India's true population size is very much larger than is indicated by the census - and the post-enumeration check results are a poor indicator of the true level of underenumeration. While there has probably been considerable fertility and mortality decline in India during the 1980s, it is much less certain that the last decade has witnessed any reduction in the rate of population growth. A picture of constant rate of population growth between 1971-81 and 1981-91 is far more convincing - coupled with a higher rate of all-India growth during the 1961-71 decade