Northeast India - Demographics

Demographics

The 39 million people of Northeast India constitute only about 3.8 per cent of the total population of the country (2001 census). Over 68 per cent of this population (26.64 million) live in the state of Assam alone. The density of population varies from 13 per sq. kilometre in Arunachal Pradesh to 340 per sq. kilometre in Assam. The predominantly hilly terrain in all the states except Assam is host to an overwhelming proportion of tribal population ranging from 19.3 per cent in Assam to 94.5 per cent in Mizoram. The region has over 160 Scheduled Tribes and over 400 other sub-tribal communities and groups. It is predominantly rural with over 84 per cent of the population living in the countryside. According to 2001 census, the total literacy rate of the population in the region at 68.5 per cent, with female literacy rate at 61.5 per cent, is higher than the country's average of 64.8 per cent and 53.7 per cent respectively. Of course, there are significant variations in the literacy rates among different states with Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya below the national average.

The economy in all of Northeast India is agrarian in nature, although little land is available for settled agriculture. The inaccessible terrain has made rapid industrialization difficult in the region. Along with settled agriculture, jhum(shifting cultivation) is still practiced by a few indigenous groups of people.

Largest cities according to population of census 2011 -

• Guwahati
• Dimapur
• Agartala
• Dibrugarh
• Aizawl
• Shillong
• Imphal
• Jorhat
• Kohima
• Gangtok
• Silchar