The Kashmir of South India is the twelfth
largest state in terms of population.
God’s own country is wedged between the
Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats. It contributes just 2.76% to the current
Indian population. According to India Today, the current population of Kerala
is 33.3 million. However today, over 10% of the population lives outside the
state. Outside the state includes primarily of Gulf countries. The number of
gulf wives is estimated to be 1.2 million in the state that is roughly 10% of
the state’s population. The following
chart shows the increasing emigrants in Kerala.
The main areas of Emigrants are the
northern districts such as Kasaragod, Kannur,and Malapuram. In Malapuram about 71% of the
households have at least one emigrant or a return emigrant. Of all the
districts Malapuram has the largest number of emigrants. The
following table shows the contributions of the religions to the state.
This transition has gained international
importance. The state is just 580 km long along the coast and the width varies
from 35 km to 120 km. The tiny state’s demographic achievement is unique and
has earned worldwide accolades.
The main reason behind the state’s
achievement is the sex ratio. Kerala has the highest sex ratio of all states.
Sex ratio is the ratio between the numbers of males to females. In Kerala, for
every 1000 men there are 1084 females.
Courtesy: Census
India
Apart from sex
ratio, Kerala also has the highest literacy rates of 94%. Especially women literacy rate! A famous
saying goes as “Educate a women, you educate a family”. The saying’s veracity
can be seen in the state.
Last but not
least, Kerala has a very good total fertility rate (TFR) which is the governing
factor of the population and thereby of the development. It is the average
number of offspring a woman will have during her lifetime. TFR of Kerala is 1.28% which is similar to
China.
The state has
accomplished all this in spite of its sluggish growth of economy. It has been
doable because of the state’s human development indices like elimination of
poverty, health care, and education. 95% of the children in Kerala are hospital
delivered.
Researchers are
still willing to take Kerala as the case of study to find out the reasons
behind the rapid demographic transition with the poor economic growth rate.
In short, Kerala
stands as the Mt Everest in its social development.
Author: Subhashini Rajendran, a freelance writer. She writes at http://www.durofy.com/author/
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