NEW DELHI -- India's population is now more than 1.2 billion, an increase of 181 million in a decade, putting it on course to surpass China as the world's most populous nation sometime after 2030, according to preliminary census results released Thursday.
While India's population growth rate slowed significantly to 17.6 percent during the past decade -- putting it on target to double in size in about 50 years -- India still added nearly enough people to match the biggest country in South America.
"We have added almost one Brazil to our population in last one decade," C. Chandramouli, India's census commissioner said.
The combined populations of just two of its states, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, exceed that of the United States.
Continued migration is expected from rural to urban areas, and a slowing in overall population growth as the economy improves, said K. Srinivasan, professor emeritus at Mumbai's International Institute for Population Sciences.
Another wrinkle is the changing sex breakdown. India has 623 million males and 586 million females, underscoring a continued preference for boys that, activists say, plays out in the abortion of female fetuses and other illegal sex-selection methods.
India now has 914 girls younger than 6 for every 1,000 boys, down from 927 girls to 1,000 boys a decade ago.
"The appearance is that India has a lot of economic growth," said Sudha Sundaram, general secretary of the Delhi-based All India Democratic Women's Association. "But a large sector, women and those in rural areas, are not gaining."
Because dowry and wedding costs have skyrocketed in India's booming economy, girls are viewed as an even greater burden in many areas, Sundaram said.
Census data found that 74 percent of Indians are literate, a 10 percent jump from a decade ago.
"This is a welcome step," said Avinash Kumar, a campaigner with Oxfam. "But often if you can write your name, you're considered literate. Many can't write one complete sentence in their mother tongue."
Despite a pledge to spend 6 percent of its budget on education, the government has only spent 3.1 percent, analysts said, and many eighth-grade students can't read or do math at first-grade levels. And often, teachers can't pass eighth-grade exams.
