India population growth rate for 2023 was 0.81%, a 0.12% increase from 2022.

<ul style='margin-top:20px;'>

<li>India population growth rate for 2022 was <strong>0.68%</strong>, a <strong>0.12% decline</strong> from 2021.</li>
<li>India population growth rate for 2021 was <strong>0.80%</strong>, a <strong>0.16% decline</strong> from 2020.</li>
<li>India population growth rate for 2020 was <strong>0.96%</strong>, a <strong>0.07% decline</strong> from 2019.</li>
</ul>Annual population growth rate for year t is the exponential rate of growth of midyear population from year t-1 to t, expressed as a percentage . Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship.

The annual population growth in India increased by 0.1 percentage points (+14.71 percent) in 2023 in comparison to the previous year. This was the first time during the observed period that the population growth has increased in India. Population growth refers to the annual change in population, and is based on the balance between birth and death rates, as well as migration.Find more key insights for the annual population growth in countries like Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Population growth (annual %) in India was reported at 0.88329 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. India - Population growth (annual %) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on June of 2025.

India is the most populous country in the world with one-sixth of the world's population. According to official estimates in 2022, India's population stood at over 1.42 billion.

This dataset contains the population distribution by state, gender, sex & region.

The file is in .csv format thus it is accessible everywhere.

The share of projected population increase in Uttar Pradesh, India from 2011 until 2036 is expected to grow by nearly 20 percent. By contrast, the estimated population increase in Uttarakhand is expected to be less than one percent during the same time period.

Why project population?
Population projections for a country are becoming increasingly important now than ever before. They are used primarily by government policy makers and planners to better understand and gauge future demand for basic services that predominantly include water, food and energy. In addition, they also support in indicating major movements that may affect economic development and in turn, employment and labour productivity. Consequently, this leads to amending policies in order to better adapt to the needs of society and to various circumstances.

Demographic projections and health interventions Demographic figures serve the foremost purpose of improving health and health related services among the population. Some of the government interventions include antenatal and neonatal care with the aim of reducing maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity rates. In addition, it also focuses on improving immunization coverage across the country. Further, demographic estimates help in better preempting the needs of growing populations, such as the geriatric population within a country.

Total current population for India in 2025 is 1,454,606,724, a 0.89% increase from 2024.

<ul style='margin-top:20px;'>

<li>Total population for India in 2024 was <strong>1,441,719,852</strong>, a <strong>0.25% increase</strong> from 2023.</li>
<li>Total population for India in 2023 was <strong>1,438,069,596</strong>, a <strong>0.89% increase</strong> from 2022.</li>
<li>Total population for India in 2022 was <strong>1,425,423,212</strong>, a <strong>0.79% increase</strong> from 2021.</li>
</ul>Total population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship. The values shown are midyear estimates.

The growth rate of the elderly population in India saw a sharp increase from 2001 onward after a series of successive falls. According to projections for 2021-31, the growth rate was expected to be five times the growth rate of the total population.

India's population demographics - total population, growth rate, age-wise and state-wise population, languages spoken, and religion.

India Population Projection: Single Year data was reported at 1,667,873,933.000 Person in 2050. This records an increase from the previous number of 1,658,330,351.000 Person for 2049. India Population Projection: Single Year data is updated yearly, averaging 1,394,461,787.000 Person from Mar 2001 (Median) to 2050, with 50 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1,667,873,933.000 Person in 2050 and a record low of 1,019,001,911.000 Person in 2001. India Population Projection: Single Year data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by CEIC Data. The data is categorized under India Premium Database’s Demographic – Table IN.GAI001: Population Projection: Single Year.

The statistic shows the total population of India from 2019 to 2029. In 2023, the estimated total population in India amounted to approximately 1.43 billion people.

Total population in India

India currently has the second-largest population in the world and is projected to overtake top-ranking China within forty years. Its residents comprise more than one-seventh of the entire world’s population, and despite a slowly decreasing fertility rate (which still exceeds the replacement rate and keeps the median age of the population relatively low), an increasing life expectancy adds to an expanding population. In comparison with other countries whose populations are decreasing, such as Japan, India has a relatively small share of aged population, which indicates the probability of lower death rates and higher retention of the existing population.

With a land mass of less than half that of the United States and a population almost four times greater, India has recognized potential problems of its growing population. Government attempts to implement family planning programs have achieved varying degrees of success. Initiatives such as sterilization programs in the 1970s have been blamed for creating general antipathy to family planning, but the combined efforts of various family planning and contraception programs have helped halve fertility rates since the 1960s. The population growth rate has correspondingly shrunk as well, but has not yet reached less than one percent growth per year.

As home to thousands of ethnic groups, hundreds of languages, and numerous religions, a cohesive and broadly-supported effort to reduce population growth is difficult to create. Despite that, India is one country to watch in coming years. It is also a growing economic power; among other measures, its GDP per capita was expected to triple between 2003 and 2013 and was listed as the third-ranked country for its share of the global gross domestic product.

Key information about India population

• The India population reached 1,408.0 million people in Mar 2025, compared with the previously reported figure of 1,395.0 million people in Mar 2024
• The data reached an all-time high of 1,408.0 million people in Mar 2025 and a record low of 359.0 million people in Mar 1951

In 1800, the population of the region of present-day India was approximately 169 million. The population would grow gradually throughout the 19th century, rising to over 240 million by 1900. Population growth would begin to increase in the 1920s, as a result of falling mortality rates, due to improvements in health, sanitation and infrastructure. However, the population of India would see it’s largest rate of growth in the years following the country’s independence from the British Empire in 1948, where the population would rise from 358 million to over one billion by the turn of the century, making India the second country to pass the billion person milestone. While the rate of growth has slowed somewhat as India begins a demographics shift, the country’s population has continued to grow dramatically throughout the 21st century, and in 2020, India is estimated to have a population of just under 1.4 billion, well over a billion more people than one century previously. Today, approximately 18% of the Earth’s population lives in India, and it is estimated that India will overtake China to become the most populous country in the world within the next five years.

Urban population (% of total population) in India was reported at 36.36 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. India - Urban population (% of total) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on June of 2025.

This statistic depicts the age distribution of India from 2013 to 2023. In 2023, about 25.06 percent of the Indian population fell into the 0-14 year category, 68.02 percent into the 15-64 age group and 6.92 percent were over 65 years of age. Age distribution in India India is one of the largest countries in the world and its population is constantly increasing. India’s society is categorized into a hierarchically organized caste system, encompassing certain rights and values for each caste. Indians are born into a caste, and those belonging to a lower echelon often face discrimination and hardship. The median age (which means that one half of the population is younger and the other one is older) of India’s population has been increasing constantly after a slump in the 1970s, and is expected to increase further over the next few years. However, in international comparison, it is fairly low; in other countries the average inhabitant is about 20 years older. But India seems to be on the rise, not only is it a member of the BRIC states – an association of emerging economies, the other members being Brazil, Russia and China –, life expectancy of Indians has also increased significantly over the past decade, which is an indicator of access to better health care and nutrition. Gender equality is still non-existant in India, even though most Indians believe that the quality of life is about equal for men and women in their country. India is patriarchal and women still often face forced marriages, domestic violence, dowry killings or rape. As of late, India has come to be considered one of the least safe places for women worldwide. Additionally, infanticide and selective abortion of female fetuses attribute to the inequality of women in India. It is believed that this has led to the fact that the vast majority of Indian children aged 0 to 6 years are male.

Abstract

The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) was carried out as the principal activity of a collaborative project to strengthen the research capabilities of the Population Reasearch Centres (PRCs) in India, initiated by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), Government of India, and coordinated by the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Bombay. Interviews were conducted with a nationally representative sample of 89,777 ever-married women in the age group 13-49, from 24 states and the National Capital Territoty of Delhi. The main objective of the survey was to collect reliable and up-to-date information on fertility, family planning, mortality, and maternal and child health. Data collection was carried out in three phases from April 1992 to September 1993. THe NFHS is one of the most complete surveys of its kind ever conducted in India.

The households covered in the survey included 500,492 residents. The young age structure of the population highlights the momentum of the future population growth of the country; 38 percent of household residents are under age 15, with their reproductive years still in the future. Persons age 60 or older constitute 8 percent of the population. The population sex ratio of the de jure residents is 944 females per 1,000 males, which is slightly higher than sex ratio of 927 observed in the 1991 Census.

The primary objective of the NFHS is to provide national-level and state-level data on fertility, nuptiality, family size preferences, knowledge and practice of family planning, the potentiel demand for contraception, the level of unwanted fertility, utilization of antenatal services, breastfeeding and food supplemation practises, child nutrition and health, immunizations, and infant and child mortality. The NFHS is also designed to explore the demographic and socioeconomic determinants of fertility, family planning, and maternal and child health. This information is intended to assist policymakers, adminitrators and researchers in assessing and evaluating population and family welfare programmes and strategies. The NFHS used uniform questionnaires and uniform methods of sampling, data collection and analysis with the primary objective of providing a source of demographic and health data for interstate comparisons. The data collected in the NFHS are also comparable with those of the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) conducted in many other countries.

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

• Household
• Data collected for women 13-49, indicators calculated for women 15-49

Universe

The population covered by the 1992-93 DHS is defined as the universe of all women age 13-49 who were either permanent residents of the households in the NDHS sample or visitors present in the households on the night before the survey were eligible to be interviewed.

Kind of data

Sample survey data

Sampling procedure

SAMPLE DESIGN

The sample design for the NFHS was discussed during a Sample Design Workshop held in Madurai in Octber, 1991. The workshop was attended by representative from the PRCs; the COs; the Office of the Registrar General, India; IIPS and the East-West Center/Macro International. A uniform sample design was adopted in all the NFHS states. The Sample design adopted in each state is a systematic, stratified sample of households, with two stages in rural areas and three stages in urban areas.

SAMPLE SIZE AND ALLOCATION

The sample size for each state was specified in terms of a target number of completed interviews with eligible women. The target sample size was set considering the size of the state, the time and ressources available for the survey and the need for separate estimates for urban and rural areas of the stat. The initial target sample size was 3,000 completed interviews with eligible women for states having a population of 25 million or less in 1991; 4,000 completed interviews for large states with more than 25 million population; 8,000 for Uttar Pradesh, the largest state; and 1,000 each for the six small northeastern states. In States with a substantial number of backward districts, the initial target samples were increased so as to allow separate estimates to be made for groups of backward districts.

The urban and rural samples within states were drawn separetly and , to the extent possible, sample allocation was proportional to the size of the urban-rural populations (to facilitate the selection of a self-weighting sample for each state). In states where the urban population was not sufficiently large to provide a sample of at least 1,000 completed interviews with eligible women, the urban areas were appropriately oversampled (except in the six small northeastern states).

THE RURAL SAMPLE: THE FRAME, STRATIFICATION AND SELECTION

A two-stage stratified sampling was adopted for the rural areas: selection of villages followed by selection of households. Because the 1991 Census data were not available at the time of sample selection in most states, the 1981 Census list of villages served as the sampling frame in all the states with the exception of Assam, Delhi and Punjab. In these three states the 1991 Census data were used as the sampling frame.

Villages were stratified prior to selection on the basis of a number of variables. The firts level of stratification in all the states was geographic, with districts subdivided into regions according to their geophysical characteristics. Within each of these regions, villages were further stratified using some of the following variables : village size, distance from the nearest town, proportion of nonagricultural workers, proportion of the population belonging to scheduled castes/scheduled tribes, and female literacy. However, not all variables were used in every state. Each state was examined individually and two or three variables were selected for stratification, with the aim of creating not more than 12 strata for small states and not more than 15 strata for large states. Females literacy was often used for implicit stratification (i.e., the villages were ordered prior to selection according to the proportion of females who were literate). Primary sampling Units (PSUs) were selected systematically, with probaility proportional to size (PPS). In some cases, adjacent villages with small population sizes were combined into a single PSU for the purpose of sample selection. On average, 30 households were selected for interviewing in each selected PSU.

In every state, all the households in the selected PSUs were listed about two weeks prior to the survey. This listing provided the necessary frame for selecting households at the second sampling stage. The household listing operation consisted of preparing up-to-date notional and layout sketch maps of each selected PSU, assigning numbers to structures, recording addresses (or locations) of these structures, identifying the residential structures, and listing the names of the heads of all the households in the residentiak structures in the selected PSU. Each household listing team consisted of a lister and a mapper. The listing operation was supervised by the senior field staff of the concerned CO and the PRC in each state. Special efforts were made not to miss any household in the selected PSU during the listing operation. In PSUs with fewer than 500 households, a complete household listing was done. In PSUs with 500 or more households, segmentation of the PSU was done on the basis of existing wards in the PSU, and two segments were selected using either systematic sampling or PPS sampling. The household listing in such PSUs was carried out in the selected segments. The households to be interviewed were selected from provided with the original household listing, layout sketch map and the household sample selected for each PSU. All the selected households were approached during the data collection, and no substitution of a household was allowed under any circumstances.

THE RURAL URBAN SAMPLE: THE FRAME, STRATIFICATION AND SELECTION

A three-stage sample design was adopted for the urban areas in each state: selection of cities/towns, followed by urban blocks, and finally households. Cities and towns were selected using the 1991 population figures while urban blocks were selected using the 1991 list of census enumeration blocks in all the states with the exception of the firts phase states. For the first phase states, the list of urban blocks provided by the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSSO) served as the sampling frame.

All cities and towns were subdivided into three strata: (1) self-selecting cities (i.e., cities with a population large enough to be selected with certainty), (2) towns that are district headquaters, and (3) other towns. Within each stratum, the cities/towns were arranged according to the same kind of geographic stratification used in the rural areas. In self-selecting cities, the sample was selected according to a two-stage sample design: selection of the required number of urban blocks, followed by selection of households in each of selected blocks. For district headquarters and other towns, a three stage sample design was used: selection of towns with PPS, followed by selection of two census blocks per selected town, followed by selection of households from each selected block. As in rural areas, a household listing was carried out in the selected blocks, and an average of 20 households per block was selected systematically.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face

Research instrument

Three types of questionnaires were used in the NFHS: the Household Questionnaire, the Women's Questionnaire, and the Village Questionnaire. The overall content

Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the Bhubaneswar, India metro area from 1950 to 2025.

Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the Bangalore, India metro area from 1950 to 2025.

Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the Benares, India metro area from 1950 to 2025.

The median age in India was 27 years old in 2020, meaning half the population was older than that, half younger. This figure was lowest in 1970, at 18.1 years, and was projected to increase to 47.8 years old by 2100. Aging in India India has the second largest population in the world, after China. Because of the significant population growth of the past years, the age distribution remains skewed in favor of the younger age bracket. This tells a story of rapid population growth, but also of a lower life expectancy. Economic effects of a young population Many young people means that the Indian economy must support a large number of students, who demand education from the economy but cannot yet work. Educating the future workforce will be important, because the economy is growing as well and is one of the largest in the world. Failing to do this could lead to high youth unemployment and political consequences. However, a productive and young workforce could provide huge economic returns for India.

Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the Hyderabad, India metro area from 1950 to 2025.