Distribution of population and its factors

Detail

What "distribution of population" means

• Distribution of population is the way people are spread over the land. It tells us where people live, not how many live on each square kilometre. That second idea is density.
• Density of population is the number of persons per square kilometre. India's density rose from 325 (Census 2001) to 382 (Census 2011) persons per sq km. That is 57 more people on every square kilometre in ten years [3].
• India's distribution is studied from the Census. The Census counts all persons in the country at one fixed point in time.

The Census as the data source: 1872 to 2027

Milestone	Fact
First modern count	Done between 1865 and 1872, but not at the same time in all regions [2]
First synchronous census (held at the same time all over the country)	1881 [2]
Census 2011	7th census since Independence. Population 1,210,193,422 on 1 March 2011 (provisional). The final total was 1,210.57 million: 833.46 million rural and 377.11 million urban [3][4]
Census 2011 units	35 States/UTs, 640 districts, 5,961 sub-districts, 8,001 towns, 6,40,852 villages [3]
Census 2021	Not held on time because of the COVID-19 pandemic [2]
Census 2027	16th Indian census and 8th since Independence. First digital census, with an option of self-enumeration (households fill in their own details online). It also includes caste enumeration [2]

• Census 2027 has two phases [2]:
• Phase I, Houselisting and Housing Census: April–September 2026.
• Phase II, Population Enumeration: February 2027.
• Reference date ("Census Moment"): 00:00 hours, 1 March 2027.

• For Ladakh and the snow-bound areas of J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the reference date is 1 October 2026.

• Census is a Union subject: entry 69 of the Union List in the Seventh Schedule. It runs under the Census Act, 1948 and the Census Rules, 1990 [2].

• Until Census 2027 data comes out, the Census 2011 figures below remain the official base.

India in the world

• India has 2.4% of the world's surface area but 17.5% of the world's population (Census 2011) [3].
• The USA has 7.2% of the area but only 4.5% of the population [3].
• So the land in India is under heavy pressure from its people.

A highly uneven pattern (Fig. 1.1, Census 2011)

• Uttar Pradesh has the most people, followed by Maharashtra, Bihar and West Bengal.
• UP has almost 200 million people, more than Brazil, the 5th most populous country. UP and Maharashtra together have 312 million people, much more than the USA, the 3rd most populous country (Census 2011) [3].
• 20 States/UTs had more than 10 million people each. 5 States/UTs had fewer than 1 million each (Census 2011) [3].

Top ten states by share of India's population (Census 2011)

Rank	State	Share of India's population
1	Uttar Pradesh	16.50%
2	Maharashtra	9.28%
3	Bihar	8.60%
4	West Bengal	7.54%
5	Andhra Pradesh (undivided)	6.99%
6	Madhya Pradesh	6.00%
7	Tamil Nadu	5.96%
8	Rajasthan	5.66%
9	Karnataka	5.05%
10	Gujarat	4.99%
	Total of these ten	about 76%

• Some large states hold tiny shares: Jammu and Kashmir 1.04%, Uttarakhand 0.84% and Arunachal Pradesh 0.11% (Census 2011). All three are mountain states.
• Andhra Pradesh was undivided in 2011. Telangana was carved out of it in 2014. Use the 2011 figure for "Census 2011" questions.

NCERT activity: size versus population (Appendix i, Census 2011)

Compare each state's share of India's area with its share of India's population:

Category	States	Why
Large size, large population	Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra	Large fertile plains (Ganga plain) or strong industry and cities (Mumbai–Pune)
Large size, small population	Rajasthan (largest state by area, but its population is small compared with that area), Arunachal Pradesh (density only 17 persons/sq km, the lowest of any state) [3]	Desert in the west (Rajasthan); steep, forested Himalayan slopes (Arunachal)
Small size, large population	Kerala, Bihar, West Bengal	Fertile alluvial plains, deltas and coasts with plenty of rain

• Densities among the major states, from provisional Census 2011 totals: Bihar 1,102, West Bengal 1,029 and Kerala 859 persons/sq km [3].
• The highest densities of all are in the city-UTs: NCT of Delhi 11,297 and Chandigarh 9,252 persons/sq km (provisional Census 2011) [3].

Factors of population distribution

Factors of population distribution are the natural and human conditions that pull people to an area or keep them away. India's variation in density comes from differences in climate, geo-physical features (the shape of the land) and resources [3].

1. Physical factors: climate, terrain and water

These factors decide most of the pattern.

Crowded regions

• North Indian Plains (Indus–Ganga–Brahmaputra plains):
• The land is flat and the alluvial soil is deep.
• Rivers fed by Himalayan snow flow all year, and the monsoon brings rain.
• So farming is easy, and villages, roads and towns can be built easily.

• This explains the dense population of UP, Bihar and West Bengal.

• Deltas such as the Ganga–Brahmaputra, Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri deltas:

• Fresh silt is laid down every year, and water is plentiful.

• This allows intensive rice farming that supports many people.

• Coastal plains such as the Kerala (Malabar) and Coromandel coasts:

• They have high rainfall and a mild climate.
• Fishing, ports and trade also support many people.

Sparse regions

Region	Main limiting factor
Himalayas (J&K, Ladakh, Himachal, Uttarakhand, Arunachal)	Very cold, steep slopes, thin soils, short farming season
Parts of the North-East	Rugged hills and dense forest, poor transport
The west (Thar Desert, western Rajasthan)	Very hot and dry, with little and uncertain rain
Interior south and central uplands (Deccan interior, central highlands)	Rugged plateau, thin soils, low rain in rain-shadow areas (areas on the side of a mountain away from the wind, which get little rain)

• Exercise 2(i) asks about climate. Climate alone keeps the very hot-dry (Thar) and very cold-wet (high Himalaya, parts of the North-East) regions thinly peopled.

2. Human intervention changes the physical pattern

Human action has raised densities in places that once had very few people.

• Irrigation: Indira Gandhi Canal (Rajasthan)
• The canal was earlier called the Rajasthan Canal. It starts at the Harike Barrage, where the Sutlej and Beas meet in Punjab. It runs about 640 km south-west into the Thar Desert, and the main canal was finished in 1987 [5].

• Canal water reaches dry land → farming becomes possible → villages are set up → the density of western Rajasthan goes up.

• Minerals and energy: Jharkhand

• The Chota Nagpur Plateau has coal, iron ore and other minerals.
• Mines, power plants and steel plants grew up there, and they need many workers.

• Mining and industrial towns grew in a hilly, forested plateau.

• Transport: the Peninsular states

• Roads and railways link the interior plateau with ports and markets.
• Better links → trade and industry grow → more people move in.

3. Socio-economic and historical factors

• Early settled agriculture means farming in fixed villages instead of moving from place to place. Together with agricultural development, it let river plains feed large populations for thousands of years.
• Pattern of human settlement: areas settled early kept their people over many generations.
• Transport networks grew first in the plains and along the coasts. This kept these areas attractive.
• Industrialisation and urbanisation (urbanisation means the growth of towns and cities) pull people into cities.

Why river plains and coasts stay crowded even with degraded land and water

• People settled there very early.
• Villages, towns, markets and transport networks were built up over a long time.
• So people stay there even after the soil wears out and the water gets polluted. Moving away costs too much.

Cities as magnets

• Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Pune, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Jaipur keep growing.
• Industry and services create jobs.
• Rural people move to the cities for these jobs. This is rural-urban migration.
• So these urban areas have very high densities: for example, NCT of Delhi had 11,297 persons/sq km (provisional Census 2011) [3].

Link to world scale

• The same three groups of factors work across the world: geographical (water, landforms, climate, soils), economic (minerals, urbanisation, industry) and social and cultural. Examples are the crowded Nile valley, the deltas of East and South Asia and the empty Sahara. See world-population.

Prelims Hooks

• Most populous states, Census 2011: UP > Maharashtra > Bihar > West Bengal. UP's share was 16.50%.
• The ten most populous states together held about 76% of India's population (Census 2011).
• Shares of large hill states (Census 2011): J&K 1.04% > Uttarakhand 0.84% > Arunachal 0.11%.
• Arunachal Pradesh had the lowest state density: 17 persons/sq km (Census 2011) [3].
• Major-state density order (provisional Census 2011): Bihar (1,102) > West Bengal (1,029) > Kerala (859) [3]. India's density was 382 [3].
• Trap: Rajasthan is the largest state by area but not by population. Kerala is small in area but has a large population.
• India has 2.4% of world area and 17.5% of world population (Census 2011) [3].
• Indira Gandhi Canal starts at the Harike Barrage, where the Sutlej and Beas meet in Punjab [5].
• First synchronous census: 1881. Census 2027 is the 16th census overall and the 8th since Independence. Its reference date is 1 March 2027, or 1 October 2026 for snow-bound areas [2].

Mains Points

• Physical factors set the base pattern; human factors change it. Climate, terrain and water crowd people into the Ganga plain, the deltas and the coasts. Irrigation (Indira Gandhi Canal), minerals (Jharkhand) and transport (Peninsular states) have raised densities in once thin areas. Use this for "Is physical geography still the main factor behind population distribution?"
• History keeps people in place. Early settled farming and old transport networks keep the plains and coasts crowded even where land and water are degraded. This puts heavy pressure on groundwater, soils and rivers in UP, Bihar and West Bengal (GS-I, GS-III environment).
• Rural-urban migration into Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and other cities creates very high urban densities (NCT Delhi 11,297/sq km, provisional Census 2011) [3]. The results are slums, traffic jams and strain on services. Policy answers include balanced regional development and smart and satellite towns.
• Census 2027 is digital, uses geo-referenced blocks and includes caste data [2]. It will give updated maps of distribution for planning. Until it is published, policy still relies on Census 2011 figures.