Population of Orissa

According to the census of 2001, the total population of Orissa is 36,706,920 persons, comprising of 18,612,340 males and 18,094,580 females. In terms of population Orissa stands eleventh among all the States and Union territories of India, which is the same as the previous census.

In Orissa, literacy has shown considerable development. The total numbers of literates in the State are 20,053,785 persons of which 12,118,256 are males and 7,935,529 are females. The literacy rate rose from 49.09% in 1991 to 63.61% in the present Census. The percentage of literates to total population is 63.61 % persons of which 75.95 % are males and 50.97 % are females.

In racial history, the majority of the tribal people and a wide number of the population in Orissa belong to the Australoid group. While to a large extent the general population belong to the broad-headed Alpinoid type. Apart from these Mediterranean type can also be seen in the general population.

A large number of scheduled castes and tribes inhabit the land of Orissa, which is nearly 9.78 million. The scheduled tribes can be found in the northern belt and southern belt. The northern belt constitutes of the district of Mayurbhanj, Sundargarh and Keonjhar and the southern belt comprises of the district of Koraput, Phulbani and Ganjam.

From the prvevious census that was conducted in 1991, the population of Orissa rose in 2001 by 15.94%. As per the census of 2001 the sex ratio of population is 972. The sex ratio is recorded by counting the number of females per thousand males.