DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION AND ECONOMIC CHANGES OF PANIHATI MUNICIPALITY SINCE 1961

Panihati Municipality with a population about 377347 (2011 Census) is the 4 most populous municipality located in North 24 Parganas district of the state of West-Bengal. It covers an area of 19.43 sq. km. which is divided into 35 administrative wards. The growth of population in the study area has undergone variation from decade to decade. The growth rate was 57.92 percent in 1971 and decreased to 8.30 percent in 2011. The number of the female per thousand male was very low, i.e. 751 in 1961 and it is increased to 992 in 2011. The density of population has also been increased and it is 19421 persons per sq. km. in 2011. 94 percent of the whole populations are from general caste, 5 percent are from scheduled caste and 1 percent is scheduled tribes. Child population (aged under 6 years) of the study area is 7 percent. There are 85985 households in the city and an average 4.4 persons live in every family. The general literacy rate has registered by 85.54 percent and it was 79.39 percent in 1991 in the study area. Along with demographic characteristics the employment structure of the study area has changed over the year. The size of total workers either main or marginal workers has increased from 29.82 percent in 1961 to 34.82 percent in 2011 and 99.65 percentage of workers engaged in other than primary sector. The male work participation rate (male workers to total male population) has registered by 57 percent in 2011. The female work participation rate has increased from 2.06 percent in 1961 to 12.31 percent in 2011. The percentage of the main worker in the total workers was 98.37 percent in 1981 decreased to 93.39 percent in 2011.