The coastal systems of the world are crucially important to humankind and are under ever-increasing threat from activities within and outside the coastal zone. While human dependence on coastal systems has greatly increased in the last centuries, the impacts on the ecology of these habitats have become so severe that their productivity and functioning have been altered, mostly in the last few decades. The coastal stretch of Kannur district in Kerala consist of nine panchayats, two municipalities and a corporation, making up 12 administrative units. The coastal zone of Kannur district runs for about 82 km, which is the longest in the state. The motive of the study is to analyse the difference between district density and state density and also the change in occupational structure of the people in the area. By analysing various data collected from, secondary sources like Government of India Census report 2001 and 2011, Panchayat Level Statistics of Kannur District 2001 and 2011, Natural Resource Data Bank of Kannur District 2011, Official websites of Panchayats and Municipalities, it is found that both in main and marginal workers, the cultivators and agricultural labourers has decreased. The number of administrative units show increase is more than which have shown decrease, but the number of people who left land related jobs is more than who have come into the ‘fields’ for the past ten years. Madayi panchayat has been identified as a ‘trend setter’ in the outflow of cultivators and agricultural labourers. In case of marginal workers also Madayi panchayat shows a decrease in cultivators and agricultural labourers.
