The Demographic Structure Of The Indian Society

Population growth is linked to over all levels of economic development and every society follows a typical pattern of development related to population growth.

If the society is under developed or technological backward the pace of population growth will be slow and low because per capita earning capacity of such unskilled society will remain minimum. People from search society will be engaged in manual work, they will be suffering from malnutrition, so the death rate will be higher as compared to people from society of educated and skilled people.

In developed society death and birth rate being low the difference between them is very small so the growth rate is always low.

The stage between backwardness and skilled people is called transitional stage in which growth rate of population is very high whereas death rates are brought down through various methods.

Society behaviour takes time to adjust with new situation of relative prosperity and longer life span, so population explosion takes place during transition period.

There are basically three stages of population growth

Primitive stage (Under developed Society) - In this stage society is underdeveloped and technological backward the population growth rate is low and death rate is very high due to lack of health and medical facilities; Therefore, the population growth is low.

Stage 2 (developing countries) - In developing countries the birth rate and death rate are very high so the net growth of population remains low. Birth rates are high because people are illiterate and ignorant and death rate is high due to lack of medical and health facilities.

Stage 3 (developed countries) - Here the birth rate is low as well as the death rate is low, so the population growth is also low. Birth rate is low because people are educated, and death rate is low because of availability of health and medical facilities.

Transitional stage - It is the stage between backward and advanced society. In this stage growth rate of population is very high whereas death rates are brought down due to better medical facilities and other advancement therefore this period or stage is associated with a population explosion.

Malthus believed that population growth is always faster than the growth in agricultural production as well as the production of other resources. So, the population growth overtakes the growth in other resources. Therefore, the only way to increase for prosperity is controlling population growth.

The human beings have limited ability to voluntarily reduce the population growth, so he believed that the positive checks to population growth in form of famines and diseases are the nature's way to deal with the imbalance between food supply and increasing population.

Birth rate means the number of live births per thousand persons in a year, it is different from actual number of birth.

Death rate means the number of deaths per thousand persons in a year, it is different from actual number of deaths.

The birth rate falls slowly than death rate because controlling the birth rate is a socio-cultural phenomenon which is slow to change whereas the death rate can be controlled by public health measures and medical advancements.

In India the following states have reached or are very near to replacement levels of population growth –

• Kerala

• Tamilnadu

• Tripura Manipur

• Nagaland

• Jammu and Kashmir

• Punjab and

• Goa

The states having very high rates of population growth are –

• Uttar Pradesh

• Bihar

• Rajasthan

• Madhya Pradesh

Replacement level means giving birth to two children who will replace the couple that are husband and wife. In Kerala the total fertility rate is even below replacement level that is 1.8 children for couple.

The reason for Regional differences in population growth are given below –

a) Socio cultural formation and literacy are different in each state of India. There are people who still emphasize in reproducing more children so that they might jump in the row of majority and secure more political interest in democracy.

b) Prejudices and stereotypes are also responsible for regional differences in population growth.

c) Lack of understanding national interest and giving preference to individual interest over national interest

d) Lack of sensitivity and intelligence

e) Variations in landforms 

India has a very young population. Average age of an Indian is less than that of most other countries. Majority of Indians are between the age group of 15 - 64 years.

Age structure of the population refers to the proportion of persons in different age groups relative to the total population.

Age structure in a country changes due to the development of medical facilities or prevalence of disease that reduce the life expectancy.

The following table represents the age structure of Indian population.

The relevance of age structure of population in economic development and growth summarised below –

a) Due to the advancement in Medical Sciences, public health measures and nutrition the life expectancy has raised. This is due to economic development and growth.

b) Need of family planning is being understood. Decrease in 0 to 14 years age group reveals that National Population Policy is being properly implemented.

c) Because of socio cultural changes and economic growth in India the age structure of population is moving towards positive young India.

d) Dependency ratio is decreasing and working population is increasing which causes positive growth in economy.

e) Economic development and improvement in quality of life improves life expectancy and changes the population structure. 

The number of females per thousand males in a given area and at a specified time is called sex ratio. It is an important indicator of gender balance in the population. In India parents still prefer to have son rather than a daughter and it is clearly evident from day today media reports. This is due to social and cultural the reasons.

Indian states like Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh, and Maharashtra have the lowest sex ratio.

The most probable reasons for preference of male child over female child maybe the following

1) Religion and cultural beliefs that a son is entitled to perform funeral and obeisance of his parents. In absence of son this right goes to next male heir but never to their daughters.

2) Ignorant parents assume that daughters have to leave their home after marriage and even their caste is changed on the day of marriage. However, sons live with them and share common food, house, customs and rituals. So they hope that son will look after them in old age.

3) People in Indian society having ignorant conservation attitude are still not ready to give equal status to daughter because they think that during old age they will be dependent on the son.

4) The main occupation of Indian society is agriculture. Villagers have a thinking that landed property cannot be given to girls because after marriage they will go to another village, town or city. Neither girl child can get her share of load nor can she take care of the land.