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Question 11.
Give a quantitative appraisal of India’s demographic profile during the colonial period.
India’s demographic profile during the colonial period reflects low human development and stagnant population growth, mainly due to poor health conditions and widespread poverty.
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, population growth in India was very slow. Between 1881 and 1921, the population increased at a very low rate, with the average annual growth remaining below 1%. This was because the high birth rate was largely neutralised by an equally high death rate.
Some key quantitative features of India’s population during the colonial period were:
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Birth rate: Very high, around 45–50 per thousand
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Death rate: Almost equally high, about 40–45 per thousand
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Life expectancy: Extremely low, averaging around 32 years
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Infant mortality rate: Alarmingly high, roughly 218 per thousand live births
These figures point towards poor health infrastructure, frequent famines, epidemics, and inadequate nutrition.
Colonial India was also a predominantly rural society, with nearly 85–90% of the population living in villages and heavily dependent on agriculture for livelihood. The sex ratio remained unfavourable, and literacy levels were extremely low, standing at around 16% at the time of independence, with female literacy even lower.
Conclusion
Thus, a quantitative appraisal of India’s demographic profile during the colonial period highlights high fertility and mortality, low life expectancy, high infant mortality, slow population growth, and low literacy, clearly indicating the underdeveloped and exploitative nature of the colonial economy.