The Demographic Structure of the Indian

society.
⭐️Demography—
Meaning:
The systematic study of the population of a country, area, community, etc. The term is
of Greek origin and is composed of two words, demos (people) and graphene
(describe).
• There are two types of demography—
1. Formal Demography: statistical analysis of population i.e., total population, number
of males, number of females, number of youth, working population, rural-urban
(quantitative data)
2. Social Demography: birth rate, death rate and migration in a particular society.
• Consists of four processes.
(i) Demographic Structure: number of people in an area,
(ii) Demographic Processes: birth rate, death rate, migration,
(iii) Social structure: composition of an area,
(iv) Social processes: Processes by which individuals learn to live together in peace and
harmony, e.g., cooperation, accommodation, mediation, etc.
Difference between
• Formal demography is to do with statistics, numbers, and aggregates. The memorial
quantification of data.
• Social demography concurs with changes or the consequences of a society's
population and how it affects us.
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⭐️The Malthusian Theories of Population Growth

• Malthusian Theory was propounded by Thomas Robert Malthus.
• According to him two important things matter.
(i) Population – People
(ii) Means of substance – land (agriculture)
• According to him population can grow uncontrollably. It grows in ‘geometric
progression’ (2, 4, 8,16, 32, 64 …). It is fast.
• Land gives a limited return. It grows in arithmetic progression (2,4,6,8,10 ). It is slow.
As a result, there is an imbalance in society.
• Population is growing uncontrollably, and land is not able to sustain the large
population which leads to poverty, hunger, saturation etc.
• Malthus came up with 2 solutions.
— Positive check: Natural disasters cause many people to die and the population is
naturally controlled. If one doesn’t take care of themselves nature will take care of them
e.g. earthquakes, and tsunamis.
— Preventive check: Man-made e.g. late marriage, celibacy, contraceptives etc.
–Criticism of Malthusian Theory
• According to sociologists, poverty, hunger etc is not due to less agricultural growth but
due to unequal economic resources.
• Agricultural production is not limited due to the advancement of science and
technology.
• Along with population growth, there is an increase in the standard of living. This is
because of science and technology.
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⭐️Theory of Demographic Transition

• Population is moving from underdeveloped to developed countries.
There are three stages—
1. Primitive Stage-underdeveloped countries (Africa).
2. Second Stage-developing countries (India, Pakistan) stage of transition —> countries
are moving from underdeveloped to developed.
3. Third Stage-Developed countries (USA, UK).
-Underdeveloped Countries (stage 1)
• Birth rate is high since people are unaware of the advantages of having small families,
and they are not educated.
• Death rate is also high since health and medical facilities are not available. Therefore
population is low.
-Developing Countries (stage 2)
• Birth rate is high as we live in a patriarchal society where men decide how many
children – must be born and a male child is preferred.
• Illiteracy and people are ignorant.
• Death rate is also low since health and medical facilities are available. Therefore
population is high and results in a population explosion.
• Demographic Dividend when the working population increases more than the
non-working population.
-Developed Countries (stage 3)
• Birth rate is low, people are educated and aware and use contraceptives, and birth
control is popularized.
• Death rate is also low because of the availability of health and medical facilities.
Therefore population is low.
–Population Explosion: When the birth rate of a country is high and the death rate is low
because of the availability of health and medical facilities.
Therefore population is exploding, and increasing.
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Size and Growth of India’s Population

• Today the population of India is very high but it has not always been high. Growth has
been up and down.
Causes:
(a) Epidemics
(b) Natural Disasters/Famine
• Epidemics: Disease which is widespread and affects lakhs of people in a large area.
For example, during the World War there spread the Spanish influenza. It affects the
throat and cavity and you choke and die. It is believed to have killed more people than
any war.
• It spreads very fast and is contagious because:
(i) Sanitation conditions were very bad.
(ii) Medical facilities were low.
(iii) Soldiers moved from place to place and spread it,
(iv) Chemical explosion/fumes in the air.
• They are less common now because
(a) Better medical facilities.
(b) There are vaccinations.
(c) Sanitary conditions have been improved.
(d) Awareness of people have increased.
• In India we still have some epidemics like swine flu, chickenguniya, plague, malaria etc.
• Famine: There is scarcity of food, shortage of food supply and production.
It is of two types
1. Natural: excessive rainfall, no rainfall, drought.
2. Manmade: excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers, lack of transport and
communication facilities, distribution of grain by government is not sufficient and proper
preventive method should be taken.
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NREGA-National Rural Employment Guarantee Act: Takes care to see that everyone is
employed so that if there is a famine they can move somewhere else and buy food.
Total Fertility Rate
– When the birth rate is high and death rate is low it results in population explosion.
– In a country birth rate is still high because of:
(i) Mindset of people
(ii) Desire for male child
(iii) Patrilineal society
Replacement Level
• Kerala and Tamil Nadu: Zero/stabilised level due to literacy.
• Uttar Pradesh: Very high replacement level (4:1); it can be good increase in youth
population.
Low Fertility Rate
• Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,
Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh (Mostly northern states due to desire for male child).
Age Structure of Indian Population
• 0-15 years – Youth Population
• 15-64 years – Working Population
• Above 64 years – Old/Retired Population

🌟Demographic Dividend: Working population is higher than the non-working

population.
• Kerala: Good age structure —> increase in working population, the literacy rate is very
high, so they are educated about economic growth.
• Uttar Pradesh: Increase in working population because of large working youth
population, decreasing aged population.
• Demographic Dividend can be maintained by better education, awareness etc.
Advantage-current working population is large and it has a relatively small aged
population to support.

The Declining Sex Ratio in India

• Number of females per thousand males of a population.
• Child sex ratio-Number of girls per thousand boys.
• Sex ratio has always been a concern in India.
-Reasons for declining sex ratio:
(i) Mindset of the people
(ii) Neglect of girl child
(iii) Female foeticide/infanticide
(iv) Maternal mortality rates-women die during child birth.
• The child sex ratio is still very scary as there is a drastic fall.
• Prosperous states such as Punjab and Haryana have maximum female infanticide and
down with burning because
— Dowry is very high and parents want to save money.
— People want only 2 or 3 boys, therefore when they get a girl, they kill it and have a boy.
• Sonography: to know the sex of the child.
• The Pre Natal Diagnostic Technique Act/Regulation and Prevention of Misuse Act
which came up in 1996 and was later enforced in 2003.
• This does not allow the sex of the child to be known
Literacy = Kerala has the maximum literacy rate whereas Rajasthan and Northern states
have low literacy rate.

Rural-Urban Differences
• There is migration from rural areas to urban areas as there are better job opportunities
etc.
• 68.8% of our population still lives in rural areas.
• Though agriculture is the main activity in rural areas, there are many non agricultural
activities, such as post office, teaching, small businesses, transport and
communication.
• Reasons for migration from rural to urban areas:
— Mass media is responsible for making the rural area aware of the urban area and one
of the causes of migration from rural to urban.
— Many resources of the rural areas is being taken away. Such as rivers drying up, land
due to construction is making them move to urban areas.
— In urban areas there is anonymity and no one cares about caste etc.
— People who are not educated can pick up any job they like in urban areas.
• Metropolis: City with infrastructure and the suburbs are different.
• Megapolis: City with infrastructure and the suburbs are included, for example, NCR.

Population Policy of India

• In 1952 the National Family Planning Programme (NFPP) was introduced.
• It tried to influence the rate and pattern of population in socially desirable direction.
• Its objectives were:
— Population should be controlled and awareness should be spread in a way which is
socially desirable.
— Control the birth/reduce birth rate through birth control methods.
• During emergency by Indira Gandhi (1975-76)
— All fundamental rights are taken away.
— Press was censored.
— Anybody could be put in jail without a trial.
— Mass sterilization programme was introduced by Sanjay Gandhi, the younger son of
the then prime minister of India Mrs. Indira Gandhi to control population.
— All government teachers, doctors were under a lot of stress due to the mass
sterilization camp.
— It was renewed as National Family Welfare Programme (NFWP).
— In this people could only be sterilized if the people agree to do it and their signature
was needed.
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