Geographical analysis

Abstract

Human population is one of the important components of regional development. The geographers approach includes an integrated framework in the process of development, mainly because of the dual role, aspirations, change in humans actions, etc are necessarily associated with time and space and physical elements. India, 7^th largest in terms of geographical area and 2^nd most populous country, It took nearly a hundred years to double its population till 1971. Thereafter, from 1971 (548 million) to 2011 (1225 million) India’s population growth witnessed nearly five times more than the base year (1947). In spite of the exponential increase in the human population, the growth rate within and between the decades has noticed a considerable decrease i e 1971-81 (30.6 percent), 1981-91 (23.86 percent) 1991-2001 (21.34 percent) and 2001-2011 (19.22 percent) The growth rate of human population among the five regions differ, more so during 1971 -2011. The Southern region growth rate declined from 23.17 percent and 13.3 percent respectively. Similarly, the Northern region experienced a decline from 37.36 percent and 18 percent. The western region 29.35percent and 28.12 percent and Northeast region 38.55 percent and 17.28 percent, exhibited similar trends respectively. It is interesting to note with an exception of Eastern region 1971-11 i.e. from 22.83 percent and 32.81percent respectively. The pattern of growth of human population in 1971-81 (151.3 percent) to 2001-11 (109.5 percent) shows the consistent decrease in Southern, Northern and Northeastern regions against the Western and Eastern regions. The latter regions continued to maintain consistency in growth, rather than counterparts. The region wise (group of states in the respective part of the country) distribution shows the discrete pattern, registered wide variation among five regions. The highest concentration of human population in 6 (21 percent) states comprise 55 percent of the total population of the nation (1971), whereas 53 percent (2011) reveal the consistency, volume over the decades. The Southern region accounted for 24.8 percent (1971) of population against 26 percent (2011). Similarly the share of Northern region 7 percent in (1971) and 8.3 percent (2011). The study expects more of an integrated approach to understand the vital aspects of human population, and its spatial dimensions. The paper makes an in-depth numerical as well as graphical analysis, emphasizing on geographic regions.