It lies almost wholly on the
Satpura range and occupies nearly the whole width of the range between the
Narmada Valley on the north and the
Berar plains on the south.
According to the
2011 census Betul district has a
population of 1,575,362,[4] roughly equal to the nation of
Gabon[5] or the US state of
Idaho.[6] This gives it a ranking of 314th in India (out of a total of
640).[4] The district has a population density of 157 inhabitants per square kilometre (410/sq mi).[4] Its
population growth rate over the decade 2001–2011 was 6.85%.[4] Betul has a
sex ratio of 970
females for every 1000 males,[4] and a
literacy rate of 70.14%. 19.62% of the population lives in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes made up 10.11% and 42.34% of the population respectively.[4]
The district has an area of 10,043 km2 (3,878 sq mi).[7]
Hindus are by far the most numerous with 95.58% and Muslims are 2.39%. Those from tribal religions are 0.83%, while Buddhists who were 9,600 in number.[8]
At the time of the
2011 Census of India, 44.69% of the population in the district spoke
Hindi, 27.69%
Gondi, 12.86%
Marathi, 11.13%
Korku and 1.69%
Bengali as their first language.[9] Pawari/Bhoyari is a language exclusively spoken by the people of
Kshatriya Pawar (Bhoyar Pawar) caste.
Betul railway station is located between Bhopal and Nagpur station.
Economy
In 2006 the
Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Betul one of the country's 250
most backward districts (out of a total of
640).[11] It was one of the 24 districts in Madhya Pradesh previously receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).[11]