17 *Ph. D Research Scholar, Department of Education, Gauhati University. 3 Population Growth and Literacy Rate in Assam: A Comparative Study Ruhul Amin* INTRODUCTION Population is the most important factor for contributing in economic development. Now a days, economic development is no longer measured in terms of income alone, rather, it is the HDI 1 (Human Development Index) that determines it in a country. In consequence, the level of economic development of a country doesn’t merely depend on the quantity of population, rather, it depends on number of population acting as the resource in moulding national economy. The HDI has bridge a direct relationship between number of population and literacy rate in a country. Population in a country may be regarded either an asset or liability. When a country is suffering from overpopulation and considerable percentage of it is supposed to be dependency load, then that dependent population are regarded as liability and vice-versa. Therefore, it is the mandate of the government to prepare the population productive making them educated. Population growth is a natural phenomenon but its explosion creates a great problem throughout the country. Population explosion deals with 1 According the UNDP report 1990, the economic development of a country is measure in terms of human development on the basis of basically three criteria viz., longevity, literacy and living standard of people.