It is important to consider the literacy of the Indian consumer.
For Example: When launching a marketing campaign, if all the advertising is done though a non-visual/non-audio media like the newspaper, the marketer must know whether his target consumer is in a position to read the advertisement i.e. is the target consumer literate.
Literacy Scenario in India (As per 2001 Census)
Literacy in India has made remarkable progress since Independence. This has been further confirmed by the results of the Census 2001. The literacy rate has increased from “18.33%” in 1951 to “65.38%” in 2001. This is despite the fact that during the major part of the last five decades there has been exponential growth of the population at nearly 2% per annum.
Some of the important highlights of Census 2001:
The male literacy rate has increased to 75.85%, which shows an increase of 11.72%.
On the other hand, the female literacy of 54.16% has increased at a much faster rate of 14.87%.
The male-female literacy gap has reduced from “24.84%” in 1991 to “21.70%” in 2001. Mizoram has the smallest gap (4.56%) followed by Kerala (7.45%) and Meghalaya (8.27%).
All States and Union Territories without exception have shown increase in literacy rates during 1991-2001.
In all the States and Union Territories the male literacy is now over 60%.
For the first time since independence there has been a decline in the absolute number of illiterates during the decade. In the previous decades, there has been a continuous increase in the number of illiterates, despite the increase in the literacy rates, but now for the first time the total number of illiterates has come down by 31.96 million.
The number of literate persons has increased to 562.01 million in 2001 thus adding an additional 203.61 million literates in the country.
Rajasthan has recorded the highest increase in the literacy rate among the States/Union Territories of India. The state also recorded very good increase in the female literacy. It was 20.44% in 1991 which has increased to 44.34% in 2001.
Madhya Pradesh also recorded a good increase in female literacy rate. In 1991 the literacy rate of females was 29.35% which has increased to 50.28% in 2001.
On the basis of literacy rate, State/UTs can be grouped as under:
High Literacy Rate States (80% and above) : Kerala (90.92%) Mizoram (88.49%), Lakshadweep (87.52%), Goa (82.32%), Delhi (81.82%), Chandigarh (81.76%), Pondicherry (81.49%), A & N Islands (81.18%) and Daman & Diu (81.09%).
Literacy Rate above national average states (above 65.4% - and below 80%) : Maharashtra (77.27%), Himachal Pradesh (77.13%), Tripura (73.66%), Tamil Nadu (73.47), Uttaranchal (72.28%), Gujarat (69.97%), Punjab (69.75%), Sikkim (69.68%), West Bengal (69.22%), Manipur (68.87%), Haryana (68.59%), Nagaland (67.11%) and Karnataka (67.04%).
Literacy Rate below national average states (below 65.4%) : Chhattisgarh(65.18%), Assam (64.28%), Madhya Pradesh (64.11%), Orissa (63.61%), Meghalaya (63.31%), Andhra Pradesh (61.11%), Rajasthan (61.03%), Dadra & Nagar Haveli (60.03%), Uttar Pradesh (57.36%), Arunachal Pradesh (54.74%), Jammu & Kashmir (54.46%), Jharkhand (54.13%) and Bihar (47.53%).