5.1   Population

. Population The total number of people residing in a country at a specified period of time is called the 'Population' of that country. India is the most populous country in the world. India covers only . percent of the land area of the world, but is the home of about . percent of the world’s population. It shows that the proportion of population of India is far higher than the proportion of its area. Thus, a little more than one out of every six persons in the world is from India. Census Population census is the total process of collecting, compiling, analysing or otherwise disseminating demographic, economic and social data pertaining, at a specific time, of all persons in a country or a well-defined part of a country. It happens in an interval of ten years. The data collected through the census are used for administration, planning, policy making as well as management and evaluation of various programmes by the government. In India the first census was carried out in the year . But the first complete and synchronous census was conducted in and the census represents the fifteenth census of India. Distribution and Density of Population The term 'Population Distribution' refers to the way the people are spaced over the earth’s surface. The distribution of population in India is quite uneven, because of the vast variation