How we compare and rank villages
Every number on a comparison page is a recorded figure or arithmetic over two of them. This page says exactly which, and what the ranks do and do not mean.
Sources
Census of India 2011, Primary Census Abstract (village level) for population, households, males and females, literates, workers and area. Local Government Directory (LGD) for village names, codes and the mandal/tehsil → district → state hierarchy as it stands now, which is why a 2011 figure can sit under a district created later. Coordinates are © OpenStreetMap contributors; distances are straight-line, computed with PostGIS.
The 2011 Census is the latest village-level census published. We do not present estimates as census figures; where a page shows a 2026 estimate it is labelled as one and its method is stated there.
The seven ranked measures
| Measure | What it is | Sort order |
|---|---|---|
| Population | Persons counted in the village in the 2011 Census (Primary Census Abstract). | larger recorded population first |
| Households | Households counted in the village in the 2011 Census. | more recorded households first |
| Literacy rate | Literates as a share of persons aged 7 and above, the Census definition. It records who could read and write in 2011, not the quality of schooling. | higher recorded literacy rate first |
| Sex ratio | Females per 1,000 males in the 2011 Census. India's rural figure was 949; a higher or lower number is not by itself good or bad. | more females per 1,000 males first |
| Household size | Population divided by households, both from the 2011 Census. It says how many people shared a household on average, nothing about family life. | more persons per household first |
| Population density | Population divided by the village's area in square kilometres (Census 2011 area in hectares ÷ 100). Villages with no recorded area are not ranked. | denser settlement first |
| Work participation | Main and marginal workers as a share of the population in the 2011 Census. It counts recorded work of any kind, including unpaid farm work, not income. | higher share of workers first |
“Higher first” is a sort order, not a judgement. A larger village is not a better one; a higher recorded literacy rate says who could read and write in 2011, not how good the schools are; more females per 1,000 males is a demographic fact, not a score.
Ranks, ties and percentiles
- A village is ranked among the active LGD villages that report the figure in its mandal, district, state and India. Uninhabited villages and villages without the figure are not ranked — missing is never treated as zero.
- Ties share a rank (1, 1, 3). “Above 71% of villages” counts the villages strictly below, so it is exact under ties.
- Ranks are recomputed whenever the underlying Census table or the LGD hierarchy is reloaded.
- The “top villages” lists on the state and district pages list every village for counts (population, households) but, for rates and ratios, only villages of 500 or more people — a hamlet of twelve at 100% literacy says little. The rank shown beside each entry is still its rank among all ranked villages, so a filtered list can skip numbers.
Differences between villages
- Counts (population, households, workers, area) show the difference from the first village (the anchor) and, in brackets, the percentage difference: (value − anchor) ÷ anchor × 100. It is not shown when the anchor's figure is zero or missing.
- Rates (literacy, work participation) show the difference in percentage points; ratios (sex ratio, household size, density) the plain difference.
- A “winner” pill marks the highest value of a row only where at least two villages have the figure and the values differ; the sex-ratio row marks the value closest to 1,000.
Villages like this one
Likeness is the distance between two villages' Census 2011 figures — population (on a log scale), literacy rate, sex ratio and household size — each scaled so no single figure dominates. Only villages reporting all four are compared. It describes recorded demographics, not culture or community. In symbols: distance = √( (Δ ln population ÷ 0.5)² + (Δ literacy points ÷ 8)² + (Δ sex ratio ÷ 50)² + (Δ household size ÷ 0.5)² ). The nearest five in the district and the nearest five elsewhere in the state are shown with their four figures, so the likeness can be checked.
What is not here
No composite “development score”: the inputs that would make one honest (current schools, health facilities, roads, incomes) are not available village by village across India. Where a village has Census 2011 facility records, UDISE schools or panchayat figures, its own page shows them as they are.
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