Census data show much disparity in growth parameters among state’s districts.
The population distribution data for Maharashtra, released today by the Census of India 2011, showed the state had the highest number of people in urban areas (50.8 million), followed by Uttar Pradesh (44.4 million) and Tamil Nadu (34.9 million).
It was also the third most urbanised state (by per cent of people living in urban areas to the total population of the state) in India, with an urban population of 45.23 per cent, after Kerala (47.72 per cent) and Tamil Nadu (48.4 per cent). Mumbai, Thane, Nagpur and Pune were the most urbanised districts; Gadchiroli, Sindhudurg and Hingoli were the least. The total population of Maharashtra was 112 million.
The sex ratio (number of females per 1,000 males) was seen to have improved, as it moved up from 922 in 2001 to 925 in 2011. But the sex ratio in rural areas dropped to 948 from 960 in 2011 and rose marginally to 899 from 873 in 2001 in the urban areas. Surprisingly, Mumbai city had the lowest sex ratio of 838 in the state; the highest, 1,123, was found in Ratnagiri district. The literacy rate rose to 82.91 per cent in 2011 from 76.88 per cent in 2001. It was lowest in Nandurbar district (63.04 per cent) and highest in suburban Mumbai (90.9 per cent).
Nandurbar district recorded the highest growth rate, of 23.62 per cent, in rural population. Wardha (minus 3.99 per cent), Raigad (minus 0.63 per cent), Ratnagiri (minus 10.34 per cent) and Sindhudurg (minus 5.68 percent) showed a negative growth rate. Raigad showed the highest growth rate in urban population at 81.89 per cent, followed by Gadchiroli (75.34 per cent, Gondia (57.36 per cent) and Aurangabad (48.70 per cent). In this category, the Mumbai city district registered a negative growth rate, minus 5.75 percent, the only district to show this for growth in urban population. The overall population growth rate was highest in Thane, at 35.94 per cent.
