| 14th census of India | |
| Country: | India |
| Population: | 1,028,737,436 |
| Percent Change: | 21.5% |
| Region Type: | state |
| Most Populous: | Uttar Pradesh (166,053,600) |
| Least Populous: | Sikkim (541,902) |
| Previous Census: | 1991 census of India |
| Previous Year: | 1991 |
| Next Census: | 2011 census of India |
| Next Year: | 2011 |
The 2001 census of India was the 14th in a series of censuses held in India every decade since 1871.[1]
The population of India was counted as 1,028,737,436 consisting of 532,223,090 males and 496,514,346 females.[2] The total population increased by 182,310,397, 21.5% more than the 846,427,039 people counted during the 1991 census.[2]
Hindus comprise 82.75 crore (80.45%) and Muslims were 13.8 crore (13.4%) in the 2001 census.[3] [4] Census 2001 showed 108 faiths under the head "Other Religions and Persuasion" (ORP) in India.[5] 700,000 people did not state their religion.[6]
See main article: Languages of India. Hindi is the most widely spoken language in northern parts of India. The Indian census takes the widest possible definition of "Hindi" as a broad variety of "Hindi languages". According to 2001 census, 53.6% of Indian population know Hindi, in which 41% of them have declared Hindi as their native language or mother tongue.[7] [8] [9] English is known to 12.18% Indians in the 2001 census. The number of bilingual speakers in India is 25.50 crore, which is 24.8% of the population in 2001.[10] India (780) has the world's second highest number of languages, after Papua New Guinea (839).[11]
| First language speakers | Second language speakers | Third language speakers | Total speakers | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| number [12] [13] | % of total pop.[14] | number [15] | % of total pop. | ||||
| Hindi | 422,048,642 | 98,207,180 | 31,160,696 | 551,416,518 | |||
| English | 226,449 | 86,125,221 | 38,993,066 | 125,344,736 | |||
| Bengali | 83,369,769 | 6,637,222 | 1,108,088 | 91,115,079 | |||
| Telugu | 74,002,856 | 9,723,626 | 1,266,019 | 84,992,501 | |||
| Marathi | 71,936,894 | 9,546,414 | 2,701,498 | 84,184,806 | |||
| Tamil | 60,793,814 | 4,992,253 | 956,335 | 66,742,402 | |||
| Urdu | 51,536,111 | 6,535,489 | 1,007,912 | 59,079,512 | |||
| Kannada | 37,924,011 | 11,455,287 | 1,396,428 | 50,775,726 | |||
| Gujarati | 46,091,617 | 3,476,355 | 703,989 | 50,271,961 | |||
| Odia | 33,017,446 | 3,272,151 | 319,525 | 36,609,122 | |||
| Malayalam | 33,066,392 | 499,188 | 195,885 | 33,761,465 | |||
| Sanskrit | 14,135 | 1,234,931 | 3,742,223 | 4,991,289 | |||