Class 12 Sociology · Chapter 2 NotesThe Demographic Structure of the Indian Society

Demography comes from the Greek words demos (people) and graphein (describe), so it literally means the description of people. It studies changes in population size, patterns of births, deaths and migration, and the composition of the population by sex and age group. Formal demography is largely quantitative and uses mathematical methods to measure and forecast population change, while social demography or population studies asks about the wider social, economic and political causes and consequences of population trends. All demographic work rests on counting exercises such as the census or the survey. The chapter notes that sociology and demography grew together in eighteenth-century Europe, when nation-states needed regular social statistics, and that aggregate statistics like the death rate are social facts that must be explained socially, as Emile Durkheim showed in his study of suicide rates.

• Demographysystematic study of population — size, growth, composition, births, deaths and migration
• Formal demographyquantitative measurement and forecasting of population change
• Social demography or population studiessocial causes and consequences of population structures and change
• Censusthe systematic collection of data on people residing in a specified territory

Thomas Robert Malthus (1766–1834), an English political economist, set out a pessimistic theory in his Essay on Population (1798). He argued that population tends to grow in geometric progression (2, 4, 8, 16, 32 …) while the means of subsistence, especially food, can grow only in arithmetic progression (2, 4, 6, 8, 10 …). Since population growth always outstrips the growth of food supply, humanity is condemned to poverty unless population growth is controlled. Malthus thought voluntary 'preventive checks' such as postponing marriage, sexual abstinence or celibacy had only limited scope, so 'positive checks' like famines and diseases were inevitable — nature's way of restoring the balance. His theory was later refuted: European birth rates declined and epidemic diseases were controlled, and both food production and standards of living rose despite rapid population growth. Liberal and Marxist critics added that poverty and starvation are caused by the unequal distribution of economic resources, not by population growth itself.

• Population grows in geometric progression2, 4, 8, 16, 32 …
• Subsistence grows in arithmetic progression2, 4, 6, 8, 10 …
• Preventive checkspostponing marriage, sexual abstinence, celibacy
• Positive checksfamines and diseases that raise the death rate

The theory of demographic transition links population growth to levels of economic development and says every society passes through a typical pattern. In the first stage, an underdeveloped and technologically backward society has both a very high birth rate and a very high death rate, so net growth is low. The third and last stage is again one of low growth, but in a developed society where both birth rate and death rate have fallen considerably and the gap between them is small. Between these two lies a transitional stage of very high population growth. This 'population explosion' occurs because death rates fall quickly through better disease control, public health and nutrition, while it takes much longer for society to adjust its reproductive behaviour, which had evolved under conditions of poverty and high death rates. Western Europe made this transition in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In India the transition is not yet complete: mortality has fallen but the birth rate has not come down to the same extent.

• Stage 1high birth rate and high death rate, low growth
• Stage 2 (transitional)death rate falls fast, birth rate falls slowly, very high growth
• Stage 3low birth rate and low death rate, low growth
• Net growth rate = birth rate − death rate

Most demographic concepts are rates or ratios involving two numbers: the statistic for a particular area and a standard for comparison. The birth rate is the number of live births per 1000 population in a given area during a specified period, usually a year; the death rate is the number of deaths per 1000 population in the same way. The difference between them is the rate of natural increase or growth rate. When this difference is zero or very small, the population is said to have stabilised or reached replacement level, the rate of growth needed for new generations to replace older ones; some societies, such as Japan, Russia, Italy and Eastern Europe, have fertility below replacement level. The fertility rate is the number of live births per 1000 women in the child-bearing age group, usually 15 to 49 years, and is a crude rate because it ignores age differences. The infant mortality rate is the number of deaths of babies before one year of age per 1000 live births, and the maternal mortality rate is the number of women who die in childbirth per 1,00,000 live births. Life expectancy is the estimated number of years an average person is expected to survive. The sex ratio is the number of females per 1000 males. Age structure is the proportion of persons in different age groups, and the dependency ratio compares dependents (below 15 and above 64) with the working-age population (15–64), usually expressed as a percentage.

• Birth ratelive births per 1000 population per year
• Death ratedeaths per 1000 population per year
• Growth rate = birth rate − death rate
• Fertility ratelive births per 1000 women aged 15–49 years
• Infant mortality ratedeaths before age one per 1000 live births
• Maternal mortality ratedeaths in childbirth per 1,00,000 live births
• Sex rationumber of females per 1000 males
• Dependency ratio = population below 15 or above 64 ÷ population aged 15–64

India is the second most populous country in the world after China, with 121 crores (1.21 billion) people according to the Census of India 2011. Growth was modest between 1901 and 1951, when the average annual growth rate did not exceed 1.33%; between 1911 and 1921 there was even a negative rate of −0.03%, caused by the influenza epidemic of 1918–19, which killed about 12.5 million people, roughly 5% of the population. Growth accelerated after independence, reaching 2.2% during 1961–1981, and has since declined but remains high. Before 1931 both birth and death rates were high; after that transitional moment the death rate fell sharply while the birth rate fell only slightly. India has a very young population. The share of the under-15 age group fell from 42% in 1971 to 29% in 2011, the 15–59 group rose from 53% to 63%, and the 60+ group is small but rising. The bias towards younger age groups is believed to give India a 'demographic dividend', but this benefit is not automatic — it requires education, employment and planned development.

• Population of India, Census 2011121 crores (1.21 billion)
• Average annual growth rate 1961–19812.2%
• Negative growth of −0.03% in 1911–1921 due to the influenza epidemic
• Age composition 20110–14 years 29%, 15–59 years 63%, 60+ years 8%
• Demographic dividendbenefit from a large working-age population relative to dependents

The sex ratio is an important indicator of gender balance. Worldwide there are usually slightly more females than males — roughly 1050 females per 1000 males — because girl babies resist disease better in infancy and women tend to outlive men. India, however, has had a declining sex ratio for more than a century: from 972 females per 1000 males in 1901 to 933 in 2001, with a modest rise to 943 in 2011. More alarming is the child sex ratio for the 0–6 age group, which fell from 976 in 1961 to 919 in 2011. In 1991–2001 the overall sex ratio rose by 6 points while the child sex ratio plunged by 18 points, dropping below the overall ratio for the first time. Haryana has the lowest child sex ratio at 793, followed by Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Delhi, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. Since maternal mortality generally declines with development, social scientists look to the differential treatment of girl babies: severe neglect in infancy, sex-specific abortions and female infanticide. The lowest child sex ratios are found in some of the most prosperous regions, so the problem is not simply one of poverty or ignorance. The Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act has been in force since 1996 and was strengthened in 2003, and the Beti-Bachao, Beti-Padhao programme aims to improve the child sex ratio.

• Sex rationumber of females per 1000 males
• India's overall sex ratio972 (1901) → 927 (1991) → 943 (2011)
• Child sex ratio (0–6 years)976 (1961) → 945 (1991) → 919 (2011)
• Haryana had the lowest child sex ratio in 2011 at 793
• Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act, in force since 1996

Literacy is a prerequisite to education and an instrument of empowerment: it widens awareness of career options, supports participation in the knowledge economy and encourages health awareness. Literacy has improved considerably since independence, and almost two-thirds of the population is now literate, but progress has to keep pace with a still-rapidly growing population. Literacy varies by gender, region and social group. In 2011 the literacy rate was 73.0% overall, 80.9% for males and 64.6% for females, a male-female gap of 16.3 percentage points. Female literacy has been rising faster than male literacy, partly because it started from a low level. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have lower literacy rates, and female literacy within these groups is lower still; Kerala approaches universal literacy while Bihar lags far behind. Inequalities in literacy tend to reproduce inequality across generations. On rural-urban differences, the vast majority of Indians still live in villages: in 2011, 68.8% of the population was rural and 31.2% urban. The urban share has risen steadily from about 11% at the beginning of the twentieth century. Agriculture now contributes only about one-sixth of the gross domestic product, and rural people increasingly take up non-farm occupations or travel to nearby towns for work. Cities act as magnets for rural migrants, especially where common property resources like ponds, forests and grazing lands have declined, and the anonymity of city life can offer partial relief from caste-based humiliation in the village.

• Literacy rate 201173.0% overall, 80.9% male, 64.6% female
• Male-female gap in literacy narrowed from 18.3 points in 1951 to 16.3 points in 2011
• Rural population 201168.8%; urban population 2011: 31.2%
• Urban share rose from about 11% in 1901 to about 31% in 2011

India has had an official population policy for more than half a century and was perhaps the first country to announce one explicitly, in 1952. The policy took concrete form as the National Family Planning Programme, whose broad objective was to influence the rate and pattern of population growth in socially desirable directions. In its early days the emphasis was on slowing population growth through birth control methods, better public health standards and greater public awareness of population and health issues. The programme suffered a setback during the National Emergency of 1975–76, when a coercive mass sterilisation drive was carried out — sterilisation refers to procedures like vasectomy for men and tubectomy for women that prevent conception and childbirth. Poor and powerless people were forcibly sterilised and lower-level government officials were put under pressure to bring people to sterilisation camps. There was widespread popular opposition, and the government elected after the Emergency abandoned the programme. It was renamed the National Family Welfare Programme, coercive methods were dropped, and new guidelines were framed in the National Population Policy of 2000. In 2017 the government brought out the National Health Policy 2017, incorporating many socio-demographic goals with new targets. The lesson of this history is that while the state can create conditions for demographic change, fertility is ultimately a matter of economic, social and cultural change.

• India announced an official population policy in 1952
• National Family Planning Programmeinfluence the rate and pattern of population growth
• Emergency (1975–76)coercive mass sterilisation, later abandoned
• Renamed National Family Welfare Programme; National Population Policy 2000; National Health Policy 2017