Question

A majority of the Indian population resides in which of the following areas?
A) Rural areas
B) Urban areas
C) Sub-urban areas
D) None of the above

Answer 1

Hint:
- India has a population of 17.5 percent of the global population.
- During the last decade, India's population has grown by about 181.46 million, with 51.54 percent males and 48.46 percent females.
- Uttar Pradesh, with a population of 199.6 million people, is the most populous state in India.

Complete answer:
More than half of India's population is under the age of 25, with over 65 percent under the age of 35. Around 72.2 percent of the population lives in 638,000 villages, while the remaining 27.8% lives in 5,480 towns and urban agglomerations.

Now let us look at the given options:
Option A. Rural areas: This is the correct option. Rural India is home to the bulk of the Indian population; nearly 70% of the country's population lives in rural areas. According to the Census of India's 2011 Provisional Population Totals of Rural-Urban Distribution in the country, 83.3 crore Indians live in rural areas, while 37.7 crores lives in urban areas. While the proportion of rural people has decreased from 72.19 percent to 68.84 percent, the number of births in rural areas has increased by nine crores in the last decade, according to the survey.
Option B. Urban areas: This option is incorrect because only 27.8% of the total population of India lives in the urban areas whereas the rest lives in rural areas.
Option C. Sub-urban areas: This option is incorrect because 72.2% of the total Indian population lives in rural areas which is more than half the population of the country.
Option D. None of the above: This option is incorrect because the correct answer is Option A.

Thus the correct answer is option ‘A’.

Note:
- With nearly a fifth of the world's population, India is the world's second-most populous nation. The population was estimated to be 1,352,642,280 people in the 2019 revision of the World Population Prospects.
- The slowdown of population growth is due to a dramatic drop in the rate of growth in rural areas, while the rate of growth in urban areas remains nearly constant.