India's new national census puts the population at about 1.21 billion people, or 17 percent of the world population, the census commissioner said on Thursday.
The increase of 181 million over the last decade is near what officials had estimated, C. Chandramauli said. While it is a 17.6 percent increase from the 2001 census, it is slower than the previous count that showed 21.5 percent growth.
The census indicated a continuing preference for male children over females in a country where female infanticide is still common and the government has banned hospitals from revealing the sex of unborn children to their families.
A gender breakdown among children showed fewer girls than boys are being born or surviving, with 914 girls for every 1000 boys under the age of 6, compared with 927 for every 1000 in the last census.
"This is a matter of grave concern," Chandramauli said.
The literacy rate went up to 74 percent nationwide for people aged 7 and older, from about 65 percent in the last census.
Officials said it would require up to a year of data analysis before official numbers could be released.
