The population of a country is the total number of people residing in it at a specified period of time. India is the second most populous country in the world, next only to China. It covers only 2.4 percent of the world's land area but is home to about 17.5 percent of the world's population – a little more than one out of every six persons in the world. This chapter also covers India's transport, communication and trade.
1. Census and Distribution of Population
- A population census collects and analyses demographic, economic and social data of all persons; it happens at an interval of ten years.
- The first census in India was carried out in 1872; the first complete and synchronous census was in 1881. The 2011 census was the fifteenth.
- Distribution is uneven: people concentrate in industrial centres and good agricultural lands; high mountains, arid lands and thick forests are thinly populated.
- Factors: terrain, climate, soil, water bodies, mineral resources, industries, transport and urbanization.