VI DEMOGRAPHY

A. Number of speakers

The total number of Kashmiri Speakers in India according to 2001 census is 5,527,698.

The Table below shows Mother tongues grouped under Kashmiri Language.

KASHMIRI 5,527,698
Kashmiri 5,362,349
Kishtwari 33,429
Siraji 87,179
Others  44,741


A. Main Habitat

The main habitat of Kashmiri speakers are found in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal pradesh and Delhi.

a. Male/Female

The following list figures out the male/female distribution of Kashmiri speakers in the States and Union Territories of India, as per 2001 census.

India/State/Union Territory# Persons Males Females
India* 5,527,698 2,860,097 2,667,601
Jammu & Kashmir 5,425,733 2,804,306 2,621,427
Himachal Pradesh 50,192 26,695 23,497
Delhi# 21,325 11,204 10,121
Maharashtra 5,344 2,902 2,442
Uttaranchal 4,175 2,261 1,914
Haryana 3,717 2,050 1,667
Uttar Pradesh 3,153 1,773 1,380
Punjab 2,411 1,717 694
Chandigarh# 1,677 961 716
Karnataka 1,586 911 675
Rajasthan 1,554 900 654
Madhya Pradesh 1,116 615 501
West Bengal 1,084 824 260
Gujarat 992 516 476
Bihar 930 521 409
Goa 472 367 105
Andhra Pradesh 380 204 176
Assam 358 320 38
Tamil Nadu 277 163 114
Jharkhand 255 165 90
Kerala 183 124 59
Tripura 139 133 6
Chhattisgarh 131 74 57
Orissa 114 62 52
Arunachal Pradesh 92 84 8
Meghalaya 84 69 15
Manipur * 79 75 4
Nagaland 71 51 20
Sikkim 36 24 12
Pondicherry# 13 8 5
Daman & Diu# 9 6 3
Andaman & Nicobar Islands# 6 3 3
Mizoram 5 5 0
Dadra & Nagar Haveli# 5 4 1


b. Rural/Urban

The following List gives a picture of rural/urban distribution of Kashmiri speakers in the States and Union Territories of India, as per 2001 census.

India/State/Union Territory# Persons Rural Urban
India* 5,527,698 3,979,193 1,548,505
Jammu & Kashmir 5,425,733 3,921,995 1,503,738
Himachal Pradesh 50,192 47,577 2,615
Delhi# 21,325 1,781 19,544
Maharashtra 5,344 329 5,015
Uttaranchal 4,175 3,440 735
Haryana 3,717 938 2,779
Uttar Pradesh 3,153 209 2,944
Punjab 2,411 618 1,793
Chandigarh# 1,677 16 1,661
Karnataka 1,586 35 1,551
Rajasthan 1,554 593 961
Madhya Pradesh 1,116 41 1,075
West Bengal 1,084 263 821
Gujarat 992 127 865
Bihar 930 385 545
Goa 472 101 371
Andhra Pradesh 380 47 333
Assam 358 186 172
Tamil Nadu 277 17 260
Jharkhand 255 28 227
Kerala 183 59 124
Tripura 139 110 29
Chhattisgarh 131 10 121
Orissa 114 32 82
Arunachal Pradesh 92 58 34
Meghalaya 84 64 20
Manipur * 79 74 5
Nagaland 71 20 51
Sikkim 36 26 10
Pondicherry# 13 0 13
Daman & Diu# 9 9 0
Andaman & Nicobar Islands# 6 0 6
Mizoram 5 2 3
Dadra & Nagar Haveli# 5 3 2


2. Decennial Growth

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

Year Kashmiri Speakers Decadal Percentage Increase
1971 2,495,487 -
1981 3,176,975 27.31
1991 # **
2001 5,527,698 **


# Full figures for kashmiri for 1991 are not available as the census was not conducted in Jammu and Kashmir in 1991 due to disturbed conditions.

B. Settlement Pattern

Almost 96% of the total Kashmiri speaking populations profess Islam as their religion. The rest of the population is Hindus, mainly belonging to Shaivait sect of Hinduism. This population comprise of Brahmin caste, locally known as bata or pandit.The following table shows the Male-Female/ Rural- urban distribution of Kashmiri speakers in India, as per 2001 census.

Total Male Female
Total 5,527,698 2,860,097 2,667,601
Rural 3,979,193 2,045,945 1,933,248
Urban 1,548,505 814,152 734,353


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