Tamil Nadu 2003 - of Planning Commission

TAMIL NADU—A PROFILE ✦ 5
most urbanized State in the country with 42 per cent of its population living in urban areas. 3 Tamil Nadu’s slum
population was estimated in 1993–4 to be 3.13 million which is 16.5 per cent of the total urban population of
the State. More than 30 per cent of Chennai’s population lives in slums and 50 per cent of these are in dense
slum areas.
TABLE 1.1—BASIC DEMOGRAPHIC INDICATORS
S.no. Indicators 1971 1981 1991 1997 2001
(Provisional)
1. Population (Million) 41.2 48.2 55.9 60.0 62.1
2. Decennial growth (%) 22.3 17.5 15.4 7.5 11.2
3. Density of population per sq. km 317.0 372.0 429.0 462.0 478.0
4. Urban population (%) 30.3 33.0 34.2 36.8 43.9
5. Sex ratio 978.0 977.0 974.0 975.0 986.0
6. Percentage of 0–14 years old 37.8 35.0 30.9 30.3 NA
Note: NA—Not Available.
Source: Registrar General of India, Census Documents 1971, 1981,1991, 2001 (Provisional).
Table 1.1 shows that children below the age of 15 constituted 30.3 per cent of the population in 1997. It also
shows that the dependency load in the State is high which may adversely affect capital formation of the economy.
The scheduled castes (SCs) constitute a higher percentage of the population in Tamil Nadu (19.18 per cent in
1991 as against 18.3 per cent in 1981) compared to that for the country as a whole (16.3 per cent in 1991 and
15.7 per cent in 1991). However, Tamil Nadu has a much lower percentage of scheduled tribes (STs)—1 per cent
in 1991 as against the all-India average of 8 per cent.
Economy
Agriculture
Agriculture has been the mainstay of the State economy since independence with more than 65 per cent of the
population depending on this sector for a living. There are strong links between agriculture and economic growth.
Agriculture spurs demand for inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides and machinery, and on the supply side it provides
raw material for agro-based industries such as cotton textiles, sugar and vegetable oils. With increase in incomes,
the increase in expenditure of rural households results in a higher demand for consumer goods including clothing,
sugar and edible oils.
However, in the process of development, the share of agriculture in the net State domestic product (NSDP)
gradually declines due to higher productivity and production in the non-agricultural sectors. In Tamil Nadu, the
contribution of agriculture (inclusive of crop, livestock, fisheries and forestry) to NSDP has been declining over
the last few decades (Table 1.2). Whereas agriculture accounted for 53.27 per cent of NSDP in 1950–1, it accounts
for only 16.65 per cent in 2001–02. On the other hand, the share of the secondary and tertiary sectors has
increased from 13.72 per cent and 33 per cent, respectively in 1950–1 to 34.04 per cent and 49.31 per cent in 2001–
02 (Table 1.2). There was a decline in the primary sector at the national level from 49 per cent to 27.5 per cent
during the same period.
3 In 1991, the urban population in Tamil Nadu constituted 34.15 per cent of the total population and Tamil Nadu was the third most
urbanized State after Maharashtra and Gujarat. The large increase in the urban population is mostly due to re-classification of rural areas
as urban areas.