Editing Demographics of India (section)

=== Late 19th century to early 20th century ===
The [[total fertility rate]] is the number of children born per woman. It is based on fairly good data for the entire years. Sources: [[Our World in Data]] and [[Gapminder Foundation]].<ref name="ourworldindata.org">{{citation|url=https://ourworldindata.org/fertility-rate|title=Fertility Rate|author=Max Roser|year=2014|work=[[Our World in Data]], [[Gapminder Foundation]]}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right"
|-
! Years !! 1880!! 1881!! 1882!! 1883!! 1884!! 1885!! 1886!! 1887!! 1888!! 1889!! 1890!! 1902<ref name="ourworldindata.org" />
|-
| align="left" | Total Fertility Rate in India||style="text-align:right; color:blue;" | 5.95|| style="text-align:right; color:blue;" | 5.92 ||style="text-align:right; color:blue;" | 5.89||style="text-align:right; color:blue;" | 5.86||style="text-align:right; color:blue;" | 5.82||style="text-align:right; color:blue;" | 5.79||style="text-align:right; color:blue;" | 4.38||style="text-align:right; color:blue;" | 5.76||style="text-align:right; color:blue;" | 5.76||style="text-align:right; color:blue;" | 5.75||style="text-align:right; color:blue;" | 5.75||style="text-align:right; color:blue;" | 5.75
|}

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right"
|-
! Years !! 1921!! 1922!! 1923!! 1924!! 1925!! 1926!! 1927!! 1928!! 1929!! 1930<ref name="ourworldindata.org" />
|-
| align="left" | Total Fertility Rate in India||style="text-align:right; color:blue;" | 5.761 ||style="text-align:right; color:blue;" | 5.77||style="text-align:right; color:blue;" | 5.78||style="text-align:right; color:blue;" | 5.79||style="text-align:right; color:blue;" | 5.8||style="text-align:right; color:blue;" | 5.81||style="text-align:right; color:blue;" | 5.82||style="text-align:right; color:blue;" | 5.83||style="text-align:right; color:blue;" | 5.85||style="text-align:right; color:blue;" | 5.86
|}

[[Life expectancy]] from 1881 to 1950

{| class="wikitable"
! Years
! 1881
! 1891
! 1901
! 1905
! 1911
! 1915
! 1921
! 1925
! 1931
! 1935
! 1941
! 1950<ref name=":02">{{Cite web|url=https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/life-expectancy?year=1810|title=Life expectancy|website=Our World in Data|access-date=28 August 2018}}</ref>
|-
| Life expectancy in India
| 25.4
| 24.3
| 23.5
| 24.0
| 23.2
| 24.0
| 24.9
| 27.6
| 29.3
| 31.0
| 32.6
| 35.4
|}

The population of India under the [[British Raj]] (including what are now Pakistan and Bangladesh) according to censuses:

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! scope="col" style="text-align: left;" | [[Census of India|Census year]]
! scope="col" style="text-align: right;" data-sort-type="number" | [[List of states in India by past population|Population]]
! scope="col" style="text-align: right;" data-sort-type="number" | Growth (%)
|-
| 1871<ref name="chaf.lib.latrobe.edu.au">{{cite web|url=http://www.chaf.lib.latrobe.edu.au/dcd/default.htm |title=Digital Colonial Documents (India) |access-date=9 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110408000302/http://www.chaf.lib.latrobe.edu.au/dcd/default.htm |archive-date=8 April 2011 }}</ref>
| style="text-align: right;" | {{formatnum:238830958}}
| {{n/a}}
|-
| 1881<ref>{{cite book|title=Census of the British empire: 1901|publisher=[[Census in the United Kingdom|Great Britain Census Office]]|year=1906|page=xviii|url=https://archive.org/stream/cu31924030396067#page/n21/mode/2up}}</ref>
| style="text-align: right;" | {{formatnum:253896330}}
| style="text-align: right;" | 6.3
|-
| 1891<ref name="chaf.lib.latrobe.edu.au" />
| style="text-align: right;" | {{formatnum:287223431}}
| style="text-align: right;" | 13.1
|-
| 1901<ref name="chaf.lib.latrobe.edu.au" />
| style="text-align: right;" | {{formatnum:293550310}}
| style="text-align: right;" | 2.2
|-
| 1911<ref name="censusindia.gov.in">{{cite web|url=http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Census_And_You/old_report/index%20old%20census.html |title=Census of India – Index of Old Census Reports |access-date=9 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006190625/http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Census_And_You/old_report/index%20old%20census.html |archive-date=6 October 2011 }}</ref>
| style="text-align: right;" | {{formatnum:315156396}}
| style="text-align: right;" | 7.4
|-
| 1921<ref name="censusindia.gov.in" />
| style="text-align: right;" | {{formatnum:318942480}}
| style="text-align: right;" | 1.2
|-
| 1931<ref name="censusindia.gov.in" />
| style="text-align: right;" | {{formatnum:352837778}}
| style="text-align: right;" | 10.6
|-
| 1941<ref name="censusindia.gov.in" />
| style="text-align: right;" | {{formatnum:388997955}}
| style="text-align: right;" | 10.2
|}

Studies of India's population since 1881 have focused on such topics as total population, birth and death rates, geographic distribution, literacy, the rural and urban divide, cities of a million, and the three cities with populations over eight million: Delhi, Greater Mumbai (Bombay), and Kolkata (Calcutta).<ref>{{cite journal | author = Khan J.H. | year = 2004 | title = Population growth and demographic change in India | journal = Asian Profile | volume = 32 | issue = 5| pages = 441–460 }}</ref>

Mortality rates fell in the period 1920–45, primarily due to biological immunisation. Suggestions that it was the benefits of colonialism are refuted by academic thinking: "There can be no serious, informed belief... that... late colonial era mortality diminished and population grew rapidly because of improvements in income, living standards, nutrition, environmental standards, sanitation or health policies, nor was there a cultural transformation...".<ref>{{cite journal | author = Klein Ira | year = 1990 | title = The demographic revolution | journal = Indian Economic and Social History Review | volume = 27 | issue = 1| pages = 33–63 | doi = 10.1177/001946469002700102 | s2cid = 144517813 }}</ref>