , West Bengal and Kerala , while the Himalayas , the mountainous regions of the northeast and drier regions in Rajasthan and the Deccan have only a low population density. The Thar Desert of Rajasthan is still the most densely populated desert in the world.

Indian states and union territories according to their population per square kilometer. The data are results of the 2011 census.

rank	State	Area in km²	population	Inhabitants per km²
-	Delhi	1,483	16,787,941	11,320 inhabitants / km²
-	Chandigarh	114	1,055,450	9,258 inhabitants / km²
-	Pondicherry	492	1,244,464	2,547 inhabitants / km²
-	Lakshadweep	32	64,429	2.149 inhabitants / km²
1	Bihar	94.165	103,804,637	1,106 inhabitants / km²
2	West Bengal	88,752	91,347,736	1,028 inhabitants / km²
-	Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu	603	585.764	971 inhabitants / km²
3	Kerala	38,863	33,387,677	860 inhabitants / km²
4th	Uttar Pradesh	240.928	199.812.341	829 inhabitants / km²
5	Haryana	44,212	25,353,081	573 inhabitants / km²
6th	Tamil Nadu	130.058	72.138.958	555 inhabitants / km²
7th	Punjab	50,362	27,704,236	551 inhabitants / km²
8th	Jharkhand	79.714	32,988,134	414 inhabitants / km²
9	Assam	78,438	31.169.272	398 inhabitants / km²
10	Goa	3,702	1,457,723	394 inhabitants / km²
11	Maharashtra	307.713	112.372.972	365 inhabitants / km²
12	Tripura	10,486	3,671,032	350 inhabitants / km²
13	Karnataka	191.791	61.130.704	319 inhabitants / km²
14th	Andhra Pradesh	162,968	49.386.799	310 people / km²
14th	Telangana	112,077	35.286.757	310 people / km²
16	Gujarat	196.244	60,383,628	308 inhabitants / km²
17th	Odisha	155,707	41,947,358	270 inhabitants / km²
18th	Madhya Pradesh	308.352	72,597,565	236 inhabitants / km²
-	Jammu and Kashmir	42,241	12,258,433	207 inhabitants / km²
19th	Rajasthan	342,239	68,621,012	200 inhabitants / km²
20th	Chhattisgarh	135.191	25,540,196	189 inhabitants / km²
20th	Uttarakhand	53,483	10,116,752	189 inhabitants / km²
22nd	Meghalaya	22,429	2,964,007	132 people / km²
23	Himachal Pradesh	55,673	6,864,602	123 inhabitants / km²
24	Nagaland	16,579	1,980,602	119 inhabitants / km²
25th	Manipur	22,327	2,721,756	115 people / km²
26th	Sikkim	7.096	607,688	86 people / km²
27	Mizoram	21,081	1,091,014	52 inhabitants / km²
-	Andaman and Nicobar Islands	8,249	379,944	46 inhabitants / km²
28	Arunachal Pradesh	83,743	1,382,611	17 people / km²
-	Ladakh	59,146	274.289	5 people / km²
	India	3,287,263	1.210.193.422	382 inhabitants / km²

migration

emigration

See also : Non-resident Indian and Person of Indian Origin

Little India in Queens , New York City

In India, emigrants and their descendants are referred to as Non-resident Indian and Person of Indian Origin (NRI) . According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs , which only counts migrants overseas with India as the country of birth, Indians comprised the world's largest diaspora in 2019 with over 17.5 million (6.4% of global migrants or 0, 4% of the Indian population). This does not apply to people of Indian descent of the second or third generation living in other nations. Including people of Indian descent, the size of the diaspora is estimated to be around 31 million people in 2018. Emigration has a long history in India. The European Roma and Sinti are originally from India and immigrated to Europe from northwestern India about 1,500 years ago. During the British colonial era, after the abolition of slavery, the British settled Indians en masse as cheap labor in their colonies in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. The countries that today have a significant proportion of the population of Indian descent include Guyana , Suriname , Trinidad and Tobago , Mauritius , Fiji , Seychelles , South Africa , Sri Lanka , Malaysia and Singapore . After the country gained independence, Indians left their homeland to work in the United Kingdom , where they were needed as labor. In 2011 almost 1.5 million people of Indian descent lived here, which was 2.3% of the population. The Indian diaspora has spread the Hindu religion, subcontinent culture and cuisine all over the world. It also plays an important economic role in various African countries. In the 1970s, Uganda's dictator Idi Amin expelled the entire Indian population living there, as their strong economic position caused resentment among the local population. The deportation severely damaged Uganda's economy. Many people have recently migrated to the Arab Gulf States as labor migrants. Often they are also victims of exploitation there. In contrast, many highly qualified people emigrate to the United States , Canada , Great Britain, Australia or the European Union , which increases the shortage of specialists and doctors in the country. At the same time, their money transfers are often vital for the relatives living in their homeland.

Countries by number of NRIs (2018)

rank	country	number
1	United States	4,460,000
2	United Arab Emirates	3,104,586
3	Malaysia	2,987,950
4th	Saudi Arabia	2,814,568
5	Myanmar	2,008,991
6th	United Kingdom	1,825,000
7th	Sri Lanka	1,614,000
8th	South Africa	1,560,000
9	Canada	1,016,185
10	Kuwait	929.903
	total	30,995,729

immigration

As of 2017, there are around 5.2 million immigrants living in India. This means that India has the twelfth largest immigrant population in the world. The vast majority of Indian immigrants come from neighboring countries such as Bangladesh (3.1 million), Pakistan (1.1 million), Nepal (540,000) and Sri Lanka (150,000). The country experienced a significant wave of immigration during the partition of India , in the course of which a large part of the Hindus from Pakistan fled to India. Since then, India has been predominantly a country of emigration and only 0.4% of the population was born abroad in 2018, which is a comparatively low figure. In addition to regular migration, however, there is also said to have been significant illegal migration to India. It is estimated that up to 20 million illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh alone.

Life expectancy

2011–2016: Life Expectancy in India

Life expectancy was under 30 years of age for most of the British Indian period and only began to increase noticeably from the 1920s. When the country became independent, it was around 35 years. Since then, average life expectancy has almost doubled and was 69.1 years between 2013 and 2017. Life expectancy for women was 70.4 years and for men 67.8 years. Better medical care, rising incomes and better living conditions since the country's independence were responsible for the increase in life expectancy. Life expectancy can vary greatly from region to region. In the relatively highly developed state of Kerala, for example, it was 74.9 years from 2010 to 2014 and 64.2 years in poor Madhya Pradesh . One anomaly in India was that for a long time girls had a shorter life expectancy than boys, which was almost unique in the world. In the meantime, however, girls have overtaken boys in terms of life expectancy. However, the gap between the sexes is still unusually small, which could be a result of gender discrimination.

Life expectancy from 1881 to 1950

Years	1881	1891	1901	1905	1911	1915	1921	1925	1931	1935	1941	1950
Life expectancy in India	25.4	24.3	23.5	24.0	23.2	24.0	24.9	27.6	29.3	31.0	32.6	35.4

Life expectancy since 1950

Period	Life expectancy in years	Period	Life expectancy in years
1950-1955	36.6	1985-1990	56.7
1955-1960	39.7	1990-1995	59.2
1960-1965	42.7	1995-2000	61.6
1965-1970	46.0	2000-2005	63.5
1970-1975	49.4	2005-2010	65.5
1975-1980	52.5	2010-2015	67.8
1980-1985	54.9	2015-2020	69.3

urbanization

Urbanization in India began to accelerate after independence as the country introduced a mixed economy from which the development of the private sector emerged. Urbanization is happening relatively quickly in India. According to the 1901 census, the population living in urban areas was 11.4%. That number rose to 28.53% after the 2001 census and to 31.16% after the 2011 census. In 2017, the number rose to 34%, according to the World Bank . With that, over 460 million people live in Indian cities, which is the second largest urban population behind the People's Republic of China. By 2030, the rate could rise up to 40%. As a result of this rapid growth, many cities in India are facing enormous challenges. Problems are overpopulation, traffic chaos, environmental pollution, slum formation and social conflicts which can be of a religious or ethnic nature and which are fueled by the change in the population composition in the cities.

Several megacities have emerged in India due to urban growth . In total there are over 60 agglomerations with more than one million inhabitants. The two largest agglomerations by population in 2010 were Delhi (30.2 million) and Mumbai (20.4 million). According to forecasts, Delhi will replace Tokyo as the world's largest metropolitan area by 2030 . The following table shows the development of the population of the 10 largest urban agglomerations (in thousands of people) in India according to estimates by the UN:

Rank 2020	Agglomeration	Population 1950	Population 1970	Population 1990	Population 2000	Population 2010	Population 2020
1	Delhi	1,369	3,351	9,384	15,692	21,988	30.291
2	Mumbai	3,089	6,413	12,355	16,147	18,257	20,411
3	Calcutta	4,604	7,329	10,974	13.097	14.003	14,850
4th	Bangalore (Bengaluru)	746	1,615	4.043	5,581	8,296	12,327
5	Chennai	1,491	3,044	5,332	6,593	8,506	10,971
6th	Hyderabad	1,096	1,748	4.193	5,650	7,531	10,004
7th	Ahmedabad	855	1,695	3,547	4,815	6,250	8,059
8th	Surat	234	477	1,466	2,706	4,445	7.185
9	Pune	581	1.105	2,430	3,667	4,960	6,629
10	Jaipur	294	616	1,478	2,258	2,996	3,909

Gender ratio

2011: Gender Distribution in India

India has an unbalanced gender ratio , which is characterized by a large surplus of men. According to the 2011 census, there were only 943 women for every 1,000 men. In the case of children, there were only 919 girls for every 1,000 boys, which means that the rate has worsened since the 2001 census, when it was 927. Overall, the male surplus was 63 million, which is seen as a reason for increased sexual violence. The censuses under British rule already showed a constant surplus of men. It was widespread to kill girls after giving birth to avoid paying a bride price later , and because there was a strong cultural preference for boys. Girls are now often aborted before birth, although the government has now banned the use of ultrasound machines to determine the sex of a child during pregnancy. A ban that is, however, only insufficiently enforced.

The gender ratio shows that this is particularly unbalanced in the northern states of India and there especially among conservative Hindus and Sikhs. The states with the worst ratios were Haryana (879 to 100), Punjab (895), and Uttar Pradesh (912). In parts of East and South India, however, the situation was less dramatic. The only state with a surplus of women was Kerala in the south.

Social situation

India has managed to lift a significant percentage of its population out of poverty thanks to rapid economic growth, but many are still living in it. The multidimensional poverty index almost halved between 2005/2006 and 2015/2016 and fell from 54.7% to 27.5%. A total of 271 million people have escaped poverty. According to a 2011 survey, 21.2% of the population live on less than $ 1.90 per day in purchasing power parity (extreme poverty). Over 60% had a daily income of less than $ 3.20 per day. At the end of 2019, the proportion of people living in extreme poverty was estimated to be less than 3%, which shows progress. Yet the proportion of people in relative poverty remains high and social misery is widespread. The government of India guarantees a social safety net as well as education and health care, which, however, suffer from chronic underfunding. There are state hospitals and health stations all over the country, but these are often not equipped with medical equipment or staff. Since only 1% of the population pays taxes, many social benefits cannot be financed. In 2018, public health expenditure was only 1.58% of economic output.

The country has made great strides in primary education and now over 90% of children are enrolled in school. However, the British-style education system is also suffering from underfunding. Although the country has the largest number of school children in the world, public spending on education in 2013 was 3.8% of economic output, below the global average. Most Indian schools are of an extremely low standard and British magazine The Economist describes India's educational system as "one of the worst in the world". It suffers from too large classes, poor technical equipment, outdated teaching methods and the frequent absence of teachers. The two states of Haryana and Tamil Nadu, which are considered to be the leaders in the Indian comparison, took part in the international school comparison PISA in 2012 and came second to last.

According to a UN report, 194.4 million people were malnourished in India in 2019, 14.5% of India's population. 51.4% of women of childbearing age between 15 and 49 years are anemic . Furthermore, according to the report, 37.9% of children under five in India are too young for their age. Here, too, progress has been made: in 2005, malnutrition was over 22% of the population and the country is now producing food surpluses. The reason for the widespread malnutrition among children is not only a lack of food, but also poor hygienic conditions. As a result, the country's population is among those with the smallest average size. Until recently, a large part of the population had no access to toilets. A government program called Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (German: Clean India) from 2014 has now improved the situation.

Other social problems in India are unemployment or underemployment, homelessness, high social inequality, environmental pollution, illiteracy and slum building in cities. Most people are very vulnerable to fluctuations in the macroeconomic situation. Most of the more than 450 million workers in India work in the informal sector in agriculture or as day laborers. Most of them have no social security , pension rights or adequate occupational safety. Over 90% of the population have assets of less than $ 10,000, which is why illness or an accident can often threaten their very existence. In addition, up to 50% of the working population is outside the labor market and the labor force participation of women is low.

In terms of social development, there are large regional differences between the regions of India and between urban and rural regions. The areas in the extreme south of the country ( Kerala and Tamil Nadu ), in the extreme north ( Delhi , Haryana , Himachal Pradesh ) and the industrial center of Maharashtra are considered to be particularly developed in terms of literacy and income . In contrast, the BIMARU states ( Bihar , Madhya Pradesh , Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh ) and the geographically isolated north-east of India are considered backward .

Literacy

2011: Literacy in India

Shortly after the country gained independence, less than a fifth of the population could read and write. It then rose continuously as a result of increasing primary education and literacy programs. The state of Kerala achieved particularly great success. Finally, by the 2011 census, literacy had risen to over 74%. For adolescents between the ages of 15 and 24, it was 91.7% in 2018. There remains a literacy gap between men and women as girls in villages often have no schooling. There are similar gaps in literacy between rural and urban populations.

The following list shows the India-wide development of literacy from 1951 to 2011. In 1901 5.1% of the population were able to read and write, a percentage that rose to 16.1% by 1941.

year	Literacy (total)	Literacy (men)	Literacy (women)
1951	18.33%	21.16%	8.86%
1961	28.30%	40.40%	15.35%
1971	34.45%	45.96%	21.97%
1981	43.57%	56.38%	29.76%
1991	52.21%	64.13%	39.29%
2001	64.83%	75.26%	53.67%
2011	74.04%	82.14%	65.46%

Individual evidence

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