•In developed countries like the UK, the USA, Germany and Japan, the proportion of the population dependent upon agriculture has been declining continuously.
•In 1995, it was 2.1 % in the UK, 2.6 % in the USA, 3.0 % in Germany and 5.5 % in Japan, as compared to 61.6 % in India (Food and Agriculture Organization [FAO] 1996: 26–35).
•The higher percentage of the population dependent upon agriculture indicates the inability of the industrial and services sectors to absorb the incremental rural population