Ayodhya in numbers: How the district fares on socioeconomic indicators

Economy

Rs 11,081.24 crore: Ayodhya’s district domestic product at constant prices (2011-12) during financial year 2021-22 accounted for just 0.94% of Uttar Pradesh’s gross state domestic product of Rs 11.81 lakh crore. In 2021-22, Ayodhya’s district domestic product registered a growth of 2.42% over the previous fiscal.

Rs 56,787: The per capita net domestic product or the per capita income of the district of Ayodhya in 2021-22 was lower than UP’s average per capita income of Rs 70,792 and well below the national average of Rs 92,583. In per capita income terms, Ayodhya ranked 48th among UP’s 75 districts.

23.73: Ayodhya’s credit-deposit ratio was lower than the UP average of 40.84 in 2020-21. The credit-deposit ratio, which is the outstanding credit of all commercial banks as a percentage of their deposits, is an important indicator of economic development that shows the capital absorption capacity of an area. A lower ratio indicates a low level of economic development.

Area and demographics

2,522 sqkm: In terms of area, Ayodhya district is bigger than Delhi, which has an area of just 1,483 sq km.

24,70,996: As per the 2011 Census, Ayodhya population was just under 25 lakh, which is almost double of Puducherry (12.47 lakh). In fact, it has a higher population than five states – Nagaland (19.78 lakh), Goa (14.58 lakh), Arunachal Pradesh (13.83 lakh), Mizoram (10.97 lakh), and Sikkim (6.10 lakh). Ayodhya accounts for 1.24% of UP’s total population. While Scheduled Castes make up 22.46% of the district, across UP the figure stands at 20.70%.

In terms of religion, 84.75% of Ayodhya is Hindu, 14.8% Muslim, 0.13% Christian and 0.08% Sikh.

13.77%: The district’s urban population is only a small fraction of its total population, as per the 2011 Census. In comparison, 22.27% of UP and 31.16% of India are urban.

962: In 2011, Ayodhya’s sex ratio – the number of females for every 1,000 males – was higher than UP’s average of 912 and the India average of 943.

Health

52.3%: Almost half the women aged between 15 and 49 were anaemic in the district of Ayodhya, as per the 2019-21 National Family Health Survey-5. However, there has been a drop in the prevalence of anaemia among women in Ayodhya compared to 2015-16, when 60.7% of women were reported anaemic.

Across UP, 50.4% of women in the 15-49 age group were anaemic in 2019-21, while the national average was 57%. On this indicator, Ayodhya finds itself better off than the national average but higher than the state average.

57.7%: The prevalence of anaemia is even higher among children aged 6-59 months in Ayodhya. As per the NFHS-5, 57.7% of children were anaemic during 2019-21, while the figure stood at 66.4% in UP and 67.1% across India.

However, the prevalence of anaemia among children below 5 has come down in recent years. In 2015-16, 63.2% of children aged 6-59 months were anaemic.

67.69: The number of beds in allopathic hospitals/dispensaries per lakh population (including community health centres and primary health centres) in Ayodhya was higher than UP’s overall figure of 53 in 2020-21. In fact, the number of beds per lakh of population in Ayodhya has increased from 46.26 in 2011-12 to 67.69 in 2020-21.

Education

19.09 percentage points: The literacy gap between men and women in Ayodhya during 2011. As per the Census 2011, the male and female literacy in Ayodhya was reported at 78.12 per cent and 59.03 per cent respectively. The overall literacy rate in the district stood at 68.73 per cent during 2011. The literacy rate for Scheduled Castes was recorded at 57.35 per cent, which is even lower than the state’s average of 60.89 per cent.

25.48: The district’s primary school (Class 1 to 5) pupil-teacher ratio fell drastically in 2020-21 from a high of 52.52 in 2011-12. It is also lower than the state average of 26.97. For Class 6 to 8, the ratio was 24.59 in 2020-21.

Infrastructure

251.15 kWh: Though the per capita electricity consumption (kWh) in Ayodhya has increased between 2020-21 and 2011-12, when it was 147.49 kWh, it is still very low compared to the state average of 390.93 kWh and the national average of 1,255 kWh in 2021-22.

In 2020-21, the agriculture sector’s share in the total electricity consumption was reported at 23.93%, lower than it was a decade ago at 30.38% in 2011-12 but still higher than the state average of 20.93% in 2020-21.

20,236: The number of LPG consumers per lakh population in Ayodhya in 2020-21 was higher than the state average of 18,309.

180.66 km: The total length of pucca roads per lakh population in Ayodhya has seen a steady increase in recent years, up to 180.66 km in 2019-20 from 155.4 km in 2011-12. Ayodhya’s road length per capita is higher than the overall UP figure of 147.22 km.

Agriculture and industry

249.75 kg: The per capita production of foodgrains in Ayodhya rose in 2020-21 from 227.61 kg in 2011-12. However, it is lower than the state average of 268 kg in 2020-21.

Rs 81.8 lakh: The per capita gross value of industrial production in Ayodhya in 2017-18 was much lower than the state average of Rs 216 lakh.