Previous Year Question
What percentage of the total population of the world resides in India, as estimated in the year 2011?
15
17.5
20
22.5
Correct Answer: B
Detailed Solution
The correct answer is 17.5 percent.
In 2011, India's population was about 1.21 billion, accounting for approximately 17.5% of the total world population. In other words, roughly one out of every six persons in the world lived in India.
This figure highlights India's very large demographic size. An important related fact is that India accounts for only about 2.4% of the world's land area, while its share of world population in 2011 was 17.5%. Thus, there was a substantial difference between India's share of global land area and population.
In 2011, China ranked first and India second in the world in terms of population.