1951 Census of India

The 1951 Census of India was the 9th in a series of censuses held in India every decade since 1871.[1] It is also the first census after independence and Partition of India.[2] 1951 census was also the first census to be conducted under 1948 Census of India Act.

1951 Census of India population
General information
CountryIndia
Total population361,088,090
Percent change13.32%

The population of India was counted as 361,088,090 (1:0.946 male:female)[3] Total population increased by 42,427,510, 13.31% more than the 318,660,580 people counted during the 1941 census.[4] No census was done for Jammu and Kashmir in 1951 and its figures were interpolated from 1941 and 1961 state census.[5] National Register of Citizens for Assam (NRC) was prepared soon after the census.[6][7] In 1951, at the time of the first population Census, just 18% of Indians were literate while life expectancy was 32 years.[8] Based on 1951 census of displaced persons, 7,226,000 Muslims went to Pakistan (both West and East Pakistan) from India, while 7,249,000 Hindus and Sikhs moved to India from Pakistan (both West and East Pakistan).[9]

Language demographics

Separate figures for Hindi, Urdu, and Punjabi were not issued, due to the fact the returns were intentionally recorded incorrect in states such as East Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, PEPSU, and Bilaspur.[10]

Table: Ordered by number of native speakers
RankLanguage 1951 Census of India[10]
SpeakersPercentage
1Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi149,944,31142.01%
2Telugu32,999,9169.24%
3Marathi27,049,5227.57%
4Tamil26,546,7647.43%
5Bengali25,121,6747.03%
7Gujarati16,310,7714.57%
8Kannada14,471,7644.05%
9Malayalam13,380,1093.69%
10 Odia13,153,9093.21%
6Assamese4,988,2261.39%

Religious demographics

Hindus comprised 303.5 million (84.1%), Sikhs were 6.86 million (1.9%) and Muslims were 35.4 million (9.8%) in the 1951 census.[2][11][12][lower-alpha 1] 1951 Indian census showed that there were 8.3 million Christians.[11] Hindus comprised about 73 per cent of the population of India before partition.

Population trends for major religious groups in India (1951)
Religious group Population % 1951
Hindu 84.1%
Muslim 9.8%
Christian 2.3%
Sikh 1.89%
Buddhist 0.74%
Animist, others 0.43%
Jain 0.46%

See also

Notes
  1. Chennai-based Centre for Policy Studies states that the number of Muslims was 37.7 million (10.4%).[13]

References
  1. Dr. M. Vijaynunni (26–29 August 1998). "Planning for the 2001 Census of India Based on the 1991 Census" (PDF). 18th Population Census Conference. Honolulu, Hawaii, USA: Association of National Census and Statistics Directors of America, Asia, and the Pacific. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 November 2008. Retrieved 2013-11-08.
  2. "India's religions by numbers". The Hindu. 26 August 2015.
  3. "Census of India: Variation in Population since 1901". Censusindia.gov.in. Retrieved 2018-11-14.
  4. "Census data" (PDF). www.isec.ac.in.
  5. "Budget data" (PDF). indiabudget.nic.in. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-12-19. Retrieved 2014-07-01.
  6. "National Register of Citizens in Assam: Issue of illegal foreigners continues to be a major political one". The Economic Times. 14 June 2015.
  7. "Assam: Overhaul of National Register of Citizens sparks controversy". Hindustan Times. 30 June 2015.
  8. Shashi Shekhar (13 August 2017). "Despite stains, democracy has thrived in India". livemint.
  9. Vivek Shukla (14 August 2017). "When Muslims left Pakistan for India". The New Indian Express.
  10. Dasgupta, Jyotirindra (1970). Language Conflict and National Development: Group Politics and National Language Policy in India. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley. Center for South and Southeast Asia Studies. p. 47. ISBN 9780520015906.
  11. "Muslims in Indian army". Dawn. 15 March 2010.
  12. More citations:
  13. Joshi, A. P.; Srinivas, M. D.; Bajaj, J. K. (2003), "Religious Demography of India" (PDF), Religious Demography of India, Centre for Policy Studies, p. 9

Further reading
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