At the time of independence in 1947, 12% of the population was literate. In 2001, it was 65%. It grew to 74% by 2011. However, the 2011 census shows that there is a wide disparity in literacy rates for men (82%) and women (65%).

It was pointed out earlier that those who are in the age group of 15-59 are working people. They might work throughtout the year or only for a part of the year. This depends on the availability of work. As discussed earlier, this does not cover the unpaid work of home makers (see Table 2).

The Census of India groups them into four categories. Cultivators are farmers, who farm or supervise the land that they own or take on rent. Agricultural labourers are those who work on another’s farm for wages in cash or kind. Workers in household industries would be those who are manufacturing or repairing some product at home such as dehusking of paddy, bidi workers, potters, weavers, repair of footwear, manufacture of toys, matches, etc. Other workers would be those who are employed in factories, trading, causal labour and all other occupations.

Population is dynamic. The numbers, distribution and composition of the population are always changing. This is because of the interaction of the three processes: (1) births, (2) deaths and (3) migrations.

Change in the size of a population is the difference in the number of inhabitants of a country/ territory during a specific period, say during the last ten years. Such a change can be expressed in two ways: (1) as absolute numbers or (2) as percentage change.

The absolute numbers added each decade is the magnitude of increase. It is obtained by simply subtracting the earlier population (e.g. that of 2001) from the later population (e.g. that of 2011). If the result is a positive number, the population has increased. If it is a negative number, the population has decreased by that number.

Population change (absolute numbers) = (population at later date) – (population at earlier date)