VI. Demography

A. Numberof Speakers

The total number of Malayalam speakers in India, according to 2001 census is 33,066,392.

The Table below shows Mother tongues grouped under Malayalam Language

MALAYALAM	33,066,392
Malayalam	33,015,420
Yerava	19,643
Others	31,329

1. Main Habitat

Malayalam speakers are mostly inhabited in Kerala, Karnataka,Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

a. Male/Female

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

India/State/Union Territory#	Persons	Males	Females
India*	33,066,392	16,117,179	16,949,213
Kerala	30,803,747	14,926,959	15,876,788
Karnataka	701,673	362,857	338,816
Tamil Nadu	557,705	282,518	275,187
Maharashtra	406,358	225,469	180,889
Delhi#	92,009	45,954	46,055
Gujarat	67,838	37,063	30,775
Andhra Pradesh	62,214	30,553	31,661
Lakshadweep#	51,555	26,638	24,917
Madhya Pradesh	48,515	24,603	23,912
Pondicherry#	42,782	20,263	22,519
Rajasthan	33,975	18,125	15,850
Andaman & Nicobar Islands#	28,869	15,091	13,778
Chhattisgarh	26,319	13,530	12,789
Uttar Pradesh	19,683	10,110	9,573
West Bengal	17,043	9,794	7,249
Goa	15,081	9,035	6,046
Haryana	13,989	7,953	6,036
Punjab	10,669	7,279	3,390
Orissa	10,440	5,668	4,772
Jammu & Kashmir	10,063	8,701	1,362
Jharkhand	8,783	4,476	4,307
Assam	8,141	5,493	2,648
Arunachal Pradesh	5,583	3,731	1,852
Nagaland	3,901	2,752	1,149
Uttaranchal	2,870	1,752	1,118
Bihar	2,674	1,126	1,548
Chandigarh#	2,356	1,375	981
Meghalaya	2,000	1,255	745
Dadra & Nagar Haveli#	1,839	1,219	620
Tripura	1,747	1,438	309
Mizoram	1,322	1,030	292
Himachal Pradesh	1,231	786	445
Manipur *	1,231	989	242
Daman & Diu#	1,166	810	356
Sikkim	1,021	784	237

b. Rural/Urban

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

India/State/Union Territory#	Persons	Rural	Urban
India*	33,066,392	23,453,863	9,612,529
Kerala	30,803,747	22,840,204	7,963,543
Karnataka	701,673	357,738	343,935
Tamil Nadu	557,705	106,479	451,226
Maharashtra	406,358	18,319	388,039
Delhi#	92,009	3,208	88,801
Gujarat	67,838	6,428	61,410
Andhra Pradesh	62,214	10,240	51,974
Lakshadweep#	51,555	33,184	18,371
Madhya Pradesh	48,515	4,114	44,401
Pondicherry#	42,782	627	42,155
Rajasthan	33,975	15,893	18,082
Andaman & Nicobar Islands#	28,869	16,696	12,173
Chhattisgarh	26,319	2,360	23,959
Uttar Pradesh	19,683	2,148	17,535
West Bengal	17,043	4,280	12,763
Goa	15,081	3,401	11,680
Haryana	13,989	3,682	10,307
Punjab	10,669	3,750	6,919
Orissa	10,440	2,343	8,097
Jammu & Kashmir	10,063	3,494	6,569
Jharkhand	8,783	837	7,946
Assam	8,141	3,123	5,018
Arunachal Pradesh	5,583	2,328	3,255
Nagaland	3,901	1,966	1,935
Uttaranchal	2,870	676	2,194
Bihar	2,674	395	2,279
Chandigarh#	2,356	88	2,268
Meghalaya	2,000	952	1,048
Dadra & Nagar Haveli#	1,839	503	1,336
Tripura	1,747	1,099	648
Mizoram	1,322	433	889
Himachal Pradesh	1,231	647	584
Manipur *	1,231	868	363
Daman & Diu#	1,166	504	662
Sikkim	1,021	856	165

2. Decennial Growth

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

Year	Malayalam Speakers	Decadal Percentage Increase
1971	21,938,760	-
1981	25,700,705	17.15
1991	30,377,176	18.20
2001	33,066,392	8.85

B. Settlement Pattern

The following table shows the male-female/ rural-urban Distribution of Malayalam speakers in India according to 2001 report.

	Total	Male	Female
Total	33,066,392	16,117,179	16,949,213
Rural	23,453,863	11,390,928	12,062,935
Urban	9,612,529	4,726,251	4,886,278