<p>A stirring trend of females outnumbering males in literacy was revealed by primary Census 2011 abstract data released by Union Home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Tuesday. <br /><br /></p>.<p>But, at the same time the child sex ratio has declined from 2001 which Shinde described it as a sign of “distress”,’ among the latest statistics compiled by the Registrar-General of India.<br /><br />While sharing the highlights of the census figures released a year ahead of schedule, Registrar-General C Chandramouli explained that a person above the age of seven who could read and write was considered as literate in the country.<br /><br />“An extremely positive development in the present decade is that the gap of 21.59 percentage points recorded between male and female literacy rates in 2001 census has reduced to 16 percentage points in 2011,” the RGI report stated.<br /><br />Kerala topped the literacy chart among all the states having 94 per cent persons who can read and write, followed by Lakshadweep 91.8 per cent, Mizoram 91.3 per cent, Goa 88.7 per cent and Tripura 87.2. On the other hand, the last five states and UTs are Bihar 61.8 per cent, Arunachal Pradesh 65.4 per cent, Rajasthan 66.1 per cent, Jharkhand 66.4 per cent and Andhra Pradesh 67 per cent.<br /><br />“The gap between the literacy rate in urban and rural areas is steadily declining in every census. In Census 2011, the gap stands at 16.3 points. As per latest statistics, the literacy rate among urban population is 84.1 per cent against 67.8 for rural population, the RGI data stated.<br /><br />The country’s population stands at 1.21 billion, which is 17.7 per cent more than in 2001 when the last census was conducted. <br /><br />The spread of the population remains more concentrated in rural areas. Of this, 763.5 million is literate. More than a decade back in 2001, the figure was 560.7 million.But, the figures showed the disturbing trend of the child sex ratio in the age group of 0-6 years nose-diving to 919 females per 1,000 males against 927 in 2001 census. On the contrary, the overall sex ratio increased marginally from 933 females per 1,000 males in 2001 to 943 two years back.<br /><br />Among the states and Union territories, Haryana has the worst male-female ratio while literate Kerala fares the best. It was followed by Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Five top performing states in terms of sex ratio were Kerala (1,084 females), Tamil Nadu (996), Andhra Pradesh (993), Chhattisgarh (991), Odisha (979).<br /></p>
<p>A stirring trend of females outnumbering males in literacy was revealed by primary Census 2011 abstract data released by Union Home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Tuesday. <br /><br /></p>.<p>But, at the same time the child sex ratio has declined from 2001 which Shinde described it as a sign of “distress”,’ among the latest statistics compiled by the Registrar-General of India.<br /><br />While sharing the highlights of the census figures released a year ahead of schedule, Registrar-General C Chandramouli explained that a person above the age of seven who could read and write was considered as literate in the country.<br /><br />“An extremely positive development in the present decade is that the gap of 21.59 percentage points recorded between male and female literacy rates in 2001 census has reduced to 16 percentage points in 2011,” the RGI report stated.<br /><br />Kerala topped the literacy chart among all the states having 94 per cent persons who can read and write, followed by Lakshadweep 91.8 per cent, Mizoram 91.3 per cent, Goa 88.7 per cent and Tripura 87.2. On the other hand, the last five states and UTs are Bihar 61.8 per cent, Arunachal Pradesh 65.4 per cent, Rajasthan 66.1 per cent, Jharkhand 66.4 per cent and Andhra Pradesh 67 per cent.<br /><br />“The gap between the literacy rate in urban and rural areas is steadily declining in every census. In Census 2011, the gap stands at 16.3 points. As per latest statistics, the literacy rate among urban population is 84.1 per cent against 67.8 for rural population, the RGI data stated.<br /><br />The country’s population stands at 1.21 billion, which is 17.7 per cent more than in 2001 when the last census was conducted. <br /><br />The spread of the population remains more concentrated in rural areas. Of this, 763.5 million is literate. More than a decade back in 2001, the figure was 560.7 million.But, the figures showed the disturbing trend of the child sex ratio in the age group of 0-6 years nose-diving to 919 females per 1,000 males against 927 in 2001 census. On the contrary, the overall sex ratio increased marginally from 933 females per 1,000 males in 2001 to 943 two years back.<br /><br />Among the states and Union territories, Haryana has the worst male-female ratio while literate Kerala fares the best. It was followed by Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Five top performing states in terms of sex ratio were Kerala (1,084 females), Tamil Nadu (996), Andhra Pradesh (993), Chhattisgarh (991), Odisha (979).<br /></p>
