The female literacy rate has shown marked improvement in Uttar Pradesh (UP) over the last decade (2001-2011) as per the provisional Census data released here.
While in actual numbers, female literacy rate has increased by over 78 per cent vis-à-vis 44 per cent of males, females have reported improvement by 17 per cent compared to 10 per cent for males in effective literacy rate during 2001-2011.
In 2001, male and female literacy rate stood at about 69 and 42 per cent, respectively, which increased to 79 and 59 per cent, respectively, in 2011.
As per data, literates now constitute 70 per cent of the UP population aged 7 years and above.
The highest literacy rate for males and females was reported in Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida) and Ghaziabad at over 90 per cent and 81 per cent, respectively. These two districts also have the highest average literacy rates in UP at 85 and 82 per cent, respectively.
The lowest literacy rate for both males and females was reported in Shrawasti district in eastern UP. Shrawasti and Bahraich district have the lowest literacy rates in UP at 49 and 51 per cent, respectively.
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Meanwhile, the population of UP surged by 20 per cent during 2001-2011 to about 199.58 million. Although the average sex ratio stands at 908 (number of females per 1,000 males), the growth rate of females (20.80 per cent) is a shade higher than males (19.45 per cent).
Top five districts in UP with maximum population are Allahabad, Moradabad, Ghaziabad, Azamgarh and Lucknow. Bottom five districts are Mahoba, Chitrakoot, Hamirpur, Shrawasti and Lalitpur. Most of the bottom districts are located in the impoverished Bundelkhand region.
Meanwhile, Lucknow has emerged as the most populous city in UP with 2.81 million population, closely followed by Kanpur with 2.77 million.
UP has the highest population of children below 6 years in India at 29.7 million, followed by Bihar and Maharashtra.