VI. DEMOGRAPHY

A. Number of speakers:

The total number of Kannada Speakers in India according to 2001 census is 37,924,011.

The Table below shows Mother tongues grouped under Kannada Language

Mother Tongues	Number of Speakers
Badaga	1,34,514
Kannada	3,77,42,232
Kuruba/Kurumba	14,613
Others	32,652

1. Main Habitat:

The main places of habitat of the Kannada speech community are Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Goa, Gujarat, Delhi etc.

a. Male/Female

The following table gives a picture of Male-Female distribution of Kannada speakers, inhabited in the States and Union Territories of India, as per 2001 census.

India/State/Union Territory#	Persons	Male	Female
India*	37,924,011	19,301,286	18,622,725
Karnataka	34,838,035	17,713,896	17,124,139
Maharashtra	1,254,519	658,651	595,868
Tamil Nadu	1,045,238	524,153	521,085
Andhra Pradesh	565,574	281,958	283,616
Kerala	81,406	41,770	39,636
Goa	74,615	40,967	33,648
Gujarat	15,684	8,614	7,070
Delhi#	10,525	5,554	4,971
Madhya Pradesh	6,526	3,646	2,880
Jammu & Kashmir	4,418	3,747	671
Punjab	4,001	2,869	1,132
Rajasthan	3,243	2,237	1,006
Uttar Pradesh	2,799	1,674	1,125
West Bengal	2,755	1,881	874
Haryana	2,062	1,334	728
Assam	2,059	1,606	453
Pondicherry#	1,566	781	785
Chhattisgarh	1,435	778	657
Jharkhand	1,022	592	430
Orissa	946	534	412
Dadra & Nagar Haveli#	735	457	278
Uttaranchal	626	455	171
Tripura	567	496	71
Chandigarh#	479	282	197
Arunachal Pradesh	465	390	75
Bihar	426	263	163
Himachal Pradesh	390	259	131
Daman & Diu#	389	248	141
Nagaland	332	279	53
Andaman & Nicobar Islands#	303	180	123
Meghalaya	301	237	64
Manipur *	243	212	31
Sikkim	146	130	16
Mizoram	142	128	14
Lakshadweep#	39	28	11

b. Rural/Urban

The following table gives the picture of Rural-Urban distribution of Kannada speakers in the States and Union Territories of India, as per 2001 census:

India/State/Union Territory#	Persons	Rural	Urban
India*	37,924,011	28,004,796	9,919,215
Karnataka	34,838,035	26,249,959	8,588,076
Maharashtra	1,254,519	576,696	677,823
Tamil Nadu	1,045,238	633,164	412,074
Andhra Pradesh	565,574	445,220	120,354
Kerala	81,406	63,127	18,279
Goa	74,615	19,936	54,679
Gujarat	15,684	1,886	13,798
Delhi#	10,525	305	10,220
Madhya Pradesh	6,526	2,550	3,976
Jammu & Kashmir	4,418	1,898	2,520
Punjab	4,001	1,996	2,005
Rajasthan	3,243	895	2,348
Uttar Pradesh	2,799	787	2,012
West Bengal	2,755	1,293	1,462
Haryana	2,062	806	1,256
Assam	2,059	943	1,116
Pondicherry#	1,566	106	1,460
Chhattisgarh	1,435	153	1,282
Jharkhand	1,022	227	795
Orissa	946	398	548
Dadra & Nagar Haveli#	735	220	515
Uttaranchal	626	106	520
Tripura	567	415	152
Chandigarh#	479	9	470
Arunachal Pradesh	465	255	210
Bihar	426	94	332
Himachal Pradesh	390	179	211
Daman & Diu#	389	232	157
Nagaland	332	232	100
Andaman & Nicobar Islands#	303	122	181
Meghalaya	301	164	137
Manipur *	243	210	33
Sikkim	146	136	10
Mizoram	142	54	88
Lakshadweep#	39	23	16

2. Decennial Growth

The table below shows the decennial growth of Kannada speakers in 4 consecutive census.

Year	Language Speakers	Decadal Percentage Increase
1971	21,710,649	*
1981	25,697,146	18.36
1991	32,753,676	27.46
2001	37,924,011	15.79

B. Settlement Pattern

The table below shows the Male- Female / Rural- Urban distribution of Kannada Speakers in India in 2001 (according to 2001 Census)

	Total	Male	Female
Total	37,924,011	19,301,286	18,622,725
Rural	28,004,796	14,180,664	13,824,132
Urban	9,919,215	5,120,622	4,798,593