The share of the majority Hindu population declined by 7.82% from 84.68% to 78.06% between 1950 and 2015 while that ofMuslim population rose by 43.15% to 14.09% from 9.84% during the period, according to a working paper of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM). The paper, authored by EAC-PM member Shamika Ravi, consultant Apurv Kumar Mishra and Young Professional Abraham Jose, said the Christian population share rose 5.38% from 2.24% to 2.36% during the period.
The share of Sikh population increased by 6.58% from 1.24% in 1950 to 1.85% in 2015. Even the share of the Buddhist population witnessed a noticeable increase from 0.05% to 0.81%. “On the other hand, the share of Jains in the population of India decreased from 0.45% in 1950 to 0.36% in 2015. The share of the Parsi population in India witnessed a stark 85% decline, reducing from 0.03% share in 1950 to 0.004% in 2015,” the report noted.
Census in India was last conducted in 2011, the next one was due in a decade, but is delayed.
The EAC-PM paper also studied 167 countries to see the global trends in the majority and minority population trends. On the Indian subcontinent, the report found that all the Muslim majority countries witnessed an increase in the share of the majority religious denomination except Maldives where the share of the majority group (Shafi’i Sunnis) declined by 1.47%. In Bangladesh, there was an 18% increase in the share of the majority religious group which is the largest such increase in the Indian subcontinent.
Pakistan witnessed an increase of 3.75% in the share of the majority religious denomination (Hanafi Muslim) and a 10% increase in the share of total Muslim population despite the creation of Bangladesh in 1971.
Among non-Muslim majority countries, Myanmar, India and Nepal saw a decline in the share of the majority religious denomination. Myanmar witnessed the steepest decline of the majority religious group in the region with the share of Theravada Buddhist population declining by 10%. In Nepal, the share of the majority Hindu population declined by 4%, the share of the Buddhist population declined by 3% while the Muslim population increased by 2%.