8 | India Seen Through First Synchronous Census of 1881: A Demographic Overview

The population was roughly 91% rural and 9% urban. In rural areas, the village hierarchy was self-sufficing, with established roles for headmen, accountants, and artisans (smiths, weavers, potters) to serve the immediate needs of cultivators. Large-scale factory industry was mostly confined to cities like Bombay, where approximately 36,000 people (9.5% of the working community) were employed as mill hands (Plowden, 1883).

Table: Percentage and Number of Urban and Rural Population

This table details the distribution of the population between villages (rural) and towns (urban) across various provinces and states.

Table: Population of the Great Cities of India

The following cities were identified as the largest in the Empire

The distribution of settlements in 1881 India shows a clear gradient from highly dispersed to more nucleated habitation patterns across provinces. A large share of regions—particularly the feudatory areas of Central Provinces, Punjab, and North-Western Provinces—are dominated by very small villages (under 200 population), indicating fragmented agrarian landscapes and likely subsistence-oriented rural economies. Moving across the spectrum, provinces such as Bengal, Burma, Mysore, and the Central Provinces (British) display a more balanced mix of small and mid-sized villages, suggesting transitional settlement systems.

At the other end, western and southern regions like Bombay, Baroda, Travancore, and especially Cochin exhibit a relatively higher proportion of larger settlements (500+ and 1000+), pointing toward more clustered habitation, possibly linked to stronger market integration, irrigation networks, or administrative consolidation. The “All India” average, placed at the end, reinforces that while small villages predominate nationally, there exists substantial regional variation in settlement structure shaped by ecological, economic, and historical factors.

Between 1871 and 1921, the population of India grew from approximately 255 million to 305 million, implying a very low average annual growth rate of just 0.36% (Dyson, 2018).

Mortality during this period was also linked to epidemic disease. In the Deccan famine (discussed at length in the previous article), outright starvation was often secondary to outbreaks of cholera and malaria (Dyson, 2018). Estimates of excess deaths for the 1876–78 famine range from official figures of 5.6 million to unofficial assessments as high as 9.4 million (Dyson, 2018).

Coupled with life expectancies hovering between 22 and 27 years, the census captured a population trapped in a pattern of recurrent crisis where any growth in prosperous years was repeatedly wiped out by such demographic shocks (Dyson, 2018).

The age structure of India's population in 1881 was fundamentally characterized by extreme youth, reflecting uncontrolled fertility and high mortality. The Census recorded that 38.9 per cent of the inhabitants were aged 0–14 years, whereas only 5.9 per cent survived to the age of 60 and over (Dyson, 2018).

Infant mortality was the primary driver of these low figures; G. F. Hardy deduced that nearly 40 per cent of all babies died before attaining their fifth birthday (Dyson, 2023; Plowden, 1883).

Because vital registration was virtually useless at the time, later demographers used the 1881 age returns to estimate fertility and mortality patterns by analyzing the survivorship of population age groups from one census to the next (Dyson, 2018; Dyson, 2022). 

These methods allowed researchers to identify female age shifting and other systematic errors, providing the first reliable quantitative snapshot of India's pre-transitional demographic history (Dyson, 2022).

The 1881 Census brought to light early signs of gender imbalance, recording 129,941,851 males and 123,949,970 females, a sex ratio of approximately 105 males per 100 females.

Strong male bias could be seen in Punjab (especially British territory), North West Provinces (UP), Rajputana, and Berar (Central India). It indicates significant gender imbalance, possibly linked to social structure, enumeration biases, or migration patterns. Government documents observed that many census workers failed to recognize that the enumeration of women was a necessary part of the process (Plowden, 1883).

This was attributed to the low value placed on women in society and the cultural tendency to keep information about female members private. Marriageable girls between the ages of 10 and 20 were systematically concealed by householders operating under false shame among the upper classes (Plowden, 1883).

As a comparison we can study the sex ratio in European population , which shows far greater degree of evenness ~50

Table: Sex Ratio of the Child Population

The following table illustrates the sex ratio for child population 0-4 years, calculated in two ways (Females per 1000 Males  and no of Males per 100 Females. The regions Ajmere (107.5), Punjab (Feudatory) (107.5), Punjab (British) (105.5), and N.W. Provinces (Feudatory) (101.2) show early male excess. 

Source: Plowden, 1883

The 1881 census data on civil condition reveals a society where marriage was nearly universal and typically contracted at a very early age, creating a demographic profile fundamentally different from contemporaneous European nations (Plowden, 1883). Across the major provinces, the proportion of married females averaged 490 per 1,000, significantly exceeding the European average of approximately 330 per 1,000 (Plowden, 1883). This regime of early marriage, combined with strong social and religious prohibitions against widow remarriage, resulted in an exceptionally high prevalence of widowhood (Plowden, 1883). 

These statistics underscore how cultural institutions such as child marriage directly shaped India's population structure, contributing to a high pressure demographic regime characterized by high birth rates and the existence of a large class of female ‘despised drudges’ who remained single after the death of a spouse (Plowden, 1883).

Across all major religious groups in the 1881 Census, a remarkably consistent life-cycle pattern emerges. For women, marriage occurs early and rapidly—often becoming the dominant status by ages 15–19—followed by a steady and dramatic transition into widowhood. By ages 50–59 and especially 60+, widowhood overwhelmingly dominates the female population. In contrast, men exhibit a very different trajectory: entry into marriage is slower, but once married, they largely remain so throughout life, with widowhood rising only gradually and never overtaking marriage.

Religious differences primarily affect the timing of these transitions rather than their underlying structure. Groups such as Hindoo and Mahammedan populations show earlier female marriage, while Christian and Aboriginal groups display relatively delayed entry. However, the broader institutional pattern—a gendered asymmetry where women move from marriage into prolonged widowhood while men remain predominantly married—remains strikingly uniform. This suggests that what appears as religious variation is, in fact, a shared demographic regime shaped by deeper social norms around marriage, mortality, and remarriage.

Child marriage

The practice of child marriage in India around the 1881 census was nearly universal, compared to european standards. Among Hindus across the subcontinent, approximately 292 boys and nearly 860 girls in every 1000 children aged 0-9 were married (Plowden, 1881). 

The census also noted that for a large proportion of these marriages, the bethrotal ceremony was observed, making it legally binding even though cohabitation did not begin until puberty. In Baroda, census reports noted some communities like Kaidva Kunbis practiced mass marriage season every 10-12 years. In the 1880 season, it was noted that parents married off babies even under the age of 1, to avoid missing the auspicious time window (Plowden, 1881).

Female children were married off significantly earlier than males. By the age of 20, only 0.85% Hindu women remained single. Pattern of child marriage was heavily influenced by religious doctrine. Hindu and Jain religions showed high frequency, followed by Muslim, where child marriage was less common. Buddhists and Aboriginal were noted to shun child marriage and it was described as ‘practically unknown’ within these groups (Plowden, 1881).

The combination of early marriage and vast difference in the age between the husband and wife created a unique demographic crisis. Because the hindu customs disallowed widow remarriage, child marriage directly resulted in ‘super abandance of widows’, many of whom were still children. Child marriage was most prevelant in Berar, followed by Hyderabad, Bengal and North-West Provinces (Plowden, 1881).