Hindus are a minority in eight states of the country: How can India be called an overwhelmingly Hindu majority nation?

Do you know Hindus are a minority in eight states* of the country?

Perhaps, you knew, but you never gave much a thought. It's not your fault.

So many times, the sentence, 'Hindus are the majority community' is repeated that one is likely to accept it on face value.

The fact is that apart from Jammu & Kashmir, Hindus are a minority in seven states and a union territory.

You can't ignore the statistics by saying that some of these states are small and are located in North East.

India has 30 states and six union territories, excluding Delhi. Apart from these eight states, there are other states where Hindus are not the overwhelming majority and are less than 65% of population.

These states include Kerala, Assam & Goa. West Bengal is another state that has less than 75% Hindus. This is the list of states where Hindus are minority (Alpsankhyak)

State                 Percentage of Hindus in population             Minorities percentage

1. Jammu-Kashmir                         28.44%                                      71.56%

2. Punjab                                         38.4%                                       61.6%

3. Mizoram                                     2.75%                                        97.25%

4. Meghalaya                                  11.53%                                      88.47%

5. Arunachal Pradesh                      29%                                          71%

6. Manipur                                      41.39%                                     58.61%

7. Lakshadweep                              2.5%                                          97.5%

8. Nagaland                                    8.75%                                       91.25%

In this table minorities include non-Hindu religions

[Muslims are a majority in Jammu Kashmir and Lakshadweep. Rest of others have Christian majority or a high Buddhist population as in Arunachal Pradesh]
*One is a union territory i.e. Lakshadweep
-----------------------------------------------------------

FIVE OTHER STATES THAT HAVE VERY HIGH MINORITY POPULATION 

Minorities are over 45% in Kerala [mostly Muslims, Christians]
Minorities are over 40% in Sikkim [Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, Tribal]
Minorities are 40% in Assam [mostly Muslim and Christian]
Minorities are nearly 35% in Goa [Christian and Muslim]
Minorities are nearly 30% in West Bengal [chiefly Muslims]

Jharkhand a unique state

Jharkhand has 67% Hindus. The non-Hindus include 14.6% Muslims, 4.5% Christians and a huge number of non-Hindu tribals. Non-Hindus in this state are nearly 33%

FOUR MORE STATES THAT HAVE SIGNIFICANT MINORITIES

Three more states Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chandigarh have 20% or more minority population
Bihar has nearly 18% minority population. Bihar has 1.75 crore or 17.5 million Muslims, calling which a minority is not correct. UP has even more large Muslim population, almost double of Bihar, and nearly 20% of UP's population percentage terms.

-------------------------------------------------------------

India has 36 administrative units including 29 states, six union territories administered by centre and a National Capital Region (NCR) i.e. Delhi.

A. 13 of these units [states and UTs] have minorities in the range of 30-35% population up to 99%]
B. 12 of these units [states and UTs] have more than 40% minorities in India]
C. 17 of these states and UTs have very significant minority population and calling them minority is not proper, as their numbers are so huge.
D. Nearly a dozen states have 10% or more minorities, which also number in millions.
E. Himachal Pradesh, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, are among the three states that have more than 90% Hindu population. They could be termed as 'Hindu states', though Orissa and Chhattisgarh have sizeable Christian and Muslim population and a very high number of minorities in several towns and cities.

Hyderabad has highest Muslim population percentage among major metro cities in India

The latest  census figures have revealed the Muslim population in the country.

The figures show that Hyderabad has the highest Muslim percentage among METROS in the country.

Though there are many other cities (under the population of 10 lakh) that have higher Muslim composition, Hyderabad has the highest Muslim population among big cities.

The maximum number of Muslims in a city in India, is in Mumbai. Delhi and Mumbai have more Muslims than Hyderabad.

But the overall population of Delhi and Mumbai is too huge. Hence, the percentage of Muslim population in these cities, is less. This gives Hyderabad the unique position. Hyderabad was earlier capital of Andhra Pradesh, but after bifurcation, is it capital of Telangana.

As per the Census report, the Muslim population in Hyderabad is 17.13 lakh out of 39.43 lakh.


Population of Hyderabad:                   39.43 lakh
Muslim population in Hyderabad:      17.13 lakh
Percentage of Muslims in Hyderabad:  45%

There are around 2% Christians and 1% Rest, which account for the remaining population. Hindu population in Hyderabad is around 51%. This figure is for the year 2011, but was released only now (in 2015).

Hence, the figures would be higher by now. But these figures would be known in the next census (2021). Till, then, the official figures are 17.13 lakh Muslims in 39.43 lakh population. [This doesn't include the population in suburbs].

The population of Muslims in Telangana is 12.68%. The Muslims now comprise 8.53% of population in Andhra Pradesh. 

Muslim population in India exceeds 17.22 crore or 172 million, Census report reveals

After a long wait of four years, the religious population statistics were finally released. 

The Census figures on religion are for the year 2011, still, they are important, as they are the official figures.

 

India's population: 121.09 crore [1.21 billion]

Hindus    96.63 crore   [79.8%[

Muslims  17.22 crore   [14.2%]

Population of Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains and other religions

Christian 2.78 crores [2.3 per cent]

Sikh 2.08 crores [1.7 per cent]

Buddhist 84 lakh [0.7 per cent]

Jain 45 lakh (0.4 per cent)

Other religions and persuasions (ORP) 0.79 crores [0.7 per cent]

Religion not stated 0.29 crores [0.2 per cent]

The figure shows that Muslims now account for 14.2% of India's vast population. That's 17.22 crore or 172.2 million. The figures are for 2011, and the number would be much more by now (in the year 2015).

Muslim population in Delhi crosses 20 lakh mark: More than 2 million Muslims in Delhi

The Muslim population in Delhi has crossed the 2 million (20 lakh) barrier.


As per the 2001 census, population of Delhi was 1.675 crore or 16.75 million.

The complete religious population of the census 2011 was not released for four years and has only now been announced (in 2015).

This data includes state wise population of Muslims in India.

The latest census figure reveals that Delhi has  21.6 lakh or 2.16 million Muslims in 2011. Four years have passed and the figure would be even more by now. Though this is not too big a figure, the reality is that crossing 20 lakh mark, is important.

Ten years ago, in 2001 census, the population of Delhi was 1.37 crore or 13.7 million, the Muslim population was then 1.6 million or 16 lakh. So, there has been a 33% rise in Muslim population in India's capital in a decade. At this rate, it would be 3 million or 30 lakh by 2021.

For centuries, Delhi was a predominantly Muslim city but partition of the country, changed its demography. Lakhs of Muslims migrated to Pakistan. This migration continued for decades. As a result, Delhi's Muslim population fell down.

Among the four metros (metropolitan) cities, Delhi's Muslim population and percentage had reached the lowest, even below 5%. But later on, migration from Muslim majority areas of Western Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Bihar, apart from neighbouring Mewat (Haryana) and Rajasthan, increased it.

Other than Old Delhi, there are now dozens of Muslim pockets and neighbourhoods in India's capital. The National Capital Region (NCR) clearly has a visible Muslim presence and it is clear on the streets too.

Delhi was always one of the most important Muslim cities in the world. For nearly 800 years, it was the seat of one of the biggest Islamic empires of the world. Today, the Muslim population in Delhi is growing, on way towards the 25 lakh figure (2.5) million.

Muslim population in India increases to 14.2% or over 17 crore: State wise population of Muslims in the country

More than 17 crore Muslims in India: Census 2011


The Muslim population of India had increased to 170 million or more than 17 crore in the census 2011, the report of which has been delayed and released in 2015.

The population of Muslims has increased more in states like Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir among the big states.

In the comparatively small states or UT, the Muslim population growth was above average like in Goa, Delhi, Chandigarh and Haryana.

But many states do not have a high Muslim population rise. It is also seen that the Muslim population's growth rate is coming down.

Over 14.2% of India's population is Muslim: Census 2011


States that had medium rate of growth include Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Tripura among others.

Quite surprisingly, the population of Muslims hasn't increased much in Bihar. But compared to the population in 2001 census, their composition in the state has gone up.

The states that have witnessed less increase in Muslim population include Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Orissa.

Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Sikki, Nagaland, Himachal Pradesh and Meghalaya saw increase in Muslim population percent compared to previous decade.

But, Chhattisgarh, Pondicherry, Daman and Diu remained constant, as Muslim population percent in these states hasn't changed since the last census of 2001.

Arunachal Pradesh saw low growth too in North East. Manipur saw negative growth, which means decrease in percentage of Muslims in the State, compared to the last decade's counting of religious population.


[See the tables along with this post]