The latest religious data released by the census of 2011 revealed that the percentage of Christians in the country remains the same at 2.3 percent while the decadal growth is down by 7 percent which is lower than all communities which is down only by 3.8 percent.
The decadal growth rate of Christians from 1991-2001 was 22.5 percent while the same from 2001-2011 is only 15.5 percent. Meanwhile, the decadal growth rate for all communities in the same period is 21.5 percent and 17.7 percent respectively.
The 2001-2011 decadal growth rate for Hindus was 16.8 percent, Muslims 24.6 percent, Sikhs 8.4 percent, Buddhists 6.1 percent and Jains 5.4 percent.
The population share of Christians remains at 2.3 percent in 2011 as well as it was in 2001 although the population increased from 24 million to 27 million. Meanwhile, that of Hindus was slightly down from 80.5 percent in 2001 to 79.9 percent in 2011, Muslims' share increased from 13.4 percent to 14.2 percent.
Sikh share of national population is down from 1.9 percent to 1.7 percent. In Punjab, it is down from 59.9 percent to 57.7 percent as Hindu share in the state rises.
A few states/UTs where Hindus' decadal growth was higher than their respective averages are Punjab, Karnataka, Goa, Puducherry, Chandigarh, Nagaland, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.
The decadal growth rate of Muslims too has come down from 29.3 percent from 1991-2001 to 24.6 percent from 2001-2011.
The Muslim population, rose across states registering more than their its national average in Mizoram (46.9%), Haryana (45.7%), Chandigarh (44.7%), Punjab (40.2%), Nagaland (39.9%), Uttarakhand (39%) and NCT or Delhi (33%), Rajasthan (29.8%), Assam (29.6%), Bihar (28%) and Gujarat (27.3%).
Kerala returned interesting results with a 12.8% rise in Muslim population between 2001 and 2011, far higher than the corresponding figures for Hindus (2.2%) and Christians (1.4%).
The decadal growth rate for Christian population (2001-11) was higher than 100% in Bihar and Arunachal Pradesh, but the community recorded a negative growth in five states including Nagaland (-2.8%), Andhra Pradesh (-4.4%), Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.
Sikhs recorded a high decadal growth rate in Odisha (25.7%), Gujarat (27.8%), Andhra Pradesh (29.8%), Kerala (38.1%) and Tamil Nadu (53%), among others. The community, however, showed a negative growth rate in eight states/UTs.
Jains have shown just 5.4% decadal growth rate across the country. While Himachal Pradesh shows a notable growth rate for the community between 2001 and 2011 (28.2%), as many as 8 states recorded a negative growth rate.
