India census: Hindu population down below 80% for first time ever

The share of Hindus in India's total population has recorded a marginal decline between 2001 and 2011 while that of Muslims has increased slightly over the same period, according to the latest census data on the religious profile of the country.

The data released by Indian government yesterday shows Hindus now make up 79.8 percent of India, a decline of 0.7 percentage points, while Muslims, the largest minority, make up 14.2 percent of the country, up 0.8 percentage points.

According to the data of the census conducted in 2011, out of India's total population of 121.09 crore, Hindus number 96.63 crore while the head count of Muslims is pegged at 17.22 crore.

There are 2.78 crore Christians, 2.08 crore Sikhs and 0.45 crore Jains.

However, even as Muslims' share in population has increased, their 10-year growth rate has shown a sharp decline. In fact, the decadal growth rate of all communities has slowed down, suggesting a stabilising trend for fertility rates, according to the data.

The 2011 religion-based data was ready to be released in January last year but the then Congress-led UPA government had chosen not to make it public ahead of the parliamentary elections that year when BJP-led NDA swept back to power after a decade.

The NDA government's decision to make it public comes weeks before assembly elections in eastern state of Bihar which, as per 2011 census data, has a Muslim population of 1.75 crore.

In north eastern state of Assam, the Muslim population, according to 2011 census data, has increased by from 30.9 per cent  in 2001 to 34.1 per cent in 2011 and in West Bengal from 24.2 per cent in 2001 to 27 per cent in 2011. Fresh assembly polls are due in both the states by 2011.  

Nine of Assam's total of 27 districts are now Muslim-dominated, as against six in 2001 while in West Bengal, Uttar Dinajpur district has joined Malda and Murshidabad districts in the list of districts where Muslims are in majority. 

Across India, Muslims have historically witnessed a higher population growth rate than other major communities. But this rate has been on the decline for the past three decades. The Muslim growth rate was 34.5% in the 1991 census, which slowed down to 29.5% in 2001 and furthermore to 24.6%  in 2011.