Demographics of the Mughal Empire

The statistical study of populations, particularly human beings, is known as demography (from the prefix demo-, 'the people in Ancient Greek, and graphy, denotes 'writing, description, or measurement'). Employment, education, income, marriage rates, birth and death rates, and other socioeconomic indicators are all examples of demographic data. Demographics are used by governments, corporations, and non-profit organizations to learn more about a population's characteristics for various objectives, including policy development and economic market research.

During the Mughal Empire, India's population grew at a phenomenal rate, increasing from 60% to 253 per cent in 200 years, from 1500 to 1700. During the Mughal era, the Indian population grew faster than at any other time in Indian history before the Mughal era. There were 455,698 villages in the Mughal Empire at the time of Aurangzeb's rule.

There is almost no demographic data for a Mughal Empire. Akbar is supposed to have ordered a comprehensive population record, but the results have not passed down to us. Even the Ai'n-i Akbari, with all of its statistical data, provides no estimate of the population of Akbar's empire or any section of it. The following table compares population estimates for the Mughal Empire to India's overall population, which includes modern-day Pakistan and Bangladesh, as well as the global population:

Year: 1500

Population of the Mughal Empire: N/A

Entire Indian Population: 100,000,000

Percentage of Indian Population: N/A

Entire World’s Population: 425,000,000

Percentage of World Population: N/A

Year: 1600

Population of the Mughal Empire: 115,000,000

Entire Indian Population: 130,000,000

Percentage of Indian Population: 89%

Entire World’s Population: 579,000,000

Percentage of World Population: 20%

Year: 1700

Population of the Mughal Empire: 158,400,000

Entire Indian Population: 160,000,000

Percentage of Indian Population: 99%

Entire World’s Population: 679,000,000

Percentage of World Population: 23%

• Using a population of 145 million in 1601 and 225 million in 1871 (the amount counted in the first census of 1872), the compound annual population increase during the century is 0.21 per cent per annum.
• The rate of population increase in the latter three decades of the nineteenth century (1872-1901) was 0.37 per cent per year higher than the rate we calculated for the lengthy period 1601-1871, although not by much.
• Compared to the European population growth rates, the Mughal Empire was by no means especially slow in growing its population.
• On the other hand, the 0.21 per cent rate implies an economy with some opportunity for 'national savings' and a net gain in food production, even though overall growth remained modest.
• For the years 1601-1801, the aggregate yearly growth rate was 0.2 per cent, leading to some intriguing conclusions regarding the Mughal Indian economy.

• According to Nizamuddin Ahmad's Tabaqat-i Akbari (c. 1593), there were 120 large towns and 3200 townships in Akbar's empire.
• The estimation of Akbar's Empire's overall population of approximately 100 million people and the urban population of 15%, the average size of these 200 towns works out to around 5000 people apiece.
• There were, however, several large towns under the Mughal Empire. The following are the estimated populations of various large cities provided by European travelers:

The number of the population in Mughal India is a point of contention among modern researchers.

• The number of a hundred million was largely accepted at first.
• Following that, a re-examination of the data resulted in a significant upward revision. As a whole, the population of India was believed to be between 140 and 150 million, with about 100 million in the Mughal territory.

• Ifran Habib attempted to estimate the urban population based on the consumption patterns of agricultural products.
• The Mughal governing elite had a habit of claiming half of all agricultural output, but this did not mean that the rural sector was deprived of all of it.
• He estimates the urban population to be over 15% of the total population, assuming that about a quarter of total agriculture produce reaches towns and that, after accounting for the higher raw material ratio in agricultural produce consumed in towns, the urban population to be about a quarter of the total population.

According to Irfan Habib, cities and towns flourished throughout the Mughal Empire, which had a high level of urbanization for its time, with 15 per cent of the people residing in urban areas. This was higher than the percentage of the population living in cities in contemporary Europe and British India in the nineteenth century; Europe's urbanization rate did not reach 15% until the nineteenth century. The Mughal Empire's urban population grew to 17 million people under Akbar's rule in 1600, accounting for 15% of the empire's overall population. This was larger than the total urban population of Europe at the time, and even a century later, in 1700, England, Scotland, and Wales' urban population did not cross 13% of their total population. In contrast, British India's urban population was under 13% of its population in 1800 and 9% in 1881, a decline from the primary Mughal era. Mughal India had 23 million people in 1700, which was bigger than British India's population of 22.3 million in 1871. Tim Dyson, who believes the figures are exaggerated, has criticized them. According to Dyson, the Mughal Empire's urbanization rate was less than 9%.

According to historian Nizamuddin Ahmad; reigned from1551 to 1621, there were 120 big cities and 3200 townships during Akbar's reign. Agra (in Agra Subah) with up to 800,000 people, Lahore (in Lahore Subah) with up to 700,000 people, Dhaka (in Bengal Subah) with over 1 million people, and Delhi (in Delhi Subah) with over 600,000 people were among the cities in India with populations between a quarter-million and half-million. Merchants, traders, retailers, artisans, moneylenders, weavers, craftspeople, officials, and religious figures lived in cities to sell products. However, rather than manufacturing or commerce, a handful of cities served as military and political hubs.