Vol. 2, Issue 8, Part D (2016)

Abstract
According to the population Census 2001, Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state in the country of 102.70 crore population, constituting about 16.17% of the total population of the country. Approximately 80.23% of the population of Uttar Pradesh resides in Rural Areas spreading over 97945 villages of the state. It stands fourth in the density after Bihar, Kerala and West Bengal. The density of population of the state rose from 550 people per square kilometre in 1991 to 695 people per square kilometre in 2001. As per population, Uttar Pradesh stands 7th largest country in the world. Thus, the economy of Uttar Pradesh has a vigorous impact on the development of overall development of the country. An economically sound and stronger economy of Uttar Pradesh can be the first step in the growth of the rest of the country. Nevertheless, over the years the economy of Uttar Pradesh has fallen behind from that of rest of the country. During the period of post-reform, i.e., 1993-94 to 2000-01, the GSDP of Uttar Pradesh had an average annual growth of 4.23% as against that of the whole country of 6.4%. During 2001-02 to 2002-03, the average annual growth rate had just been 2.25% as against that of the whole country of 4.90%.