Lakshadweep is located in the western part off mainland India in Arabian Sea. It is believed that initially the islands were inhabited by the Malayalis in ninth century. However, the territory remained less fascinating to the outsiders. The people of the region were isolated from the world mainstream and witnessed many upheavals. Hence, the developmental activities were very little before 1956 when the control of the islands comes to Indian Government. Thereafter, the islanders got the status of tribe and the impetus of developmental activities took place on the inhabited islands.
The region is composed of calcareous soil due to the formation of the islands by coral reefs which unfertile for agricultural activities except plantation activities. Coconut and papaya cultivation are the main mainstay of the islanders. The industrial development is also low. Hence, the social and economic condition of families in the region is poor. Consequently, the survival and livelihood of the tribal people depends upon the extraction of copra, collect cowry, fishing and so on as their economic pursuits on the islands. Various social, economic, infrastructure and agriculture development plans have been initiated by the government of India in the region.
The present paper tries to study the demographic, social and economic structure of the population in the urban areas on the Lakshadweep is lands. The status of social condition along with occupational structure in urban areas has been studied. The study concludes that some of social indicators depict the development of the society. The economic and occupation parameters pointed out that the people are mainly engaged in primary activity such as coconut plantation, copra extraction, cowry collection, fishing etc. But the overall socio-economic development is lagging behind as compare to the mainland of India. The government should make efforts in generating the economic opportunities on the beautiful islands.