India's Muslim population above 200 million or 20 crores!

Map showing Muslim concentration in districts*

Is the population of Muslims in India over 200 million or 20 crores? The US government feels that the Indian Muslims account for more than 13.4% of the country's population. 

Times of India report says that US authorities believe that there are many more Muslims in India than are officially stated and there population could be substantially higher than the figure which is generally reported.

The census 2001 suggested that India had 138 million Muslims. But a wikileaks cable revealed that American government feels that this figure may not be accurate and the numbers of Muslim could have been under-reported.

The report further says that Muslim population could be around 180 million or 18 crores in India. But given the fact that the census 2011 report is nearing, the Indian Muslims could now be accounting well over 200 million, as a decade has passed since the last census.

The estimated Muslim population on the basis of around 30% decennial increase in the community in India, takes the figure to230-240 million (23-24 crore) right now, which means that Indian Muslims easily outnumber Pakistani Muslims, and could also be more numerous than Muslims in Indonesia.

This could turn India into the country with the largest Muslim population. It is just a view and an estimate. The real picture will be known when the Census 2011 figures for religions and religious adherents are released in the coming months.

UPDATE: Latest trends indicate a Muslim population in the range of 230 million to 240 million in India in 2025, as per country's population estimate i.e. 1.42 billion or 142 crore.

*The darker the colour, the higher is the percentage of Muslims in the particular district.

Muslim Population in India: Percentage in States and Metropolitan Cities

India ranks second in terms of Muslim population in the world. 

Muslims are in majority in Jammu & Kashmir state and Lakshadweep [earlier Laccadives]. 

They comprise around 33% of the population in Assam, just over 25% in West Bengal and more than 24% in Kerala.

For almost a thousand years Muslim kings ruled India but the population of Muslims is most in regions where the Mughals and other Muslims kings had no influence. 

Kerala and Assam are such states. Uttar Pradesh (19%) and Bihar (16%) also have large Muslim population.

In States, highest population of Muslims is in Uttar Pradesh or UP that has 35 million or 3.5 crore Muslims. 

Bihar is second. Maharashtra has more than 10 million Muslims. 6arnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand have strong presence of Muslims. 

In percentage terms Kashmir has 70% Muslims.

Mumbai has 25 lakh or 2.5 million Muslims while Kolkata, Delhi and Hyderabad have more than one million Muslims each. 

In states Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa and Chhattisgarh have relatively less Muslim population but in  cities in all these states also the mosques and madarsas are a common sight. 

UPDATE: The last census was conducted in 2011. Its report on religion wise data was released in 2015. Census was not conducted in 2021. However, it is estimated that Delhi and Mumbai both have around 4.5-5 million Muslims now in the year 2025. 

This is because of the huge growth of these cities. Also, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Malappuram each have more than 3 million Muslims. Sri Nagar, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad follow them. The traditional Islamic centres like Lucknow and Bhopal, along with Kozhikode, come next.