VI. Demography

A. Number of Speakers

Total number of Nepali speakers in India according to 2001 census is 2,871,749. The following table shows the Mothertongue speakers of Nepali.

Nepali	2,871,749
Nepali	2,867,922
Others	3,827

The main habitat of Nepali speakers are West Bengal, Assam, Sikkim and Uttar Pradesh.

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

India/State/Union Territory#	Persons	Male	Female
India*	2,871,749	1,534,746	1,337,003
West Bengal	1,022,725	514,596	508,129
Assam	564,790	293,122	271,668
Sikkim	338,606	174,068	164,538
Uttar Pradesh	263,982	145,106	118,876
Arunachal Pradesh	94,919	52,276	42,643
Uttaranchal	91,047	54,655	36,392
Himachal Pradesh	70,272	42,346	27,926
Maharashtra	63,480	41,028	22,452
Meghalaya	52,155	28,385	23,770
Manipur *	45,998	24,539	21,459
Delhi#	44,367	27,997	16,370
Nagaland	34,222	19,347	14,875
Haryana	20,362	13,899	6,463
Punjab	19,778	13,328	6,450
Bihar	18,763	9,861	8,902
Jharkhand	17,326	9,558	7,768
Gujarat	17,123	11,336	5,787
Madhya Pradesh	10,923	6,778	4,145
Rajasthan	10,569	7,225	3,344
Karnataka	10,038	6,661	3,377
Orissa	9,927	5,850	4,077
Mizoram	8,948	5,429	3,519
Andhra Pradesh	8,233	5,025	3,208
Jammu & Kashmir	8,199	5,787	2,412
Chandigarh#	5,390	3,516	1,874
Tamil Nadu	4,323	2,719	1,604
Chhattisgarh	3,424	1,995	1,429
Tripura	3,377	2,086	1,291
Kerala	2,715	1,912	803
Goa	2,135	1,478	657
Daman & Diu#	1,407	1,223	184
Dadra & Nagar Haveli#	1,030	840	190
Andaman & Nicobar Islands#	782	479	303
Pondicherry#	411	295	116
Lakshadweep#	3	1	2

The following table shows the Rural-Urban distribution of Nepali speakers in the states and union territories of India according to 2001 census:

India/State/Union Territory#	Persons	Rural	Urban
India*	2,871,749	2,130,528	741,221
West Bengal	1,022,725	776,257	246,468
Assam	564,790	503,057	61,733
Sikkim	338,606	307,545	31,061
Uttar Pradesh	263,982	204,364	59,618
Arunachal Pradesh	94,919	70,186	24,733
Uttaranchal	91,047	58,059	32,988
Himachal Pradesh	70,272	57,682	12,590
Maharashtra	63,480	7,279	56,201
Meghalaya	52,155	21,095	31,060
Manipur *	45,998	41,763	4,235
Delhi#	44,367	3,042	41,325
Nagaland	34,222	19,938	14,284
Haryana	20,362	8,394	11,968
Punjab	19,778	7,556	12,222
Bihar	18,763	13,592	5,171
Jharkhand	17,326	2,065	15,261
Gujarat	17,123	3,813	13,310
Madhya Pradesh	10,923	983	9,940
Rajasthan	10,569	2,913	7,656
Karnataka	10,038	2,987	7,051
Orissa	9,927	1,489	8,438
Mizoram	8,948	1,210	7,738
Andhra Pradesh	8,233	2,776	5,457
Jammu & Kashmir	8,199	3,428	4,771
Chandigarh#	5,390	946	4,444
Tamil Nadu	4,323	953	3370
Chhattisgarh	3,424	535	2,889
Tripura	3,377	2,526	851
Kerala	2,715	828	1,887
Goa	2,135	827	1,308
Daman & Diu#	1,407	1,304	103
Dadra & Nagar Haveli#	1,030	629	401
Andaman & Nicobar Islands#	782	309	473
Pondicherry#	411	198	213
Lakshadweep#	3	0	3

The following table shows the decadal growth of Nepali speakers in 4 consecutive census report.

Year	Nepali Speakers	Decadal Percentage Increase
1971	1,419,835	-
1981	1,360,636	-4.17
1991	2,076,645	52.62
2001	2,871,749	38.29

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