New Delhi: The Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India on Tuesday released the data on population by religious communities from Census 2011 which showed the proportion of Muslims to the total population is growing marginally faster than that of other religions.
The distribution is total population by six major religious communities namely, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain besides “Other Religions and Persuasions” and “Religion not stated”.
The data was released by sex and residence up to sub-districts and towns.
The population of Hindus in 2011 stood at 96.63 crores while Muslims constituted the second highest population with 17.22 crores.
Total Population in 2011 was 121.09 crores; Hindu 96.63 crores (79.8%); Muslim 17.22 crores (14.2%); Christian 2.78 crores (2.3%); Sikh 2.08 crores (1.7%); Buddhist 0.84 crores (0.7%); Jain 0.45 crores (0.4%), Other Religions & Persuasions (ORP) 0.79 crores (0.7%) and Religion Not Stated 0.29 crores (0.2%).
According to the proportion of Hindu population to total population in 2011, the data said it declined by 0.7 percentage point (PP); the proportion of Sikh population also declined by 0.2 PP and the Buddhist population declined by 0.1 PP.
The proportion of Muslim population to total population had increased by 0.8 PP. The Census found that there was no significant change in the proportion of Christians & Jains.
The Census found the growth rate of population in the decade 2001-2011 to be 17.7 %. The growth rate of population of the different religious communities in the same period was as Hindus: 16.8%; Muslim: 24.6%; Christian: 15.5%; Sikh: 8.4%; Buddhist: 6.1% and Jain: 5.4%.