Demographics of Uttar Pradesh

As of the 2011 census, Allahabad is the most populous district of Uttar Pradesh while Mahoba being the least populated. Only 3 districts of Jaunpur, Azamgarh and Deoria have a sex ratio greater than 1000 while Gautam Buddha Nagar stands lowest in the tally with a very low ratio of 851. On the contrary, Gautam Buddha Nagar scores highest in literacy rate at 80.12% and Kanpur Nagar 2nd at 79.54%, while both being the poorest districts in terms of sex-ratio, depicting a negative-correlation among literacy and sex-ratio in this case. Districts of Srawasti, Bahraich and Balrampur haven't even crossed the 50% literacy mark yet.

The following table enumerates population, sex-ratio and literacy rates for each district of Uttar Pradesh:

In U.P. the religion-wise percentage of population is Hindus 79.80, Muslims 19.03, Sikhs 0.32, Christians 0.18, Jains 0.11, Buddhists 0.10 while 0.29% people didn't state their religion.[6][7]

Literacy among women is quite low, going as low as 50.59% in Muslim community. On the contrary, the Jain community with quite high literacy rates, for both males and females as well. Also noteworthy is that Sikh and Hindu communities have very poor sex-ratios.

As per 2011 census, Dalits constitute 21.1% of Uttar Pradesh population.[8][9][10] Mallah community is divided in 27 sub-castes. Other Backward Classes (OBCs) constitute 40% of Uttar Pradesh’s population.[11][12][13][14] Yadavs form the single largest group amongst the OBCs, with around 20% population.[15] There are 200-odd OBCs in U.P. In Uttar Pradesh, Muslims are divided into 68 castes and sub-castes, 35 of them are OBCs. Forward castes constitute around 18–20% of Uttar Pradesh population,[16][17] in which Brahmins are 12–14%[18] and Thakurs are 7–8%.[18] For accurate caste population data in India, Government of India has not publicly released Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011 caste population data for every single non-SC/ST castes (General castes, OBC/EBCs) in India.[19][20][21][22][23]

Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state in India with a population of over 199.5 million people on 1 March 2011. It is more populated than the world's 242 countries. If independent it would be the 6th largest country in the world as per Population. At the 2001 census of India, about 80% of Uttar Pradesh population is Hindu, while Muslims make up around 18% of the population, most of whom are ethnic Pathans. The remaining population consists of Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians and Jains.

The population of Uttar Pradesh is divided into numerous castes and sub-castes. Historically, Hindu society is divided into four sub-divisions or varnas, the Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. Muslims are also divided as the Shias and Sunnis. In actual practice, Hindu society in generally used to be divided into numerous lineage groups called jatis. Each jati is then sub-divided into clans, called gotras.

The peripheral regions of Uttar Pradesh, are home to a number of tribal communities such as Agaria, Baiga, Bhar, Bhoksa, Chero, Gond, Kol and Korwa. Five of these tribal communities have been recognised by the Government of India as disadvantaged scheduled tribes, viz. Tharus, Boksas, Bhotias, Jaunswaris and Rajis.[3]

Green = Brij or Harit Pradesh, Yellow = Awadh, Blue = Bundelkhand, Purple = Purvanchal, White = Baghelkhand

Most people in Uttar Pradesh speak Hindustani, which in a literate form is referred to as Hindi and Urdu.

In addition, the people of Uttar Pradesh speak a variety of local dialects of Hindi, which are not always easy to classify or identify. E.g., the language of Allahabad is often classified today as Awadhi, but, its actually a mix of several surrounding dialects, including Awadhi and Bundelkhandi. Most Allahabadis refer to their dialect as Allahabadi. Furthermore, in neighbouring Banda, the dialect is exactly the same, but, they refer to it as Bundelkhandi.

It's said that in India, the dialects change every 50-mile, and its particularly true of Uttar Pradesh.

The dialect map of Uttar Pradesh is complex, but, in general, in three of the five sub regions of UP, viz, the Doab, Rohilkhand, and Bundelkhand, both Western and Eastern Hindi, as well as a mixture of the two are spoken. E.g., in Upper and parts of lower Doab (till Etawah), various forms of western Hindi are spoken, including Khari boli and Brij Bhasha. In the rest of lower Doab, various mixes of western and Eastern Hindi (Brij Bhasha/ Bundelkhandi and Awadhi) are spoken). Likewise, in Western Bundelkhand, Bundeli (a language closely related with Brij Bhasha) is spoken, while in Eastern Bundelkhand the dialect is still called 'Bundeli' but is part of Eastern Hindi (actually a mixture of Western and Eastern Hindi). In Western Rohilkhand, Khari boli is spoken. in Central Rohilkhand a mix of Awadhi and Khari boli is spoken, while in Eastern Rohilkhand, Awadhi is the dialect.

In the other two sub-regions of UP, viz., Awadh and Purvanchal too, there exist a wide variation in the dialects spoken. Awadhi is the main dialect in the Awadh sub-region of Uttar Pradesh. But, its form changes from west to east. In western Purvanchal, Eastern Hindi (Awadhi) is spoken, while in districts adjoining Bihar, Bhojpuri, also known as Bihari language is spoken. In southern Purvanchal, Baghelkhandi (a form of Eastern Hindi) is the predominant dialect.

As mentioned earlier, often these dialects merge into each other, for example in Shahjahanpur, in Rohilkhand, Khari boli merges into Awadhi.[30]

Likewise, older districts of Basti, Jaunpur, and western Mirzapur in Purvanchal and Shahjehanpur, Pilbhit, Eastern Badayun and Eastern Farrukhabad in central UP are Awadhi speaking.

• Distribution of Scheduled Castes by District in Uttar Pradesh
• List of Rajput clans of Uttar Pradesh