States of India by Urdu speakers

As per Government of India census data of 2011, the total number of Urdu speakers in the Republic of India were 62,772,631.[1][2] According to the census guidelines, "Urdu" does not broadly refer to the Hindustani language, but the literary-register of the macrolanguage, hence accounting Hindi as a separate language.

Urdu is officially recognised in India and has official status in the National Capital Territory of Delhi to which the language has remained deeply attached through its medieval history of Muslim sultanates and empires and the Indian states and union territories of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,[3] Telangana and Jammu and Kashmir.

## Regional distribution

[edit]

Following is a list of States and Union Territories of India by speakers of Urdu census data with estimated 2001 speakers.[4]

Administrative divisions | Urdu speakers

|

Total | Male | Female
States
Uttar Pradesh | 38,272,080 | 20,947,596 | 19,324,484
Bihar | 17,757,548 | 8,891,011 | 8,566,537
Maharashtra | 6,895,501 | 3,247,547 | 3,247,954
Telangana & Andhra Pradesh [i] | 5,539,910 | 3,430,719 | 2,109,191
Jharkhand | 3,324,411 | 2,206,458 | 1,117,953
Madhya Pradesh | 3,186,364 | 2,180,019 | 1,006,345
Karnataka | 2,674,333 | 1,373,117 | 1,301,216
West Bengal | 1,653,739 | 914,087 | 739,652
Rajasthan | 1,462,983 | 781,000 | 681,002
Gujarat | 1,350,630 | 687,723 | 663,907
Odisha | 899,299 | 411,692 | 288,817
Tamil Nadu | 511,299 | 273,914 | 232,385
Uttarakhand | 497,081 | 265,152 | 231,929
Haryana | 260,687 | 140,038 | 120,649
Chhattisgarh | 88,008 | 46,670 | 41,338
Goa | 54,163 | 28,306 | 25,857
Punjab | 27,660 | 16,971 | 10,689
Kerala | 51,492 | 26,703 | 25,789
Himachal Pradesh | 4,787 | 3,146 | 1,641
Assam | 4,715 | 2,821 | 1,894
Sikkim | 2,930 | 2,118 | 812
Meghalaya | 2,531 | 1,509 | 1,022
Arunachal Pradesh | 1,258 | 883 | 375
Manipur | 483 | 470 | 13
Tripura | 313 | 253 | 60
Mizoram | 98 | 84 | 14
Nagaland | 759 | 562 | 197
Union territories
Delhi | 8,575,033 | 4,351,545 | 4,223,488
Jammu & Kashmir | 13,251 | 8,293 | 4,958
Chandigarh | 7,254 | 4,428 | 2,826
Puducherry | 7,092 | 3,450 | 3,642
Andaman & Nicobar Islands | 1,615 | 885 | 730
Dadra & Nagar Haveli | 994 | 590 | 404
Daman & Diu | 574 | 388 | 186
Lakshadweep | 26 | 14 | 12
India | 85,061,078 | 46,837,143 | 45,698,968

1. ^ Telangana state was created after 2011 census, hence separate numbers are not available.

For census data of 1991:GOI census 1991: DISTRIBUTION OF 10,000 PERSONS BY LANGUAGE - INDIA, STATES AND UNION TERRITORIES - 1991

## Speaker strength

[edit]

Following is speaker's strength data of Urdu language for decades of 1971, 1981, 1991 & 2001:[5][6]

Language | Persons who returned the language as their mother tongue[7] | Percentage to total population

|
|

1971 | 1981 | 1991 | 2001 | 2011 | 1971 | 1981 | 1991 | 2001 | 2011
Urdu | 28,620,895  | 34,941,435  | 43,406,932  | 51,536,111  | 50,772,631  | 5.22  | 5.25  | 5.18  | 5.01  | 4.19

## Ranking

[edit]

Following is ranking data of Urdu language for decades of 1971, 1981, 1991 & 2001:[8]

Urdu: its rank and percentage to total population

1971 | 1981 | 1991 | 2001 | 2011
Rank | % | Rank | % | Rank | % | Rank | % | Rank | %
6  | 5.22  | 5  | 5.25  | 6  | 5.18**  | 6  | 5.01  | 7  | 4.19

"**" Census was not conducted in the former state of Jammu and Kashmir[citation needed]

## See also

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* States of India by urban population
* States of India by size of economy
* Muslims of Uttar Pradesh

## References

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1. ^ "Unknown Title". Archived from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 12 November 2009.
2. ^ SCHEDULED LANGUAGES IN DESCENDING ORDER OF SPEAKERS' STRENGTH - 2001
3. ^ "Urdu in Bihar". Language in India. Retrieved 17 May 2008.
4. ^ "Unknown Title". Archived from the original on 18 March 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
5. ^ GOI census 2001: COMPARATIVE SPEAKERS' STRENGTH OF SCHEDULED LANGUAGES -1971, 1981, 1991 AND 2001 Archived 2009-04-11 at the Wayback Machine
6. ^ "Population, Size and Decadal Change" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 September 2013.
7. ^ "Comparative speaker's strength of Scheduled Languages-1971, 1981, 1991 and 2001". Archived from the original on 6 December 2019. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
8. ^ GOI census 2001: COMPARATIVE RANKING OF SCHEDULED LANGUAGES IN DESCENDING ORDER OF SPEAKERS' STRENGTH-1971, 1981, 1991 AND 2001

## External links

[edit]

* "Gender Composition of the Population" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 November 2012.
* GOI census 2001: Population by religious communities