The People & the Population

From the ancient times, Assam has been a melting-pot of various cultural linguistic tribes and races. Assam is often described in the academic circle as an anthro-pologist’s paradise. All the major races of the world, the Austro-Asiatic, the Indo-Aryans, the Indo-Tibetians, the Mongolians, the Negroids – all have combined to make the great Assamese people. But, there is no scientific evidence to support the premise, as to who were the earliest inhabitants of Assam. In fact, it is only in the New Stone Age, that evidence points towards the occupation of Assam by some race or other.

The People

Assamese race is a composite whole of people belonging to different racial classes who settled in this region. Dr Lila Gogoi theoretically defines the term ‘Assamese’ as one who is born in Assam, who has been permanently residing in Assam, one who speaks the Assamese language, one who maintains an unbreakable bond with the Assamese way of life and one who has in some way or the other contributed to the upliftment of the State.

	Ranking of Districts by Population Size, 2011
Sl no	Rank District	Population	Percentage to total population of the State
	Assam	3,12,05,576	100.00
1	Nagaon	28,23,768	6.25
2	Dhubri	19,49,258	6.18
3	Sonitpur	19,24,110	6.18
4	Cachar	17,36,617	5.57
5	Barpeta	16,93,622	5.43
6	Kamrup	15,17,542	4.87
7	Tinsukia	13,27,929	4.26
8	Dibrugarh	13,26,335	4.23
9	Kamrup (Metro)	12,53,938	4.04
10	Karimganj	12,28,686	3.90
11	Sivasagar	11,51,050	3.69
12	Jorhat	10,92,256	3.50
13	Golaghat	10,66,888	3.40
14	Lakhimpur	10,42,137	3.34
15	Goalpara	10,08,183	3.24
16	Morigaon	9,57,423	3.10
17	Karbi Anglong	9,56,313	3.07
18	Baksa	9,50,075	3.06
19	Darrang	9,28,500	2.91
20	Kokrajhar	8,87,142	2.85
21	Udalguri	8,31,668	2.67
22	Nalbari	7,71,629	2.47
23	Bongaigaon	7,38,804	2.35
24	Dhemaji	6,86,133	2.21
25	Hailakandi	6,59,296	2.12
26	Chirang	4,82,162	1.55
27	Dima Hasao(N C Hills)	2,14,102	0.69

But for the sake of easy understanding, we can conclude that the first race to settle in Assam was Austrics, then followed the Mongolians and finally came the Aryans.

Austrics entered Assam through the sea route. The physical appearance of these people was thin. They were

Ranking of Districts by Population Density & Sex Ratio, 2011
Rank District Assam	Population Density 397	Rank	Rank District Assam	Sex Ratio 397
1 Kamrup (metro)	1313		1 Kamrup (metro)	974
2 Dhubri	896		Udalguri	973
3 Barpeta	742		Chirang	969
4 Nalbari	733		Lakhimpur	968
5 Nagaon	711		Morigaon	967
6 Karimganj	697		Bongaigaon	966
7 Bongaigaon	676		Goalpara	964
8 Morigaon	617		Golaghat	964
9 Darrang	586		Karimganj	963
10 Goalpara	553		Jorhat	962
11 Hailakandi	497		Nagaon	962
12 Kamrup	489		Dibrugarh	961
13 Cachar	459		Kokrajhar	959
14 Lakhimpur	458		Sonitpur	956
15 Sivasagar	431		Sivasagar	954
16 Udalguri	413		Darrang	954
17 Dibrugarh	392		Dhubri	953
18 Baksa	387		Dhemaji	953
19 Jorhat	383		Tinsukia	952
20 Sonitpur	370		Karbi Anglong	951
21 Tinsukia	350		Hailakandi	951
22 Golaghat	305		Nalbari	949
23 Kokrajhar	269		Kamrup	949
24 Chirang	251		Cachar	945
25 Dhemaji	212		Barpeta	940
26 Karbi Anglong	92		Kamrup (Metro)	936
27 Dima Hasao	44		Dima Hasao	932

short in stature and their skins were dark. Their hair was copper coloured and curly. They generally settled in the plains. Later on, they perhaps mingled with the Mongolians, according to experts.

The Mongolians entered Assam through the Patkai hill range via Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. They were sallow complexioned with straight spiky hair, broad faced and small eyed.

Ahoms, Kachari,, Koch, Rabha, Mech, Mikir (Karbi), Lalung (Tiwa), Garo, Naga, Luchai, Kuki, Chutia, Khamti, Singhphow, Adi, Aka, Dafala, Mising, Boro etc. are descendents of this original race. The advent of the Mongolians carried up to as late as 17th century.

Population Trends in Assam (in thousands)
Year	Persons	Plain Districts	Hill Districts
1901	3290	3249	41
1911	3849	3822	27
1921	4637	4608	29
1931	5560	5527	33
1941	6695	6562	133
1951	8029	7894	165
1961	10837	10558	279
1971	14625	14170	455
1981	18041	NA	NA
1991	22414	21600	814
2001	26655	25654	1001
2011	31205	29993	1212

Around the time the Mongolians entered Assam, the Aryans also started filtering into India via the north-west route. Although majority of the Aryans settled in the Gangetic plains, a sizeable population entered Assam through Bihar and West Bengal. The Aryans who came here had Inter-racial marriages with the local women, resulting in a new community. In this manner, Aryan civilization spread its roots and flourished in this State. In ancient times, before Ahoms finally established their rule over Assam, the kings who were ruling before them brought these Brahmins (Aryans) along with them for their erudition and learning. The modern day Assamese Brahmin can be said to be the descendents of those ancient Aryans.
In the times of British, there was a steady influx of people from three different directions: (a) East Bengal, whose people were basically farmers, (b) Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and Madras and (c) Nepal.
The people who came from East Bengal settled in the present district of Goalpara and took to farming. People coming from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and Madras (Chennai) found themselves employed in the newly opened tea gardens which gained importance during the British rule. The people of Nepal settling in Assam, started dealing in milk.
In this way, down the ages, so many races with their languages, social customs, modes of dress mingled into the pan-Assamese identity and emerged as the Assamese race that we know today.
The Population According to Final Population Totals of 2011 census, the population of Assam stands at 3,12,05,576 of which 1,59,39,443 males and 1,52,66,133 are females. Assam is the home of about 2.58% of India’s population. According to the available statistics, Assam ranks 14th position. The State

accounts for 2.39% of the India’s total area. Whereas the growth rate of India is 17.64%, the same for Assam is 16.93%. Nagaon is the largest district, population wise with 9.07% people of the State living there followed by Dhubri with 6.25% and Sonitpur with 6.18% of the State’s population followed by Cachar with 5.57%.
Assam is extremly under urbanised. According to 2011 census only 14% of the total population of the State live in towns.
In 2011, Assam had 26,312 inhabited villages accounting for about 4 percent of the country’s total number (5,08,781) of villages. The scheduled caste and scheduled tribes populations as per 2011 census are 22,31,321 and 38,84,371 respectively.

Population density (the number of persons per square kilometre of Assam is 398 in 2011. In 1901 it was 42 persons only. From the data available so far, among the districts, Kamrup (Metro) has the highest Population Density density of 1,313 persons per square kilometre followed by Dhubri (896) and Barpeta (742). Dima Hasao is the most sparsely populated area of the State with 44 persons per sq km

Population Density
(1901-2011)
Census Density	Density India	All
1901	42	77
1911	49	82
1921	59	81
1931	71	90
1941	85	103
1951	102	117
1961	138	142
1971	186	177
1981	230	216
1991	286	267
2001	340	324
2011	398	382

Sex ratio (the number of female 103 per 1000 male) of Assam 117 improved to 958 in 2011 from 935 142 in 2001. In 2011, there has been an increase by 23 points to 958 per thousand male. Among the districts, Baksa has 324 the highest sex-ratio of 974 female 382 per 1000 male, following by Udalguri

(973), Chirang (969), Lakhimpur (968) and Morigaon (967). Dima Hasao accounted for the lowest number of female per
thuosand male with 932.
Heavily Populated Districts
The five heavily populated districts of the State are: Kamrup Metropolitan (density 1,313), Dhubri (896), Barpeta’ (742), Nalbari (733) and Nagaon (711).
Literacy
The Final Population Totals of 2011 results that there has been an increase in literacy in the State. In 2001, the literacy rate of Assam was 63.25% (71.28% for male and 54.61% for female). In 2011, the literacy rate of the state is 72.19% (77.85% for male and 63.00% for female).

Ranking of Districts by Literacy Rate, 2011
Rank	District	Literacy Rate %	Rank	District	Literacy Rate %
	Assam	72.19		Nagaon	72.37
	Kamrup Metro	88.71		Bongaigaon	69.14
	Jorhat	82.15		Tinsukia	69.66
	Sivasagar	80.14		Karbi Anglong	69.25
	Cachar	79.34		Baksa	69.25
	Nalbari	78.63		Morigaon	68.03
	Karimganj	78.22		Goalpara	67.37
	Dima Hasao	77.54		Sonitpur	67.34
	Golaghat	77.43		Udalguri	65.41
	Lakshimpur	77.20		Kokrajhar	65.22
	Dibrugargh	76.05		Barpeta	63.81
	Kamrup	75.55		Chirang	63.55
	Hailakandi	74.33		Darrang	63.08
	Dhemaji	72.70		Dhubri	58.30

From the 1991 census, the question on literacy was canvassed only for population aged seven years and above.

Literacy Rate 1951-2011

Year	Persons%	Male%	Female%
1951	18.53	28.01	7.58
1961	32.95	44.28	18.62
1971	33.94	43.72	22.76
1981
1991	52.89	61.87	43.03
2001	63.25	71.28	54.61
2011	72.19	77.85	63.00

Unlike earlier censuses which took into account population of five years and above for this purpose.
From the data available so far, among the districts, Kamrup (Metro) is on top with 88.71% literacy rate in the State. Dhubri stood at the bottom with a literacy rate of 58.30% with Darrang being close to it having 63.08% literacy. Literacy among women is the lowest in Dhubri with a percentage of 53.33.
Literacy rate of both male and female showed sizeable increase from 71.28% (male) and 54.61% (female) in 2001 to 77.85% (male) and 63.00% (female) respectively in 2011.