Bhubaneswar, April 7: The population growth in the state is on the decline. During the current decade (2001-2011), the state has registered a growth rate of 13.97 per cent compared to a 16.25 per cent growth rate during the last decade (1991-2001).

The decline is visible from the provisional population report released today by the Directorate of Census Operation, Orissa.

The state’s population is 3.47 per cent of the total population of India as against 3.58 per cent in 2001. Now the population stands at 4,19,47,358 including 2,12,01,678 males and 2,07,45,680 females.

Among the districts, Ganjam is the most populous district whereas Deogarh has the lowest population.

During the current decade, Balangir has recorded the highest growth rate of 23.29 per cent whereas the lowest growth rate is recorded in Jagatsingpur — 7.44 per cent. Jagatsingpur and Baragarh (9.84%) have a recorded a growth rate of less than 10 per cent during the decade.

Though the sex ratio (number of females per 1,000 males) in Orissa has increased from 972 to 978 in 2011, the worrying factor is that the sex ratio population in the age group of 0-6 has come down from 953 in 2001 to 934.

“It has come down because of the decline in fertility rate,” said director, Census, Bishunpada Sethi.

Among the districts, Rayagada has recorded the highest ratio of 1,048 females per 1,000 males in 2011.

The number of districts a with sex ratio more than 1,000 has gone up to 10 districts from six. The lowest sex ratio of 916 was recorded in Nayagarh during the 2011 census.

The sex ratio in most of the coastal districts is below the state’s average of 978.

The sex ratio in the coastal district such as Jagatsinghpur is 967, Cuttack 955, Balasore 957, Khurda 925.

Among the coastal district, Kendrapara has the best sex ratio at 1,006.

The highest sex ratio in the child population category has been recorded in the district of Nabarangpur (988) whereas the lowest sex ratio is 851 in Nayagarh.

The literacy rate has gone up to 73.45 per cent from 63.08 per cent in 2001.

While the male literacy rate stands at 82.40 per cent, female literacy rate hovers around 64.36 per cent.

The highest percentage of literacy has been recorded in Khurda (87.51 per cent). Among males, the highest literacy rate has been recorded in the district of Jagatsinghpur (93.20 per cent) while among females, the highest literacy rate is in Khurda district (82.06 per cent).

The lowest literacy rate is has been recorded in Nabarangpur (48.20 per cent). Sixteen districts have recorded a higher percentage of literacy rate than the state’s average of 73.45.

The highest gap between the male and female literacy rates was recorded in Nuapada (26.34 per cent) here and the lowest gap is 10.49 in Khurda.

The density of population of Orissa has jumped to 269 per square kilometre from 236 in 2001.

The highest concentration of population per square kilometre has been recorded in Khurda (799) and the lowest density in Kandhamal (91).