India is a country located in South Asia and is characterized by having the second largest population in the world, with 1.21 billion people. Some estimates indicate that, in absolute numbers, the number of inhabitants of this country will exceed that of China in 2035.
Thanks to the country’s religious culture – which values male births more than female births –, the Indian population is mostly made up of men. In proportion, there are 1.08 men for every woman. In the number of children, for every thousand boys, there are 914 girls, a smaller number than previously registered, which heralds the increase in abortions of female children in the country.
The average population growth rate in that country is currently at 1.3% per year, representing an increase of 17% of the population over the last ten years, which is equivalent to almost the entire Brazilian population. Despite this, there is a considerable drop in population growth compared to previous decades.
Nearly a third of India’s inhabitants live in rural areas. Despite this low rate of urbanization, the cities New Delhi and Mumbai have more than 20 million inhabitants each, characterizing them as typical metropolises of underdeveloped countries, with high unemployment rates, a large number of slums and irregular occupations, precarious housing , saturated traffic and poor living conditions for most of the population.
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Poor neighborhood in Bombay city
Among the main demographic problems, high mortality rates and high illiteracy rates stand out. For every 100 children born, about 60 die during birth; out of every 100 inhabitants, 43 cannot read. Despite these alarming numbers, it is important to note that such rates have been greatly reduced over the last few years.
An important characteristic of the Indian population is the caste system. Officially abolished by the government, as it was considered an offense to human rights, this segregationist division still remains rooted in the cultural system. According to this system, the population is divided into thousands of different castes, all of which are offshoots of four original castes: the brahmins (priests), the xatrias (rulers and warriors), the vaishás (traders) and sudras (farmers). In addition to these castes, there are also the untouchablesthose lowest on the Indian social scale, who do not enjoy the same privileges as the rest of the population.
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¹ Image credits: Radiokafka and Shutterstock
By Rodolfo Alves Pena
Graduated in Geography