Census 2011 of India

15th Census Of India

Country

India

Date Taken

1 March, 2011

Total Population

1,210,854,977

Percent Change

17.7%

Most Populous State

Uttar Pradesh(199,812,341)

Least Populous State

Sikkim(610,577)

The 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population
enumeration. House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved collection of
information about all buildings. Information for National Population Register was also
collected in the first phase, which will be used to issue a 12-digit unique identification
number to all registered Indians by Unique Identification Authority of India . The second
population enumeration phase was conducted between 9 and 28 February 2011.
Census has been conducted in India since 1872 and 2011 marks the first time biometric
information was collected. According to the provisional reports released on 31 March
2011, the Indian population increased to 121 crore with a decadal growth of 17.64%.
Adult literacy rate increased to 74.04% with a decadal growth of 9.21%. The motto of
census 2011 was 'Our Census, Our future'.
Spread across 29 states and 7 union territories, the census covered 640 districts, 5,767
tehsils, 7,933 towns and more than 6 lakh villages. A total of 27 lakh officials visited
households in 7,933 towns and 6 lakh villages, classifying the population according to
gender, religion, education and occupation. The cost of the exercise was approximately
2,200 crore (US$330 million) this comes to less than $0.50 per person, well below
the estimated world average of $4.60 per person. Conducted every 10 years, this
census faced big challenges considering India's vast area and diversity of cultures and
opposition from the manpower involved.
Information on castes was included in the census following demands from several ruling
coalition leaders including Lalu Prasad Yadav, Sharad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav
supported by opposition parties Bharatiya Janata Party, Akali Dal, Shiv Sena and Anna
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. Information on caste was last collected during the British
Raj in 1931. During the early census, people often exaggerated their caste status to
garner social status and it is expected that people downgrade it now in the expectation
of gaining government benefits. Earlier, there was speculation of conduction castebased census in 2011, first time after 80 years since 1931, to find the exact population
of Other Backward Class (OBCs) in India, which was later accepted and SocioEconomic Caste Census 2011 was conducted whose first findings were revealed on 3
July 2015 by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Mandal Commission report of 1980
quoted OBC population at 52%, though National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO)
survey of 2006 quoted OBC population at 41%
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There is only one instance of a caste-count in post-independence India. It was
conducted in Kerala in 1968 by the Communist government under E M S
Namboodiripad to assess the social and economic backwardness of various lower
castes. The census was termed Socio-Economic Survey of 1968 and the results were
published in the Gazetteer of Kerala, 1971.

Census
C Chandramauli was the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India for the
2011 Indian Census. Census data was collected in 16 languages and the training
manual was prepared in 18 languages. In 2011, India and Bangladesh also conducted
their first-ever joint census of areas along their border. The census was conducted in
two phases. The first, the house-listing phase, began on 1 April 2010 and involved
collection of data about all the buildings and census houses. Information for the National
Population Register was also collected in the first phase. The second, the population
enumeration phase, was conducted from 9 28 February 2011 all over the country. The
eradication of epidemics, the availability of more effective medicines for the treatment of
various types of diseases and the improvement in the standard of living were the main
reasons for the high decadal growth of population in India.

Information
House Listings
The House-listing schedule contained 35 questions.
1. Building number.
2. Census house number.
3. Predominant material of floor, wall and roof of the census house.
4. Ascertain use of actual house.
5. Condition of the census house.
6. Household number.
7. Total number of persons in the household.
8. Name of the head of the household.
9. Sex of the head.
10.Caste status (SC or ST or others).
11.Ownership status of the house.
12.Number of dwelling rooms.
13.Number of married couple in the household .
14.Main source of drinking water.
15.Availability of drinking water source.
16.Main source of lighting.
17.Latrine within the premises.
18.Type of latrine facility.
19.Waste water outlet connection.
20.Bathing facility within the premises.
21.Availability of kitchen.
22.Fuel used for cooking.
23.Radio/Transistor.
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24.Television.
25.Computer/Laptop.
26.Telephone/Mobile phone.
27.Bicycle.
28.Scooter/Motor cycle/Moped.
29.Car/Jeep/Van.
30.Availing Banking services.

Population Enumeration
The Population enumeration schedule contained 30 questions.
1. Name of the person.
2. Relationship to head.
3. Sex.
4. Date of birth and age.
5. Current marital status.
6. Age at marriage.
7. Religion.
8. Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe.
9. Disability.
10.Mother tongue.
11.Other languages known.
12.Literacy status.
13.Status of attendance (Education).
14.Highest educational level attained.
15.Working any time during last year.
16.Category of economic activity.
17.Occupation Nature of industry.
18.Trade or service.
19.Class of worker.
20.Non economic activity.
21.Seeking or available for work.
22.Travel to place of work.
23.Birthplace.
24.Place of last residence.
25.Reason for migration.
26.Duration of stay in the place of migration.
27.Children surviving.
28.Children ever born.
29.Number of children born alive during last one year.
30.

National Population Register

1.
2.
3.
4.

The National Population Register household schedule contained 9 questions.

Name of the person and resident status.
Name of the person as should appear in the population register.
Relationship to head.
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5. Gender.
6. Date of birth.
7. Marital status.
8. Educational qualification.
9. Occupation/Activity.
10. Names of father, mother and spouse.
Once the information was collected and digitized, fingerprints were taken and photos
collected. Unique Identification Authority of India was to issue a 12-digit identification
number to all individuals and the first ID was to have been issued in 2011.

Census Report
Provisional data from the census was released on 31 March 2011 (and was updated on
20 May 2013).
Population

Total
Male
Female

1,210,854,977
62,37,24,248
58,64,69,174

Literacy

Total
Male
Female

74%
82.10%
65.50%

Density of Population

per km2

382

Sex Ratio

per 1000 males

943 females

Child Sex Ratio (06 Age Group)

per 1000 males

918 females

Decadal growth of
Indian population
(19012011).

Population
The population of India as

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per 2011 census was 1,210,193,422. India added 181.5 million to its population since
2001, slightly lower than the population of Brazil. India, with 2.4% of the world's surface
area, accounts for 17.5% of its population. Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state
with roughly 200 million people. A little over 5 out of 10 Indians live in the six states of
Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya
Pradesh. Of the 121 crore Indians, 83.3 crore (68.84%) live in rural areas while 37.7
crore stay in urban areas.
India is the homeland of major belief systems such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism
and Jainism, while also being home to several indigenous faiths and tribal religions
which have survived the influence of major religions for centuries.
Ever since its inception, the Census of India has been collecting and publishing
information about the religious affiliations as expressed by the people of India. In fact,
population census has the rare distinction of being the only instrument that collects this
diverse and important characteristic of the Indian population.

Religious demographics
Population trends for major religious groups in India (19512011)
The religious data on India Census 2011 was released by the Government of India on
25 August 2015. Hindus are 79.8% (966.3 million), while Muslims are 14.23% (172.2

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million) in India. For the first time, a "No religion" category was added in the 2011
census. 2.87 million were classified as people belonging to "No Religion" in India in the
2011 census. - 0.24% of India's population of 1.21 billion. Given below is the decade-bydecade religious composition of India till the 2011 census. There are six religions in
India that have been awarded "National Minority" status - Muslims, Christians, Sikhs,
Jains, Buddhists and Parsis. Sunnis, Shias, Bohras, Agakhanis and Ahmadiyyas were
identified as sects of Islam in India. As per 2011 census, six major faiths- Hindus,
Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains make up over 99.4% of Indias 121 crore
population, while other religions, persuasions (ORP) count is 82. Among the ORP
faiths, six faiths- 49.57 lakh-strong Sarna, 10.26 lakh-strong Gond, 5.06 lakh-strong
Sari, Doni Polo (3.02 lakh) in Arunachal Pradesh, Sanamahi (2.22 lakh) in Manipur,
Khasi (1.38 lakh) in Meghalaya dominate. Maharashtra is having the highest number of
atheists in the country with 9,652 such people, followed by Meghalaya (9,089) and
Kerala.

Literacy
Any one above age 7 who can read and write in any language with an ability to
understand was considered a literate. In censuses before 1991, children below the age
5 were treated as illiterates. The literacy rate taking the entire population into account is
termed as "crude literacy rate", and taking the population from age 7 and above into
account is termed as "effective literacy rate". Effective literacy rate increased to a total
of 74.04% with 82.14% of the males and 65.46% of the females being literate.

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The table lists the "crude literacy rate" in India from 1901 to 2011.

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