Religious groups

According to 2001 census at the national level of 1028 million population, 828 million are Hindus (80.5%) followed by 138million (13.4%) Muslims and 24 million (2.3%) Christians, 19 million (1.9%) Sikhs, 8 million (0.8%) Buddhists and 4.2 million (0.4%) are Jains.

There are 6.6 million belonging to other religions and persuasions including tribal religions which are not part of the six main religions. About 7 lakh (0.7 million) persons have not stated their religion.

The adjusted growth rate of Hindu population has come down from 22.8% in 1981-1991 to 20.0% in 1991-2001.Similar trends are observed among Buddhists which declined from 36% in 1981-1991 to 23.2% during 1991-2001.The Muslim growth rate has declined from 32.9% during 1981-1991 to 29.3% during 1991-2001 while for Christians it would increase from 17% to 22.1% during 1991-2001.Jain population also has registered growth rate of 26.0% against very low growth rate of 4.6% during 1981-1991.

As per 2001 census the Parsi population in the country is 69,601 with 33,949 males and 35,652 females as against their population of 76,382 in 1991 census. There is visible decline of Zoroastrian population which needs immediate attention from the community members and the government.

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