Madhya Pradesh's population estimated at 7.25 crore

The total population of Madhya Pradesh as per provisional figures for the 2011 census stood at 7,25,97,565 (7.25 cr), large chunk of which stays in rural areas.

There are only 16 countries in the world whose population is more than that of Madhya Pradesh.

Releasing the provisional census figures at a press conference, Director of Census Operations S Sinha said that of the total, 3,76,12,920 were males and 3,49,84,645 were females.

As per the figures, the population of Madhya Pradesh is more than that of many countries including Thailand, France, Italy, UK, Myanmar and South Africa and only slightly less than that of Iran, Turkey and Germany.

The population of the State is more than the combined population of Australia, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.

The Director said that the rural population of Madhya Pradesh was provisionally estimated at 5,25,37,899 out of which 2,71,42,409 were males and 2,53,95,490 were females.

Sinha said that during the last decade rural population had grown by 18.4% and urban population by 25.6%.

He said that the sex ratio in the rural areas of the state was 936  woman per 1,000 while it was 916 in the urban areas.