Urban population up in Bihar

Patna, Jul 30: The urban population in Bihar has increased to 11.30 per cent of the estimated total population of 10.38 crore in the state but the sex ratio has dropped to 916 females per 1000 males in the past decade.

Giving the provisional census data for 2011, Joint Director of the Directorate of Census Operations(Bihar) A K Saxena said today the urban population in Bihar was 10.5 per cent of its total population in 2001 and was 11.30 per cent in 2011.

There was a corresponding decline in rural population. In 2011 88.78 per cent of the total population was from rural areas, while in 2001 it was 89.50 per cent.

The decadal growth of population was 25.07 per cent. The provisional data, earlier released by the directorate, showed a 20 per cent rise in the state's female literacy rate from 33.12 per cent in 2001 to 53.33 per cent this year.

The sex ratio dropped to 916 females per 1,000 males this year from 919 in 2001, with a sharp fall in the child population (aged 0-6 years) from 942 girl children in 2001 to 933 now.

In Patna, Bihar's most populous district and an urban area, the sex ratio was most skewed with the girl child ratio at an alarming 899 girls per 1,000 boys from the erstwhile 923 in 2001, Saxena said.

PTI