VI. DEMOGRAPHY

A. Number of Speakers

The number of Kumauni speakers in India according to 2001 census is 2,003,783.

1. Main Habitat

The main habitats of Kumauni speakers in India is in Uttaranchal and Delhi.

a. Male/Female

The following table shows the Male-Female distribution of Kumauni speakers in the states and union territories of India according to 2001 census.

India/State/Union Territory Persons Male Female
India 2,003,783 869,697 1,134,086
Uttaranchal 1,948,142 936,089 1,012,053
Delhi 25,899 14,389 11,510
Uttar Pradesh 9,561 5,253 4,308
Maharashtra 2,964 1,673 1,291
Rajasthan 2,336 1,484 852
Haryana 2,209 1,280 929
Punjab 1,735 1,219 516
Assam 1,692 1,511 181
Jammu & Kashmir 1,291 1,162 129
Madhya Pradesh 1,136 714 422
Himachal Pradesh 1,112 717 395
Nagaland 1,074 861 213
Arunachal Pradesh 792 568 224
Chandigarh 561 337 224
West Bengal 454 301 153
Sikkim 445 427 18
Manipur * 438 360 78
Tripura 433 353 80
Mizoram 301 262 39
Gujarat 266 153 113
Meghalaya 202 133 69
Jharkhand 195 121 74
Chhattisgarh 172 86 86
Bihar 89 57 32
Andhra Pradesh 74 47 27
Karnataka 66 36 30
Goa 43 26 17
Dadra & Nagar Haveli 34 29 5
Tamil Nadu 25 16 9
Daman & Diu 14 11 3
Orissa 12 9 3
Kerala 8 8 0
Andaman & Nicobar Islands 8 5 3


b. Rural/Urban

The following table shows the Rural-Urban distribution of Kumauni speakers in India according to 2001 census

India/State/Union Territory Persons Rural Urban
India* 2,003,783 1,772,657 231,126
Uttaranchal 1,948,142 1,762,422 185,720
Delhi# 25,899 1,812 24,087
Uttar Pradesh 9,561 1,613 7,948
Maharashtra 2,964 59 2,905
Rajasthan 2,336 244 2,092
Haryana 2,209 614 1,595
Punjab 1,735 1,308 427
Assam 1,692 1,240 452
Jammu & Kashmir 1,291 252 1,039
Madhya Pradesh 1,136 25 1,111
Himachal Pradesh 1,112 472 640
Nagaland 1,074 340 734
Arunachal Pradesh 792 425 367
Chandigarh# 561 35 526
West Bengal 454 333 121
Sikkim 445 433 12
Manipur * 438 332 106
Tripura 433 317 116
Mizoram 301 134 167
Gujarat 266 11 255
Meghalaya 202 93 109
Jharkhand 195 18 177
Chhattisgarh 172 45 127
Bihar 89 28 61
Andhra Pradesh 74 7 67
Karnataka 66 2 64
Goa 43 0 43
Dadra & Nagar Haveli# 34 23 11
Tamil Nadu 25 0 25
Daman & Diu# 14 14 0
Orissa 12 0 12
Kerala 8 0 8
Andaman & Nicobar Islands# 8 6 2


2. Decennial Growth

The following table shows the deccenial growth of Kumanni speakers in India in 2 consecutive census.

Year Kumauni Speakers Decadal Percentage Increase
1991 1,717,191 -
2001 2,003,783 16.69


B. Settlement Pattern

The state of Uttaranchal is broadly divided into two regions namely the Kumaun and the Garhwal region. Kumaun region lies between 28 43 ‘55’ and 30 49’ north latitude and 78 44’ 33’’ and 81 5’ 15’’ east by the neighboring countries of Tibet and Nepal respectively. It is surrounded by the districts of Moradabad Rampur, Bareilly and Pilibhit in the South and Pauli and Chamoli districts of Garhwal in the West. Kumauni comprises of three districts, namely Almora, Pithoragarh and Nainital.

Besides the scheduled language such as Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi , the non-scheduled languages like Kumauni (with the maximum number of speakers), Raji, Bhotiya, Buksa, Tharu are spoken in the region. The Bhotiyas are grouped into Eastern and Western group and they speak Darma, Chaudangsi and Byangsi languages. While Bhotiya, Buksa and Tharu belong to the Tibeto Himalayan language family, Raji is grouped under the Austro Asiatic family.

However, there is some disagreement among scholars of Tibcto-Himalayan languages with regards to classifying Raji as a truly Austro-Asiatic language.

These languages are spoken in the Nainital and pithoragarh districts whereas Almora remains the only district of Kumauni region where 98% of the population speaks Kumauni.

Kumauni has been classified into two groups: Eastern Kumauni and Western Kumauni. Kumaiya, Soryali, Sirali and Askoti comes under Eastern Kumauni. On the other hand, Khasparaja, Chaugarkhiya, Gangoli, Danpuria, Pacchai and Rau Chaubengsi come under Western Kumauni.

The following table shows the male-female and rural-urban distribution of Kumauni speakers in India according to 2001 census

Total Male Female
Total 2,003,783 869,697 1,134,086
Rural 1,772,657 845,048 927,609
Urban 231,126 24,649 206,477

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