| Language |
Persons who returned the language as their
mother tongue |
Percentage to total population |
| 1971 |
1981 |
1991 |
2001 |
1971 |
1981 1 |
1991 3 |
2001 4 |
| 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| INDIA |
548,159,652 |
665,287,849 |
838,583,988 |
1,028,610,328 |
97.14 |
89.23 |
97.05 |
96.56 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1
Hindi |
202,767,971 |
257,749,009 |
329,518,087 |
422,048,642 |
36.99 |
38.74 |
39.29 |
41.03 |
| 2 Bengali |
44,792,312 |
51,298,319 |
69,595,738 |
83,369,769 |
8.17 |
7.71 |
8.30 |
8.11 |
| 3 Telugu |
44,756,923 |
50,624,611 |
66,017,615 |
74,002,856 |
8.16 |
7.61 |
7.87 |
7.19 |
| 4 Marathi |
41,765,190 |
49,452,922 |
62,481,681 |
71,936,894 |
7.62 |
7.43 |
7.45 |
6.99 |
| 5 Tamil 2 |
37,690,106 |
** |
53,006,368 |
60,793,814 |
6.88 |
** |
6.32 |
5.91 |
| 6 Urdu |
28,620,895 |
34,941,435 |
43,406,932 |
51,536,111 |
5.22 |
5.25 |
5.18 |
5.01 |
| 7 Gujarati |
25,865,012 |
33,063,267 |
40,673,814 |
46,091,617 |
4.72 |
4.97 |
4.85 |
4.48 |
| 8 Kannada |
21,710,649 |
25,697,146 |
32,753,676 |
37,924,011 |
3.96 |
3.86 |
3.91 |
3.69 |
| 9 Malayalam |
21,938,760 |
25,700,705 |
30,377,176 |
33,066,392 |
4.00 |
3.86 |
3.62 |
3.21 |
| 10
Oriya |
19,863,198 |
23,021,528 |
28,061,313 |
33,017,446 |
3.62 |
3.46 |
3.35 |
3.21 |
| 11
Punjabi |
14,108,443 |
19,611,199 |
23,378,744 |
29,102,477 |
2.57 |
2.95 |
2.79 |
2.83 |
| 12
Assamese 2 |
8,959,558 |
** |
13,079,696 |
13,168,484 |
1.63 |
** |
1.56 |
1.28 |
| 13
Maithili @ |
6,130,026 |
7,522,265 |
7,766,921 |
12,179,122 |
1.12 |
1.13 |
0.93 |
1.18 |
| 14
Santali |
3,786,899 |
4,332,511 |
5,216,325 |
6,469,600 |
0.69 |
0.65 |
0.62 |
0.63 |
| 15
Kashmiri |
2,495,487 |
3,176,975 |
# |
5,527,698 |
0.46 |
0.48 |
# |
0.54 |
| 16
Nepali |
1,419,835 |
1,360,636 |
2,076,645 |
2,871,749 |
0.26 |
0.20 |
0.25 |
0.28 |
| 17
Sindhi |
1,676,875 |
2,044,389 |
2,122,848 |
2,535,485 |
0.31 |
0.31 |
0.25 |
0.25 |
| 18
Konkani |
1,508,432 |
1,570,108 |
1,760,607 |
2,489,015 |
0.28 |
0.24 |
0.21 |
0.24 |
| 19
Dogri |
1,299,143 |
1,530,616 |
# |
2,282,589 |
0.24 |
0.23 |
# |
0.22 |
| 20
Manipuri $ |
791,714 |
901,407 |
1,270,216 |
1,466,705 |
0.14 |
0.14 |
0.15 |
0.14 |
| 21 Bodo
2 |
556,576 |
** |
1,221,881 |
1,350,478 |
0.10 |
** |
0.15 |
0.13 |
| 22
Sanskrit |
2,212 |
6,106 |
49,736 |
14,135 |
N |
N |
0.01 |
N |
Note:
1. The percentage of speakers of each language for 1981 has been worked out on the total population of India
excluding the population of Assam where the 1981 Census was not conducted due to disturbed conditions.
2. The percentage of speakers of each Language for 1991 has been worked out on the total population of India
excluding the population of Jammu & Kashmir where the 1991 Census was not conducted due to disturbed
conditions.
3. The percentage of speakers of each language for '2001' has been worked out on the total population of India
excluding the population of Mao-Maram, Paomata and Purul subdivisions of Senapati district of Manipur due to
cancellation of census results over there.
4. Full figures for Tamil, Assamese and Bodo for 1981 are not available as the census records for Tamil Nadu were
lost due to floods and the 1981 Census could not be conducted in Assam due to the disturbed conditions then
prevailing there. Therefore, percentage to total population of Tamil and Assamese are not given.
# Full figures for Kashmiri & Dogri language for 1991 are not available as the 1991 Census was not conducted in
Jammu & Kashmir due to disturbed conditions.
$ Excludes figures of Paomata, Mao-Maram and Purul sub-divisions of Senapati district of Manipur for 2001.
N' - Stands for Negligible.
@ Maithili figure has been extracted from Hindi language from 1971 census to 1991 census since it was one of
the mother tongues grouped under Hindi during the period.
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