VI. DEMOGRAPHY

A. Number of speakers:

The total number of Marathi Speakers in India according to 2001 census is 71,936,894 in which 36,879,814 are males and 35,057,080 are females.

The Table below shows Mother tongues grouped under Marathi Language

Mother Tongues Number of Speakers
Marathi 71,701,478
Others 235,416


1. Main Habitat:

The main places of habitat of the Marathi speech community are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhyapradesh, Gujarat, Andrapradesh, Goa and Chhattisgarh.

a. Male/Female

The following table gives the male-female distribution of Marathi language in the States and Union Territories of India as per 2001 census.

India/State/Union Territory# Persons Male Female
India* 71,936,894 36,879,814 35,057,080
Maharashtra 66,643,942 34,159,916 32,484,026
Karnataka 1,892,783 960,512 932,271
Madhya Pradesh 1,266,038 639,857 626,181
Gujarat 764,002 404,426 359,576
Andhra Pradesh 609,200 308,243 300,957
Goa 304,208 156,162 148,046
Chhattisgarh 140,623 70,259 70,364
Tamil Nadu 60,614 31,284 29,330
Meghalaya 38,638 19,437 19,201
Kerala 31,845 16,537 15,308
Delhi# 26,472 14,416 12,056
Rajasthan 19,361 11,544 7,817
West Bengal 15,176 9,259 5,917
Jharkhand 14,513 7,823 6,690
Jammu & Kashmir 14,432 10,819 3,613
Bihar 14,002 7,406 6,596
Uttar Pradesh 13,074 7,682 5,392
Punjab 12,117 8,309 3,808
Dadra & Nagar Haveli# 11,597 6,928 4,669
Orissa 8,863 4,695 4,168
Haryana 8,794 5,290 3,504
Daman & Diu# 6,763 4,576 2,187
Assam 6,303 4,620 1,683
Uttaranchal 2,769 1,806 963
Arunachal Pradesh 1,902 1,688 214
Himachal Pradesh 1,679 1,032 647
Nagaland 1,533 1,351 182
Chandigarh# 1,308 789 519
Andaman & Nicobar Islands# 1294 856 438
Tripura 998 827 171
Pondicherry# 824 434 390
Sikkim 521 434 87
Manipur * 472 413 59
Mizoram 174 131 43
Lakshadweep# 60 53 7


b. Rural/Urban

The following table gives the Rural/Urban distribution of Marathi Speakers in the states and union territories of India according to 2001 census.

India/State/Union Territory# Persons Rural Urban
India* 71,936,894 47,439,691 24,497,203
Maharashtra 66,643,942 44,591,607 22,052,335
Karnataka 1,892,783 1,155,286 737,497
Madhya Pradesh 1,266,038 775,640 490,398
Gujarat 764,002 126,229 637,773
Andhra Pradesh 609,200 401,860 207,340
Goa 304,208 190,824 113,384
Chhattisgarh 140,623 42,394 98,229
Tamil Nadu 60,614 14,274 46,340
Meghalaya 38,638 35,902 2,736
Kerala 31,845 26,770 5,075
Delhi# 26,472 1,453 25,019
Rajasthan 19,361 5,119 14,242
West Bengal 15,176 7,986 7,190
Jharkhand 14,513 9,240 5,273
Jammu & Kashmir 14,432 7,454 6,978
Bihar 14,002 12,498 1,504
Uttar Pradesh 13,074 1,620 11,454
Punjab 12,117 4,427 7,690
Dadra & Nagar Haveli# 11,597 5,076 6,521
Orissa 8,863 5,837 3,026
Haryana 8,794 3,911 4,883
Daman & Diu# 6,763 5,301 1,462
Assam 6,303 2,996 3,307
Uttaranchal 2,769 430 2,339
Arunachal Pradesh 1,902 905 997
Himachal Pradesh 1,679 851 828
Nagaland 1,533 1,062 471
Chandigarh# 1,308 107 1,201
Andaman & Nicobar Islands# 1294 931 363
Tripura 998 679 319
Pondicherry# 824 66 758
Sikkim 521 454 67
Manipur * 472 418 54
Mizoram 174 69 105
Lakshadweep# 60 15 45


2. Decennial Growth

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

Year Language Speakers Decadal Percentage Increase
1971 41,765,190 *
1981 49,452,922 18.41
1991 62,481,681 26.35
2001 71,936,894 15.13


B. Settlement Pattern

The following table shows the male -female and rural- urban distribution of Marathi Speakers in India according to 2001 census:

Total Male Female
Total 71,936,894 36,879,814 35,057,080
Rural 47,439,691 24,138,255 23,301,436
Urban 24,497,203 12,741,559 11,755,644

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