The provisional census report for the year 2011, released by the Centre today in Delhi, has said that the population of India has reached an estimated figure of 1.21 billion (121 Crores).

The population was up by 181 million in the last 10 years and the figure of 121 billion consisted of 623.7 millions of males and 586.5 millions of females, the report said.

Reacting to the report, population experts said that the present population of the country was equal to the combined populations of the United States, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Japan.

Uttar Pradesh most populous

Among all the states and Union territories, Uttar Pradesh topped the census figure with a population of 199 million people and Lakshadweep was said to have the least population of 64,429. The combined population of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra is bigger than that of the U.S.

While China has 19.4 per cent of the world’s total population, India has 17.5 per cent of the world population, the report says.