The combined study of the age, gender, place of residence, human race symptoms, language, religion, literacy, tribe, rural – urban status etc. of the population living in an area is known as the Population Composition. On this basis, the composition of population of India has been analyzed under the following titles:

1. Rural – urban population. 

2. Sex ratio.

3. Age structure. 

4. Literacy. 

5. Language Composition. 

6. Religious Structure. 

7. Racial Struture.

1. Rural – urban Population: In the year 2011, total population of India was 121.02 crore, in which 83.31 crore population (68.8% of the total population) was rural, while 37.71 crore population (31.20% of the total population) was urban. In India, the highest concentration of rural population (percentage of rural population in the total population of the state) is found in the states – Himachal Pradesh (89.96%), Bihar (88.70%), Assam (85.92%), Odisha (83.32%), Meghalaya (79.92%), Uttar Pradesh (77.72%) and Arunachal Pradesh (77.33%). In India, the highest concentration of urban population (percentage of urban population in the total population of the state) is found in the states – Tamil Nadu (48.45%), Kerala (47.72%), Maharashtra (45.23%), Gujarat (42.58%), Karnataka (38.57%) and Punjab (37.49%)

2. Sex – Ratio: In the year 2011, the average sex-ratio in India was 940. In 2011, the states having a higher sex-ratio than the average sex – ratio of India were Kerala (1084), Tamil Nadu (995), Andhra Pradesh (992), and the union territories like Puducherry (1031) and Lakshadweep (945), whereas, the states having the lowest sex ratio were Haryana (877), Jammu – Kashmir (883), Sikkim (889), and the union territories like Daman and Diu (618), Dadra and Nagar Haveli (775) and Chandigarh (818).

3. Age Structure: The study of the percentage of the population of people of different age – groups of a country comes under the category of age structure. As per 2011 census, 29.5% of the total population of India consists of juvenile group (0 – 14 age group), 62.5% consists of adult group (15 – 59 years) and 8% consists of old – age group (60 years and above).

4. Literacy: In 2011, the literacy rate in the country was 74.04%. The states/union territories with higher literacy than the average include Kerala (93.91%), Lakshadweep (92.2%) and Mizoram (91.58%) whereas, the states with lowest literacy rate include Bihar (63.82%), Rajasthan (67.06%), Jammu – Kashmir (68.74%), Uttar Pradesh (69.72%) and Madhya Pradesh (70.63%).

5. Language Composition: According to the 2011 census, Hindi is the mother-tongue of 48.69 crore people in the country (40.22% of the total population). The other major languages of the country include Bengali (8.3% of the total population), Telugu (7.87%), Marathi (7.45%), Tamil (6.32%), Urdu (5.18%) and Gujarati (4.85%). The other languages spoken in the country include Kannada (3.91%), Malayalam (3.62%), Oriya (3.35%), Punjabi (2.79%) and Assamese (1.56%).

6. Religious Structure: In 2011, the followers of the Hindu religion constitute 79.56% of the total population of India. Whereas, the percentage of the followers of the Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Jain religion is respectively 14.31, 2.36, 1.74, 0.77 and 0.41 percent of the total population of the country. In India, the highest percentage of the Hindu population at the state level is in Himachal Pradesh (95.43%) and the lowest percentage is in Mizoram (3.55%). The highest percentage of the Muslim population is found in Lakshadweep (94.92%) and the lowest percentage is in Mizoram (1.14%). In terms of population-size, the states with highest Muslim population include Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Bihar.

7. Racial structure: The Races found in India include Negrito, Proto – Australoid, Mongoloid, Mediterranean, Broad. Headed Western Races and Nordic Races. Negrito race is found primarily in the states like Nagaland and Jharkhand. Proto – Australoid race is found mainly in Central India and in the mountainous forest areas of South India. Mongoloid tribe resides in north – eastern states, Sikkim, Lahaul – Spiti and in areas of Ladakh. Nordic Race lives in north – western – parts of India. Mediterranean and broad – headed western Race are found residing in different regions of India.