Question

Discuss any four characteristics of India’s population in detail.

Answer 1

Instructions:
Explain about the characteristics of India’s population: Overpopulation, low work participation rate, bottom age-heavy structure, and predominance of rural population.

Solution:

1. Overpopulation
   • India is the second most populous country in the world. The growth rate of the population is 1.8% per annum, which is considered to be a high level of growth rate. Overpopulation tends to foster issues such as poverty, hunger and unemployment. It leads to a situation in which available resources decrease with the increasing population.
2. Low work participation rate
   • Work participation rate is the percentage of the working population to the total population. According to the 2011 census, India’s work participation rate is just 39.8%. It means that there is a high number of non-working population.
3. Bottom age-heavy structure
   • The age structure of India’s population is bottom heavy. It means that persons in age 0-14 are high in number. According to the 2011 census, children below age 14 composed 30.7 % of the population. This means that nearly 30% of the population is not contributing to economic activities and rather dependent on others to satisfy their needs.
4. Predominance of rural population
   • In India, most of the people are still living in rural areas. As per the 2011 census of India, 68.8% people live in the rural areas. It signifies a low and slower process of urbanisation.