2001 census of India

14th census of India
← 1991 2001 (2001) 2011 →
General information
CountryIndia
Results
Total population1,028,737,436 (21.5%)
Most populous stateUttar Pradesh (166,053,600)
Least populous stateSikkim (541,902)

The 2001 census of India was the 14th in a series of censuses held in India every decade since 1871.[1]

The population of India was counted as 1,028,737,436 consisting of 532,223,090 males and 496,514,346 females.[2] The total population increased by 182,310,397, 21.5% more than the 846,427,039 people counted during the 1991 census.[2]

Religious demographics

Hindus comprise 82.75 crore (80.45%) and Muslims were 13.8 crore (13.4%) in the 2001 census.[3][4] Census 2001 showed 108 faiths under the head "Other Religions and Persuasion" (ORP) in India.[5] 700,000 people did not state their religion.[6]

Population trends for major religious groups in India (2001)
Religious
group 		Population
%
Hindu
80.45%
Muslim
13.4%
Christian
2.34%
Sikh
1.89%
Buddhist
0.74%
Animist, others
0.43%
Jain
0.46%

Language demographics

Main article: Languages of India

Hindi is the most widely spoken language in northern parts of India. The Indian census takes the widest possible definition of "Hindi" as a broad variety of "Hindi languages". According to 2001 census, 53.6% of Indian population know Hindi, in which 41% of them have declared Hindi as their native language or mother tongue.[7][8][9] English is known to 12.18% Indians in the 2001 census. The number of bilingual speakers in India is 25.50 crore, which is 24.8% of the population in 2001.[10] India (780) has the world's second highest number of languages, after Papua New Guinea (839).[11]

First, second, and third languages by number of speakers in India (2001 census)
Language First language speakers Second language
speakers[12] 		Third language
speakers[12] 		Total speakers
number [13][12] % of total pop.[14] number [15][12] % of total pop.[14]
Hindi 422,048,642
41.03%
 98,207,180 31,160,696 551,416,518
53.60%
English 226,449
0.02%
 86,125,221 38,993,066 125,344,736
12.18%
Bengali 83,369,769
8.10%
 6,637,222 1,108,088 91,115,079
8.86%
Telugu 74,002,856
7.19%
 9,723,626 1,266,019 84,992,501
8.26%
Marathi 71,936,894
6.99%
 9,546,414 2,701,498 84,184,806
8.18%
Tamil 60,793,814
5.91%
 4,992,253 956,335 66,742,402
6.49%
Urdu 51,536,111
5.01%
 6,535,489 1,007,912 59,079,512
5.74%
Kannada 37,924,011
3.69%
 11,455,287 1,396,428 50,775,726
4.94%
Gujarati 46,091,617
4.48%
 3,476,355 703,989 50,271,961
4.89%
Odia 33,017,446
3.21%
 3,272,151 319,525 36,609,122
3.56%
Malayalam 33,066,392
3.21%
 499,188 195,885 33,761,465
3.28%
Sanskrit 14,135
<0.01%
 1,234,931 3,742,223 4,991,289
0.49%

Graphical summaries

  • Overview of 2001 population, separated by gender and age bracket.
    Overview of 2001 population, separated by gender and age bracket.
  • 2001 overview based on religious affiliation and language.
    2001 overview based on religious affiliation and language.

See also

References

  1. ^ Vijayanunni, M. (26–29 August 1998). "Planning for the 2001 Census of India based on the 1991 Census" (PDF). 18th Population Census Conference. Honolulu, Hawaii, US: Association of National Census and Statistics Directors of America, Asia, and the Pacific. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 November 2008. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Home/Census Data 2001/India at a glance". New Delhi: Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India, Ministry of Home Affairs. 2001. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  3. ^ Abantika Ghosh, Vijaita Singh (24 January 2015). "Census: Hindu share dips below 80%, Muslim share grows but slower". Indian Express.
  4. ^ D’Souza, Dilip (16 December 2014). "With current trends, it will take 220 years for India's Muslim population to equal Hindu numbers". Scroll.in.
  5. ^ "Fewer minor faiths in India now, finds Census; number of their adherents up". 1 August 2016.
  6. ^ "Indian rationalism, Charvaka to Narendra Dabholkar". 21 August 2018.
  7. ^ D, John Samuel Raja (24 July 2014). "These four charts break down India's complex relationship with Hindi". Quartz.
  8. ^ "Nearly 60% of Indians speak a language other than Hindi | India News – Times of India". The Times of India. 21 June 2014.
  9. ^ "Census of India: Comparative speaker's strength of Scheduled Languages-1971, 1981, 1991 and 2001". www.censusindia.gov.in.
  10. ^ "Hindi migrants speaking Marathi rise to 60 lakh | Mumbai News – Times of India". The Times of India. 4 October 2018.
  11. ^ Seetharaman, G. (13 August 2017). "Seven decades after Independence, many small languages in India face extinction threat". The Economic Times.
  12. ^ a b c d S, Rukmini (24 November 2014). "Sanskrit and English: there's no competition". The Hindu.
  13. ^ ORGI. "Census of India: Comparative speaker's strength of Scheduled Languages-1971, 1981, 1991 and 2001".
  14. ^ a b "Census of India : India at a glance / Population". www.censusindia.gov.in.
  15. ^ "Indiaspeak: English is our 2nd language". The Times of India. 14 March 2010.
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