Uneven Demographic Transition Across India’s Rural-Urban Continuum: Spatial Evidence from Census Change
Keywords:
demographic transition, population change, rural–urban continuum, spatial inequality, urbanizationAbstract
India's demographic transition has been unevenly completed along the rural–urban continuum, leading to significant differences in population structure and socioeconomic characteristics. This study compared the demographic trends in rural and urban India during the 2001 and 2011 Censuses based on common indicators of the population, literacy, sex composition of population, household size, and workforce status. Patterns of convergence and divergence were determined from matched geographic units using descriptive statistics, percentage changes, rural–urban gaps, and spatial comparisons. The growth in urban population outpaced that of rural population, and the percentage of children aged 0-6 years decreased in both areas. The overall improvement in literacy was significant, with rural areas achieving higher gains and a high level of convergence between genders in terms of literacy. However, the workforce diversities did not decrease, especially the female workforce and reliance on agricultural jobs. There was a great variation in the indicators of the demographic situation across the different regions, which showed that there were underlying inequalities that were masked at the national level. The results confirm that the demographic transition in India took place in a multiparametric and multispatial trajectory, with the convergence of rural–urban dynamics in some aspects and the persistence of rural–urban differences in others. Therefore, there is a need for a spatial approach to policy to address social and demographic inequalities.
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