17% of world’s population lives in India, census finds

INDIA’S new national census has put the population at about 1.21 billion people, or 17% of the world’s population, the country’s census commissioner has said.

The increase of 181 million over the last decade is close to the figure officials had estimated, said Dr C Chandramouli.

While it is a 17.6% increase from the 2001 census, the rise is slower than the previous count which showed 21.5% growth.