Sikh population in India declines, stands at 2.08 crores, 1.7 percent of national head count

CHANDIGARH: The popilation of Sikhs in India has declined by 0.2 percent while other main minority community Muslim population has increased by 14.2 percent. This was revelaed in report of Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India today released the data on Population by Religious Communities of Census 2011. The distribution is total population by six major religious communities namely, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain besides “Other Religions and Persuasions” and “Religion not stated”.The data are released by sex and residence up to sub-districts and towns. Total Population in 2011 is 121.09 crores ; Hindu 96.63 crores (79.8%); 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%).The population of Sikhs in Punjab is 14,592,387 (1.46 crores approximately) which is 60 percent of the toral population. It implies that about 62 lakh Sikhs are living in rest of India. It is estimated that about 50 lakh Sikh NRIs are living abroad, majority of them from Punjab.