Rural-Urban Demography in West Bengal: A Changing Pattern

Demographic characteristics of a country provide an overview of its population size, composition, changes therein and the components of changes such as literacy, fertility, mortality etc. This paper on rural-urban demographic indicators in West Bengal includes population statistics and vital statistics. Population statistics include indicators that measure the population size, population density, sex ratio, and literacy rate while vital statistics include indicators such as birth rate, death rate, natural growth rate, total fertility rate and infant mortality rate. These indicators for the state will help in identifying areas that need policy and programmed interventions, setting near and far-term goals, and deciding priorities, besides understanding them in an integrated structure. Data in this paper has been taken mainly from the “Census of India”.