This chapter discusses population size and distribution, population growth, the process of population change and growth—the importance of human population in terms of growth and development. The population is a pivotal element in social studies. It is the point of reference from which all other factors are observed and from which they derive significance and meaning. ‘Resources’, ‘calamities’ and ‘disasters’ are all meaningful only about human beings. Population concerning India has been discussed in this chapter. The distribution of population and population growth is also the concern of the people in the country. Different mediums are used to calculate the growth rate of the country every year, and the population is estimated based on it. Topics like death rate, birth rate and migration are the primary reasons for population growth and development.
Literacy rate, sex ratio, occupational structure adolescent population, health and national population policy are among the other important topics that students will study in this chapter.