A demographic history of Delhi from ancient times, through Independence, and till the present day,using maps and Census data. Caveat- the administrative units described are as of 1st January 2010,on the basis of which Census 2011 was conducted. In 2012-2013, the number of Municipal Bodies increased to 5 because the MCD split into North, South and East MCD. The number of revenue districts increased to 11. Also- apologies for the distorted logo- in the original PPT, it's a rotating gif! Error pointed out by @rkarnad- Tughlaqabad was built by Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq, not Mohammad Bin Tughaq.

1. DELHI
Demographics of a Capital City
VARSHA JOSHI, IAS
DIRECTOR CENSUS OPERATIONS DELHI
23rd DECEMBER 2013

2. NATIONAL CAPITAL TERRITORY OF DELHI
 1483 sq km
 16.79 million residents
 Three Municipal Bodies
 222 Rural Villages
(of which 110 are Census
Towns)
 Nine Revenue Districts
2

3. Population of NCT Delhi over time, from 1901 to 2011
18,000,000
1,67,87,941
16,000,000
14,000,000
13,850,507
Population
12,000,000
10,000,000
9,420,644
8,000,000
6,220,406
6,000,000
4,065,698
4,000,000
413,851
2,000,000
488,452
405,819
2,658,612
1,744,072
636,246
917,939
0
1901
1911
1921
1931
1941
1951
1961
Census Year
1971
1981
1991
2001
2011
3

4. District wise population, from 1961 to 2011
4000000
3500000
3000000
Population
North West
2500000
North
North East
East
2000000
New Delhi
Central
West
1500000
South West
South
1000000
500000
0
1961
1971
1981
1991
Census Year
2001
2011
4

5. “THE SEVEN CITIES OF DELHI”
 Indraprastha
 Lal Kot
c. 1450 BC
c. 700-1000 AD
Qila Rai Pithora
Mehrauli
 Siri
 Tughlaqabad
 Ferozabad
 Dilli Sher Shah
1170 AD
1192 AD
c. 1300 AD
c. 1330 AD
1354 AD
1540 AD
 Shahajahanabad 1639 AD
5

6. 6

7. 7

8. 8

9. 9

10. 10

11. 11

12. 12

13. 13

14. DELHI : 1881-1911
 Part of Punjab province
 The walled city area was the only
urban settlement
 The Red Fort was a military zone
occupied by the British
 The rest was rural for all practical
purposes
 Shahadra/ Trans Yamuna area
was part of the United Provinces
(Meerut Division)
 Remained essentially unchanged
till 1911
14

15. POPULATION : 1881-1911
Parts of the
Delhi City
1881
1891
1901
1911
Walled City
170,000
195,000
206,000
229,000
3,000
3,000
2,000
3,700
178,000
180,000
198,000
181,000
Fort
Rural Area
15

16. 1911 : THE CORONATION DURBAR
 King George V proclaims that
Delhi would henceforth be the
capital of the Indian Empire
 New Delhi and New
Cantonment to come up in new
locations south of the Walled
City
King George V laid the foundation stone for
New Delhi; the stone is now the base of the
Jaipur Column in Rashtrapati Bhavan
16

17. 1911-1921 : DELHI UNDER CONSTRUCTION
 The Civil Lines area grew
rapidly, being the administrative
capital for the country
 Shahadra and the allied Trans
Yamuna region was added in
1915, but was then treated as a
rural area
 Suburbs such as Sadar
Bazar, Karol Bagh etc came up
and became part of the Delhi
Municipality
 In New Delhi and New
Cantonment, construction went
on at great speed
17

18. 1921-1931 : EMPIRE AT ITS PEAK
 Walled City and its suburbs
comprise Delhi Municipality
 New Delhi is a separate
Municipality
 Civil Lines, The New
Cantonment, and Shahadra
are each separate Notified
Areas
18

19. 1931-1941 : WAR-TIME AND AN
ABBREVIATED CENSUS
 Apart from Shahadra, three
new areas were treated as
urban due to having a
population above 5,000 and a
high densityMehrauli, Najafgarh, and
Narela
 For the first time, a sharp rise in
total population was in
evidence in all parts of the city
19

20. POPULATION : 1921-1941
Locality
1921
1931
1941
Delhi Municipality
248,000
348,000
522,000
Civil Lines & Red Fort
18,000
18,000
21,000
New Delhi Municipality
31,000
65,000
94,000
6,000
9,000
23,000
8,000
16,000
New Cantonment
Shahadra
Narela
8,000
Mehrauli
6,000
Najafgarh
6,000
Rural
Total
185,000
188,000
222,000
488,000
636,000
918,000
20

21. 1947 : INDEPENDENCE AND PARTITION
 While Independence made Delhi the capital of free
India, it also led to the harrowing saga of Partition
 Refugees both from East and West Pakistan poured into
Delhi and were resettled in large numbers in newly carved
residential areas
 At the same time, generations-old residents of the walled
city left Delhi for Pakistan
21

22. 1951 : DELHI, THE CAPITAL OF THE INDIAN
REPUBLIC
 The census count was 1.74
million, including 495,000
resettled persons
 The urban area was increased
by the addition in West Delhi
of the new resettlement
colonies of Karol Bagh, Patel
Nagar and Rajendra Nagar
22

23. 1951-1961 : A MODERN PLANNED CITY
 In 1957, the Delhi Development
Authority was created “to promote
and secure the development of
Delhi”.
 In 1958, the Municipal Corporation of
Delhi (MCD) was formed, merging all
civic bodies except the New Delhi
Municipal Council and the Delhi
Cantonment Board.
 The population as per the 1961
census was 2.66 million.
23

24. 1961-1971 : THE AGE OF DELHI MASTER
PLAN (DMP) 1962
 The DMP 1962 was designed for a
population of 5 million by 1981.
The count was 4 million in 1971.
 The city grew southwards and
eastwards, broadly in
accordance with MPD 1962.
 DDA acquired agricultural land
for housing and other schemes;
when all the land of a village was
acquired, the village “abadi”
stayed in situ and the village was
notified as “urbanized”.
24

25. 1971-1981 : RISE OF THE CENSUS TOWNS
 The projection of the MPD 1962
was surpassed- the 1981 count
was 6.2 million.
 27 Census Towns- rural villages
with urban characteristicspopulation above 5,000, density
above 400 per sq km, and male
workers more than 75% non
agricultural- had developed on
the fringes of the MCD urban
area, providing cheap rental
accommodation.
25

26. 1981-1991 : DDA HOUSING COMES UP
 DDA colonies in Saket and Kalkaji
were fully occupied
 The sub-city of Rohini and the DDA
colony of Vasant Kunj came up
 Abadies of the “urbanised” villages
near these colonies became densely
populated and also commercialised
 Two more rural villages became CTs
 Population count in 1991 9.4 million
26

27. 1991-2001 : POPULATION OUTGROWS
PLANNING
 The Master Plan 2001, notified in
1990, had a projection of 12.8
million, but the actual count was
13.8 million in 2001.
 „Unauthorised colonies‟ came up
in a large number of rural villages
and Census Towns on the fringes.
 The no. of Census Towns rose
from 29 to 59.
 Construction began in Dwarka.
27

28. DELHI IN 2011
 The number of Census Towns
has gone up from 59 in 2001 to
110
 Numerous large slum clusters
such as Yamuna Pushta and
those in NDMC have been
removed.
 Total Population is 16.79 million
with a decadal growth rate of
21%
28

29. 1951-2011: AN URBAN POPULATION
EXPLOSION
CENSUS
YEAR
URBAN POPULATION
PERSONS
URBAN AREA
DECADAL
GROWTH (%)
ABSOLUTE
(SQ KM)
DECADAL
GROWTH
(%)
URBAN POPULATION
DENSITY
PERSONS PER
SQ KM
DECADAL
GROWTH
(%)
1951
1437000
107
201
15
7137
79
1961
2359000
64
327
63
7225
1
1971
3647000
55
446
36
8172
13
1981
5768000
58
592
33
9746
19
1991
8472000
47
685
16
12361
27
2001
12906000
52
925
35
13957
13
2011
16368899
27
1120
21
14584
4
29

30. URBAN vs TOTAL
POPULATION
NCT DELHI
18000
 While the total population
growth from 2001 to 2011 is
21%, the urban population
growth is 27%, indicating
that Delhi has been
urbanizing faster than it is
growing in the past
decade.
16000
Total Population
Urban Population
14000
12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
1951
1961
1971
1981
1991
2001
2011
30

31. POPULATION DENSITY
NCT DELHI
16000
 While the total population
density has increased from
9340 to 11320, an increase
of 21%, the urban density
has only increased by 4% in
the past decade.
Urban Density
Total Density
14000
12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
1951
1961
1971
1981
1991
2001
2011
31

32. A CITY MADE UP OF IN- MIGRANTS
 Urban Delhi has been a city of in-migrants since antiquity; its
character and culture evolves with the latest in-migrants, such as
the Turks and Afghans in the pre Mughal era, the administrators
and businessmen of British times, and the Punjab refugees and
pan Indian Central Government employees after Independence.
 In- migration from rural areas in search of work has been the
major reason for the population explosion in Delhi since 1951. In
2001, 67.5% of migrants were from rural areas. About 60% of
migrants came from UP and Bihar.
 The percentage of migrants to the total population
has, however, been steadily falling over the years.
32

33. IN-MIGRANTS 1951-2001
YEAR
MIGRANT
POPULATION
TOTAL
POPULATION
%AGE
1951
1,026,000
1,744,000
59
1961
1,638,000
2,658,000
62
1971
2,002,000
4,065,000
49
1981
2,970,000
6,220,000
48
1991
3,787,000
9,420,000
40
2001
5,950,000
13,850,000
43
33

34. MIGRANTS BY PLACE OF LAST RESIDENCE
AS PER CENSUS 2001
PLACE OF
LAST RESIDENCE
UTTAR PRADESH
BIHAR
%AGE
OF IN-MIGRANTS
40
19
HARYANA
8
UTTARANCHAL
5
RAJASTHAN
4
WEST BENGAL
4
PUNJAB
2
OTHERS
18
34

35. HAS IN-MIGRATION SLOWED DOWN?
 The lower decadal growth from 2001 to 2011 may indicate lower inmigration to Delhi.
 The overall sex ratio, which is usually on the lower side in large urban
centres due to male in migration, has increased significantly in the
latest census figures from 821 to 868.
Sex Ratio (Females per thousand Males)
1000
950
900
850
862
800
750
733
700
801
768
793
827
808
868
821
785
722
715
650
600
1901
1911
1921
1931
1941
1951
1961
1971
1981
1991
2001
2011
35

36. 36

37. THANK YOU
www.censusindia.gov.in