Analyzing Census Data On Populations By Socio-economic Status

India is the 2nd most populous country in the world. It is projected that India may outnumber China in population in the next two decades. Like most countries in the world, the population of India is not distributed uniformly. Some countries have more population density than others, and many factors affect it. The distribution of the population by status is a determining factor for uneven population density in the country.

FACTORS AFFECTING POPULATION DENSITY AND DISTRIBUTION

The factors that affect population distribution are divided into two major categories. 

• Physical Factors
• Socio-Economic Factors 

The physical factors comprise landforms, soil, and climate. The socio-economic factors are also further categorized. 

SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS 

In certain regions, the physical factors play an important role in population distribution and density, and in other areas, socio-economic factors play a vital role. Socio-economic factors are two

types:

• Socio-cultural and political factors
• The exploitation of natural resources

SOCIO-CULTURAL AND POLITICAL FACTORS

The rapid growth of the Mumbai-Pune Industrial. The complex is the best example to show how socio-cultural and political factors affected the population growth in this area. The insignificant island of Thane Creek turned into the most happening industrial complex due to 

• Easy connectivity through waterways
• Setting up of textile mills
• Building of roads and rails
• Discovery of oil and natural gas in Bombay High

POPULATION DENSITY DATA IN CENSUS 2011

• The country’s population density has increased to 382 people per sq km in 2011 compared to 325 people per sq km in 2001. Bihar State has a maximum population density of 1106 people per sq km and has surpassed West Bengal, first in 2001.
• Delhi has become the most densely- inhabited place, followed by Chandigarh. Arunachal Pradesh has the lowest population density in the last two census-2001 and 2011. 

POVERTY: MAJOR CHALLENGE FOR INDEPENDENT INDIA

There are many indicators to measure poverty.Earlier, the indicators were used to calculate the population by status as income and consumption. Many other social indicators are used to calculate the Number of people above the poverty line and below this line. These indicators are:

• Illiteracy level
• Poor health due to malnutrition
• Lack of job opportunities
• Cannot access safe drinking water
• Lack of sanitation facilities
• Lack of healthcare facilities

Nowadays, poverty is analyzed on vulnerability and social Exclusion. 

SOCIAL EXCLUSION

When we analyze the data on population by status, it indicates that social Exclusion is a vicious cycle. Social Exclusion is both the cause and the consequence of poverty.

People who are living be

VULNERABILITY

Vulnerability to poverty is a measure that describes the greater probability of specific communities (say, members of a backward caste) or individuals (such as a widow or a physically disabled person) of becoming, or remaining, poor in the coming years.

POVERTY LINE

A standard method used to measure poverty is based on a person’s income or consumption levels. People are considered poor if their income or consumption level is below a given level to fulfil their basic needs. The amount of money necessary to satisfy basic needs is different at different times, in different countries, and for different people. Therefore, the poverty line may vary with time and place.

HEADCOUNT RATIO

The headcount ratio is the Number of people that live below the poverty line. One of the worst features of the headcount ratio is that it ignores the depth of poverty; if the poor become poorer, the headcount index does not change. The Head Count Ratio is calculated with the following formula. 

HCL = Number of people living below the poverty line/Total population of the country

FACTORS CAUSING POVERTY

Several factors are responsible for poverty in India.

• The historical reason: 
• Increasing population
• Slow economic growth
• Insufficient job opportunities

MULTIDIMENSIONAL POVERTY INDEX

The human poverty index was replaced by the James Foster and Sabina Alkire developed a Multidimensional Poverty Index. The MPI is adopted by the UNDP(United Nations Development Program). Various factors used for calculating MPI are:

1. Health 

• Nutrition: The household is deprived if the following are undernourished-   

• The Man between 15-49 years
• Women between 15-49 years
• Children between 0-59 years

Child-Adolescent Mortality: The household is considered deprived if any child or adolescents below 18 years died in the 5 years before the survey. 

2. Education

• Years of Schooling: If any household member aged 10 years or more have completed schooling for 6 years; the household is not deprived.
• School Attendance: The household is deprived of any the child is not attending the school till that age when they should have completed class 8.

3. Standard of Living: The household is deprived if it does not have access

to:

• Cooking fuel
• Sanitation
• Drinking water
• Housing electricity
• Assets

 CONCLUSION

Poverty is a multidimensional problem. It is measured using the concept of the ‘poverty line. By having the data on population by status, we analyzed the major global and national poverty trends. The concept of human poverty is getting broadened as many other factors like vulnerability, social Exclusion, accessibility to health, education, etc., are used for analyzing poverty.