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Kerala: population, poverty, income, health, schools and budgets

Kerala is a state of India, number 15 of 36 by population. Kerala is projected to have 36,239,000 residents on 1 July 2026, 2.5% of India's 1.4 billion; 15th largest of 36 states and union territories. India has not counted its people since the 2011 census, so this is the official projection made from it by the Technical Group on Population Projections.

Population (official projection, 1 July)
36,239,000
2026
Multidimensionally poor
0.6%
2019-21
Income per person (NSDP per capita)
₹308,338
2024-25
Services share of the economy
67.3%
2024-25
Unemployment, urban (usual status)
6.7%
2023-24
Bank credit-deposit ratio
68.8%
March 2025
Life expectancy at birth
75.1 years
2019-23
Infant deaths per 1,000 live births
5
2023

In depth

How fast is Kerala's population growing?

That is 2,755,000 more people than in 2011 (8.2%), and the projection puts it at 36,965,000 by 2036.

Source: National Commission on Population, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare · saved copy

How many people in Kerala are poor?

0.6% of people in Kerala were multidimensionally poor in 2019-21, down from 0.7% in 2015-16, by NITI Aayog's national index (all-India: 14.96%). That counts people deprived in health, schooling and living standards such as cooking fuel, sanitation, housing and bank accounts; the lowest of 36.

Source: Reserve Bank of India · saved copy

How many people in Kerala have left poverty?

Applied to the official population projections, that means about 195,000 people in Kerala were poor in 2021, against about 242,000 in 2016: roughly 47,000 fewer in five years.

Source: Reserve Bank of India · saved copy

How deep is poverty in Kerala?

Poor people in Kerala were on average deprived in 36.9% of the weighted indicators in 2019-21 (the intensity of poverty), compared with 39.0% in 2015-16; the all-India figure was 44.4%.

Source: Reserve Bank of India · saved copy

How many people in Kerala are saving for a pension?

261,387 people in Kerala joined the Atal Pension Yojana, the government-backed pension for workers without a formal pension, in 2024-25; 53% of them were women. That is 7.3 new members per 1,000 residents.

Source: Reserve Bank of India · saved copy

What is the birth rate in Kerala?

There were 12.3 births and 7.2 deaths per 1,000 people in Kerala in 2023, and women had 1.5 children on average (replacement level is 2.1).

Source: Reserve Bank of India · saved copy

How states are governed in India

States (28) and union territories (8). Elected state assembly and chief minister; governor appointed by the President. Most union territories are run by an administrator or lieutenant governor appointed by the President.. Local government is a state subject: each state writes its own panchayat and municipal laws.

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Sources

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