Demography, Population and Censuses of UP

What the official syllabus says

UPPCS Main Examination, General Studies VI.

Demography, Population and Censuses of UP.

Topics in detail

UP is India's most populous state, so its demography is central to every other topic in this paper. The figures below are from Census 2011, the latest completed census; learn them together with the concepts, and add later survey data (such as the National Family Health Survey) for health and fertility.

Concepts of demography

• Size, growth, distribution, density and composition of population
• Birth rate, death rate, natural growth, fertility (total fertility rate), infant and maternal mortality
• Demographic transition and the stage UP has reached
• Age structure, dependency ratio and the demographic dividend
• Sex ratio, child sex ratio and sex ratio at birth
• Migration: in-migration, out-migration, rural-to-urban migration

Population of UP

• UP as the most populous state; its share of India's population compared with its share of area (about 7.3%)
• Growth of population in UP across census decades and the slowing of growth
• Density: high density across the Ganga plain, lower density in Bundelkhand and the Vindhyan south
• District extremes in Census 2011: Prayagraj (Allahabad) the most populous district and Mahoba the least; Ghaziabad the most densely populated
• Sex ratio by district: Jaunpur highest and Gautam Buddha Nagar lowest in Census 2011
• Literacy by district: Gautam Buddha Nagar highest and Shravasti lowest in Census 2011; the gender gap in literacy
• Rural and urban population; the low level of urbanisation and the growth of large cities
• Scheduled Castes (about one-fifth of the population) and Scheduled Tribes (a very small share; Sonbhadra has the largest number, and the Tharu live in the Terai districts)
• Religious and linguistic composition: Hindi as the main language, Urdu as the second official language
• Out-migration of workers from eastern UP to other states and abroad

Population policy and health

• Uttar Pradesh Population Policy 2021-2030: its aims (lower fertility, safe motherhood, better child survival, care of adolescents and the elderly)
• Family planning programmes and the unmet need for contraception
• Fertility trends in UP from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4 and NFHS-5)
• Infant mortality and maternal mortality in UP and the efforts to reduce them
• Malnutrition: stunting, wasting and anaemia
• Ageing population and the needs of the elderly

Censuses

• History of the census in India: the first synchronous census of 1881 and decennial censuses since
• The Census Act, 1948 and the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India
• Stages of a census: house-listing and housing census, then population enumeration
• Concepts used: household, urban area (statutory towns and census towns), main and marginal workers, literate
• Other population data: Sample Registration System (SRS), National Family Health Survey, civil registration of births and deaths
• Use of census data in planning, delimitation, reservation and finance

Overlaps

Population and associated issues for India, and settlements and urbanisation, are in General Studies I.