REGIONAL DIVERSITY

Table 6.7 presents the SRS estimates of death rates, birth rates and natural growth rates for different states of India , separately for rural and urban areas, for the year 2008. It also presents the estimates of infant mortality rates for different states. Natural growth rate is simply the difference between birth and death rates. The table clearly demonstrates that there is a large variation in birth rate in different States of India. Variations in death rates are comparatively small. The table also shows that there are significant variations in birth and death rates by urban-rural residence. As a rule urban areas have lower birth rates as well as death rates. Yet, since the urban-rural difference in birth rates is larger than in death rates, urban areas show a lower rate of natural growth than rural areas. Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa have a high death rate. Normally the States which have a high death rate also have a high birth rate, but there are exceptions: Orissa has a low birth rate but high death rate; Bihar has high birth rate but relatively low death rate. Orissa has the highest value of infant mortality rate. One may say that differences in Indian States analogous to the differences in the world regions. Demographically, Kerala constitutes the Europe of India ; Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar constitute the Africa of India. There is a need to fight the spatial differences in demographics. The political unity of India will depend heavily on the extent to which we can curtail the demographic diversity between different States and Union Territories.