INTRODUCTION

The first question in population sociology of a country is: what is the size of population in that country and at what rate is it changing? As suggested by demographic transition theory the world population remained more or less constant for a long time due to high fertility and high mortality. Then as mortality started improving, the population size started growing. Eventually, population once again gets stabilized when fertility has fallen (largely in response to economic development and improvement in mortality). Indian population history is no exception to this. This module looks at the growth potential of India 's population.

POPULATION IN ANCIENT INDIA

The first population census was conducted in 1872 and that too was not synchronous. The first synchronous and nearly complete census was conducted in 1881. We do not have very precise estimates for India 's past. Yet, there are some scholarly estimates which are consistent with the theoretical framework of demographic transition theory. Table 6.1 presents the estimates of population of ancient India .