Page 31 - economic review

3CHAPTER

MACRO ECONOMIC PROFILE

Introduction

Kerala is a unique state, quite unlike the rest of India in many ways. It has a dense and rapidly ageing
population, which is characterized by high literacy and social indicators on par with developed
economies . However unemployment, over dependence on the service sector, inter-district inequality,
pockets of extreme deprivation, a rapidly decreasing farm sector and a large fiscal and revenue
deficit are some of the concerns that Government of Kerala is grappling with. Rapid urbanization
also calls for greater attention on housing, transport, waste management, drinking water and so on.
All this calls for systematic improvements in planning and implementation, so that optimum results
are attained with the limited resources available.

Section 1
Demography

Population is one of the important drivers of economic growth. It helps to determine the size of work
force as well. As per the final data published by the Directorate of Census, Kerala’s population as
on March 2011 was 3,34,06,061. Out of this 1,60,27,412 (48 per cent) are males and 1,73,78,649
(52 per cent) are females. When the last census was taken, these figures were 3,18,41,374 total,
1,54,68,614 (48.6 per cent) males and 1,63,72,760 (51.4 per cent) females.
1.2 The growth rate of Kerala’s population during the last ten years is 4.9 per cent, the lowest rate
among Indian states. Fig. 1.1 shows that the national rate of growth of population during the last
ten years is 17.6 per cent. The population growth trend shows that Kerala is moving towards zero
population growth or towards negative growth. Among the districts Malappuram has the highest
growth rate of 13.4 per cent, while Pathanamthitta has the lowest growth rate (- 3.0 per cent). Idukki
also has a negative growth rate (-1.8 per cent).It reveals that the growth rate of six southern districts
(Idukki, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Kollam, Pathanamthitta and Thiruvananthapuram) is lower growth
rate .

Economic Review 2014