TABLE 6.1: ESTIMATES OF INDIA 'S POPULATION, 300 BC – 1871 AD
Date |
Population (in millions) |
Source |
300 BC |
100 -140 |
Pran Nath |
1600 AD |
100 |
Moreland |
1800 |
120 |
Playfair (adjusted) |
1834 |
130 |
M'Culloch |
1845 |
130 |
M'Culloch |
1855 |
175 |
Statistical Abstract of UK Possessions (adjusted) |
1867 |
194 |
Parliamentary Papers (adjusted) |
1871 |
255 |
Census |
|
Source: Davis (1951).
PHASES OF POPULATION GROWTH IN INDIA , 1901-2001
Table 6.2 presents census data on population of India from 1901 to 2001 (Census of India, 2001). The table shows that in 2001 the total population of the country was 1,028,737,436 or 1,028 millions. It was growing at an average annual rate of growth of 2.16 percent. Thus the doubling time of the population of India is nearly 32.4 years. This means that in the absence of any change in the growth rate the population of India may grow to 2,056 million by year 2033. But the rate of growth would not remain the same during 2001-2033. It has not remained the same during the last one hundred years.
The table also shows that in the last century population of India grew 4.3 times. The major part of the growth occurred in the last three decades. After independence in 1947, the population of India grew nearly three times by the year 2001. |
