India's population growth rate has declined in the
last decade.
Population Growth in India
Population growth in India during the twentieth century can be
chartered and classified into four distinct phases as follows:
- 1901 - 1921: Stagnant population
- 1921 - 1951: Steady growth
- 1951 - 1981: Rapid high growth
- 1981 - 2001: High growth with definite slowing down
The story of population growth in India is fairly in
tune with the classical theory of demographic transition. During most of
the nineteenth century, India witnessed a fluctuating but ultimately
more or less a stagnant growth of population, which drifted into the
twentieth century until 1921. Thereafter, India passed through
successively all the phases of demographic transition and is now widely
believed to have entered the fifth phase, usually characterized by
rapidly declining fertility.
In absolute terms, the population of India increased by a whopping
180.6 million during the decade 1991 - 2001. Although the net addition
in population during each decade has increased consistently, the change
in net addition has shown a steady declining trend over the decades
starting from 1961. While 27.9 million more people were added between
the decade 1981 - 1991 than between 1971 - 1981, this number decline to
17.6 million for the decades between 1981 - 1991 and 1991 - 2001. This
implies that although India continues to grow in size, its pace of net
addition is on the decrease.
The percentage decadal growth during 1991 - 2001 has registered the
sharpest decline since independence. It has declined from 23.86% for
1981 - 1991 to 21.34 percent for the period 1991 - 2001, a decrease of
2.52%. The average exponential growth rate for the corresponding period
declined from 2.14% per annum to 1.93% per annum.
