Maharashtra Literacy Rate

The literacy rate is defined as the percentage of people above the age of 7 who are literate in a given geographical location and time. An individual is considered literate if they can read and write with understanding in any one language. Female literacy corresponds to the proportion of women who are considered literate. While male literacy is the proportion of males within a population who are literate. Female Literacy can be considered an important tool to access women’s empowerment in society. High literacy rates can indicate improved contribution towards economic growth by the population. Higher literacy rates also usually mean lesser social inequality in a society.

Maharashtra Literacy Rate -2011 Census

Maharashtra is the second most populous state in India and home to the nation’s economic capital Mumbai. In the 2011 census, it was observed that the state has high literacy rates. The total Maharashtra literacy rate was 82.34% as accounted for by the 2011 census. The male literacy rate stood at 88.38%. However, the female literacy rate lagged at a staggering 69.87%.In the 2001 census, Maharashtra’s literacy rate stood at  76.88%. Maharashtra has improved its overall literacy rates over the years. However, the inequity between male and female literacy rates remains unchanged.

Mumbai tops the rank in cities with the highest rates of literacy. The literacy rate of Mumbai is 89.50%. Followed by the cities of Nagpur, Akola, and Amravati. The lowest literacy rate is recorded in the Nandurbar district and accounts for 63.03%. Maharashtra has a total population of 112,374,333 people of which 58,243,056 are male and 54,131,277 are females. Compared to the previous decade, Maharashtra witnessed a population growth of 15.99%. The States population constitutes 9.28% of the country’s population as per 2011 records.

The government declared the years from 1991 to 2001 as the “literacy decade”. This is due to a significant increase in literacy rates during this decade when India was opening its markets to the global market. This trend of increasing Maharashtra’s literacy rate continued into the next decade from 2001 to 2011 as well. Literacy is associated with social development and receiving some form of formal education. The lowest literacy rate was observed during the period 1951to 1961 when India was a newly independent country. We also observe that Maharashtra has a higher literacy rate than India’s national average of 73% in 2011.

Table of Maharashtra’s literacy rate for the census 2001 and 2011:

The sex ratio of Maharashtra was 929 females for every 1000 males according to 2011 census. This was lower than the national ratio of 940 females to 100 males in the year 2011. For any society, literacy is one of the fundamental ways to empower a woman. Empowering women also has larger benefits to society. It has been observed that when in societies where women have literacy rates, the birth rates are lower. Thus, there is an inverse correlation between female literacy and the number of children born to a woman. When the birth rates are in control distributing welfare schemes and jobs become easier and more efficient. Thus, Maharashtra needs to improve its female literacy rate for a more equitable society.

Conclusion

The literacy rate is defined as the percentage of people above the age of 7 who are literate in a given geographical location and time. An individual is considered literate if they can read and write with understanding in any one language. High literacy rates can indicate improved contribution towards economic growth by the population. Higher literacy rates also usually mean lesser social inequality in a society. Maharashtra is the second most populous state in India and home to the nation’s economic capital Mumbai. In the 2011 census, it was observed that the state has high literacy rates.