Religious Minorities in India

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Religious Minorities in India

Minority religious communities in India, which include Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Zoroastrians (Parsis) and Jains notified as minority communities as notified by GOI in Gazette under Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992.

Total Population in 2011 is 121.09 crores;

{Hindu 96.63 crores (79.8%); (It is not a religious minority community in India)}

• Muslim 17.22 crores (14.2%);
• Christian 2.78 crores (2.3%);
• Sikh 2.08 crores (1.7%);
• Buddhist 0.84 crores (0.7%);
• Jain 0.45 crores (0.4%),
• Other Religions & Persuasions (ORP) 0.79 crores (0.7%) and
• Religion Not Stated 0.29 crores (0.2%).

From the above list we can conclude that Muslims are the largest minority community in India followed by Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains.

Growth rate of population

The growth rate of population in the decade 2001-2011 was 17.7 %. The growth rate of population of the different minority religious communities in the same period was as

• Muslim: 24.6%;
• Christian: 15.5%;
• Sikh: 8.4%;
• Buddhist: 6.1% and
• Jain: 5.4%.

(sources – http://censusindia.gov.in )

Urban India Minority Religion Census Data 2011

Rural India Minority Religion Census Data 2011

Literacy rate

Muslims have the highest number of illiterates — nearly 43 percent of their population — while Jains have the highest number of literates among India’s religious communities with over 86 percent of them educated.

According to the Census 2011 data, Jains have just 13.57 percent illiterates aged seven and above among all communities.

Muslims have the highest percentage of illiterates aged beyond seven years at 42.72.

This number is 36.4 per cent for Hindus, 32.49 per cent for Sikhs, 28.17 per cent for Buddhists, and 25.66 per cent for Christians, as per the latest census figure on ‘education level by religious community’ for age seven years and above.

Jains have the highest percentage of educated members who are graduates and above.

The overall literacy rates among all communities have gone up since 2001. The percentage of those literate among Hindus is up from 54.92 per cent in 2001 to 63.6 per cent in 2011, while the corresponding rise for Muslims is 48.05 percent to 57.28 percent.

Among Muslims, just 2.76 percent are educated till graduation level or above.

Employment and Un-employment rate

The percentage of the non-working population is highest among Muslims in the country, according to data released by the Census office on 8^th June 2016. A massive 11.61 crore Muslims — who make up 67.42% of the 17.22 crore Muslim community — have been listed as non-workers.

Non-workers are defined as those who do not participate in any economic activity — paid or unpaid, household duties, or cultivation.

Following Muslims in the list of communities with the largest share of non-workers are Jains. There are 0.29 crore non-working Jains, who make up 64.47% of the total Jain population. After them are Sikhs (63.76%), Hindus (58.95%), Christians (58.09%), Buddhists (56.85%) and Others (51.50%).

Health Status of Religious Minorities

Infant and Child Mortality Rate among different Communities and Castes

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