India’s Population 860M

New Delhi: What is the country’s population on the eve of the century’s last head count that began on Feb.9. Figures vary, but the final estimate is anywhere between 840 and 860 million. The figure was less than 300 million in 1901, when the growth rate was less than one per cent. This mark was crossed in 1921. In the second half of the century, that is between 1951-61, it touched the two percent mark, from then on, the rise is seen as sharp. It was 2.2 per cent during 1961-71 and 2.25 percent during 1971-81. The figure recorded in the 1981 census was 685,184,692.