<p>Population growing in absolute numbers over time is natural. But what is puzzling demographic and economic experts in Tamil Nadu is the stunning defiance of India’s overall population decadal growth rate.<br /><br /></p>.<p>While ‘final population figures’ for all states and the country as a whole are expected to be released by 2012-end, the provisional population as per the 2011 Census has shown Tamil Nadu’s population not only “shooting very rapidly” but also startlingly reversing the all-India ‘declining’ growth rate in population.<br /><br />Presenting some of the insights gleaned from an analysis of the data with academics and researchers at the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) here on Friday, Dr S Gopalakrishnan, Director of Census Operations, said in the last ten years, “Tamil Nadu has seen unprecedented growth rate” in population. Provisionally, its population is about 7.21 crores.However, he said, what was more significant was the fact that between 2001 census and the latest 2011, Tamil Nadu has seen one of the highest growth rates in population for a State at 15.60 per cent in the last decade. This was in contrast to India’s population growth rate declining gradually over the last four decades.<br /><br />Since 1971, Gopalakrishnan said that the ‘decadal population growth rate’ (which is different from the absolute numbers), had been coming down for the last four decades at the all-India level. But Tamil Nadu has sharply reversed this national trend, first between 1991-2001 when its population jumped by 11.70 per cent and further spurted rapidly during 2001-2011 by 15.60 per cent, he noted.<br /><br />This does not necessarily translate into higher quality of life, nor does it imply that the ‘Family Planning Programme’ has ceased to be effective in Tamil Nadu. As the population of children in the age group of 0-6 years for the same comparative period has been declining, Gopalakrishnan said the sharp upswing in Tamil Nadu’s population growth rate could be due to other factors like better life expectancy in the other age-groups, and migration from other states for education and jobs. “It’s not a failure of our Family Planning programme,” he explained. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /><br /></p>
<p>Population growing in absolute numbers over time is natural. But what is puzzling demographic and economic experts in Tamil Nadu is the stunning defiance of India’s overall population decadal growth rate.<br /><br /></p>.<p>While ‘final population figures’ for all states and the country as a whole are expected to be released by 2012-end, the provisional population as per the 2011 Census has shown Tamil Nadu’s population not only “shooting very rapidly” but also startlingly reversing the all-India ‘declining’ growth rate in population.<br /><br />Presenting some of the insights gleaned from an analysis of the data with academics and researchers at the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) here on Friday, Dr S Gopalakrishnan, Director of Census Operations, said in the last ten years, “Tamil Nadu has seen unprecedented growth rate” in population. Provisionally, its population is about 7.21 crores.However, he said, what was more significant was the fact that between 2001 census and the latest 2011, Tamil Nadu has seen one of the highest growth rates in population for a State at 15.60 per cent in the last decade. This was in contrast to India’s population growth rate declining gradually over the last four decades.<br /><br />Since 1971, Gopalakrishnan said that the ‘decadal population growth rate’ (which is different from the absolute numbers), had been coming down for the last four decades at the all-India level. But Tamil Nadu has sharply reversed this national trend, first between 1991-2001 when its population jumped by 11.70 per cent and further spurted rapidly during 2001-2011 by 15.60 per cent, he noted.<br /><br />This does not necessarily translate into higher quality of life, nor does it imply that the ‘Family Planning Programme’ has ceased to be effective in Tamil Nadu. As the population of children in the age group of 0-6 years for the same comparative period has been declining, Gopalakrishnan said the sharp upswing in Tamil Nadu’s population growth rate could be due to other factors like better life expectancy in the other age-groups, and migration from other states for education and jobs. “It’s not a failure of our Family Planning programme,” he explained. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /><br /></p>
