India’s Natural Population Growth Rate from 2011 to 2020, by State

India’s overall natural population growth rate steadily declined, falling from 14.7% in 2011 to 13.5% in 2020. This decline was consistent across both rural and urban areas, with rural areas maintaining consistently higher growth rates than urban regions throughout the decades. Rural India’s growth rate decreased from 15.7% to 14.7%, while metropolitan areas saw a reduction from 11.9% to 11%. Bihar consistently maintained the highest growth rates among central states, though it showed some improvement, declining from 21% in 2011 to 20% in 2020. Following Bihar, states like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh also exhibited high growth rates, typically ranging between 17-20%. This pattern suggests a concentration of higher population growth in the Hindi heartland states. Southern states demonstrated significantly better population control. Kerala stood out with the most dramatic improvement, reducing its growth rate from 8.2% in 2011 to 6.2% in 2020. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka also maintained relatively low growth rates, consistently staying below the national average. Dadra & Nagar Haveli showed consistently high growth rates among union territories, declining from 21.4% in 2011 to 16.5% in 2020. In contrast, Puducherry and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands demonstrated much lower rates, with both achieving rates below 7% by 2020. There was a notable urban-rural divide across most states. Rural areas typically showed higher growth rates than urban areas, with some exceptions like Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, where urban growth rates occasionally exceeded rural rates.  The northeastern states presented an interesting case study, as most of them showed moderate growth rates. Meghalaya maintained relatively high growth rates (around 16-17%), while states like Tripura showed significant improvement, reducing from 9.4% in 2011 to 6.9% in 2020. The newly created union territory of Ladakh (data available from 2020) showed a growth rate of 9.3%, with a marked difference between its rural (10%) and urban (6.5%) populations, reflecting the broader national pattern of higher rural growth rates. States with high human development indices generally showed lower growth rates (below 10%), while states with lower development indicators maintained higher growth rates (above 15%).