India now has a population of 1.21 billion according to the latest Census figures released by the Home Secretary and the Registrar General of India on Thursday. This is an increase of 181 million people since the last Census - nearly equivalent to the population of Brazil.
India's population is now bigger than the combined population of USA, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan and Bangladesh, says the Census report. Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state and the combined population of UP and Maharashtra is bigger than USA.
Of the total population, 623.7 million are males and 586.5 million are females.
However, the population grew at a rate of 17.64 percent which is the sharpest reduction in growth rate ever.
While Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Puducherry has the highest population growth rate of about 55 percent, Nagaland has the lowest.
The density of population is highest in Delhi, followed by Chandigarh.
The 2011 Census report also shows that India now has a child sex ratio of 914 female against 1,000 male - the lowest since Independence.
This is the 15th Census conducted since 1872. It was carried out in two phases, covering 640 districts and 5924 sub-districts.
The cost of the counting exercise is 22,000 million.
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