Created by Snehasis
Last edited March 25, 2026


Template:Infobox census 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 Template:Percentage bar
Muslim Template:Percentage bar
Christian Template:Percentage bar
Sikh Template:Percentage bar
Buddhist Template:Percentage bar
Animist, others Template:Percentage bar
Jain Template:Percentage bar

Template:Clear

Language demographics

Template:Main 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 Template:Percentage bar 98,207,180 31,160,696 551,416,518 Template:Percentage bar
English 226,449 Template:Percentage bar 86,125,221 38,993,066 125,344,736 Template:Percentage bar
Bengali 83,369,769 Template:Percentage bar 6,637,222 1,108,088 91,115,079 Template:Percentage bar
Telugu 74,002,856 Template:Percentage bar 9,723,626 1,266,019 84,992,501 Template:Percentage bar
Marathi 71,936,894 Template:Percentage bar 9,546,414 2,701,498 84,184,806 Template:Percentage bar
Tamil 60,793,814 Template:Percentage bar 4,992,253 956,335 66,742,402 Template:Percentage bar
Urdu 51,536,111 Template:Percentage bar 6,535,489 1,007,912 59,079,512 Template:Percentage bar
Kannada 37,924,011 Template:Percentage bar 11,455,287 1,396,428 50,775,726 Template:Percentage bar
Gujarati 46,091,617 Template:Percentage bar 3,476,355 703,989 50,271,961 Template:Percentage bar
Odia 33,017,446 Template:Percentage bar 3,272,151 319,525 36,609,122 Template:Percentage bar
Malayalam 33,066,392 Template:Percentage bar 499,188 195,885 33,761,465 Template:Percentage bar
Sanskrit 14,135 Template:Percentage bar 1,234,931 3,742,223 4,991,289 Template:Percentage bar

Graphical summaries

See also

References

  1. Planning for the 2001 Census of India based on the 1991 Census. Association of National Census and Statistics Directors of America, Asia, and the Pacific(26–29 August 1998). Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Home/Census Data 2001/India at a glance. Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India, Ministry of Home Affairs. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  3. Census: Hindu share dips below 80%, Muslim share grows but slower(24 January 2015).
  4. With current trends, it will take 220 years for India's Muslim population to equal Hindu numbers, D’Souza, Dilip. Scroll.in(16 December 2014).
  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. These four charts break down India's complex relationship with Hindi, D, John Samuel Raja. Quartz(24 July 2014).
  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. Seven decades after Independence, many small languages in India face extinction threat. The Economic Times(13 August 2017).
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Sanskrit and English: there's no competition. The Hindu(24 November 2014).
  13. Census of India: Comparative speaker's strength of Scheduled Languages-1971, 1981, 1991 and 2001, ORGI.
  14. 14.0 14.1 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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