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List of languages by number of native speakers in India

Article Discussion

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A pentalingual highway sign in Kochi written in Malayalam, English, Hindi, Tamil and Kannada.

The Republic of India is home to several hundred languages. Most Indians speak a language belonging to the families of the Indo-Aryan branch of Indo-European (c. 77%), the Dravidian (c. 20.61%), the Austroasiatic (precisely Munda and Khasic) (c. 1.2%), or the Sino-Tibetan (precisely Tibeto-Burman) (c. 0.8%), with some languages of the Himalayas still unclassified. The SIL Ethnologue lists 424 living languages in India.<ref name="Ethnologue">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

OverviewEdit

India has not had a national language since its independence in 1947. However, Rule 1976 (As Amended, 1987) of the Constitution of India, mandates English as the "Official Languages" required "for Official Purpose of the Union." Business in the Indian parliament is transacted in either Hindi or in English. English is allowed for official purposes such as parliamentary proceedings, judiciary, communications between the Central Government and a State Government.

States within India have the liberty and powers to select their own official language(s) through legislation. In addition to the two Official Languages, the constitution recognises 22 regional languages, named in a specific list as "Scheduled Languages". (Hindi is but English is not.) India's Constitution includes provisions detailing the languages used for the official purposes of the union, the languages used for the official purposes of each state and union territory and the languages used for communication between the union and the states.

Hindi is the most widely spoken language, mostly prevalent in the northern parts of India. The Indian census takes the widest possible definition of "Hindi" as a broad variety of the "Hindi Belt".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> According to 2001 Census, 53.6% of the Indian population declared that they speak Hindi as either their first or second language, in which 41% of them have declared it as their native language.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>2001 census data Template:Webarchive</ref> 12% of Indians declared that they can speak English as a second language.<ref>In 1991, there were 90,000,000 "users" of English. (Census of India Indian Census Template:Webarchive, Issue 10, 2003, pp. 8–10, (Feature: Languages of West Bengal in Census and Surveys, Bilingualism and Trilingualism) and Tropf, Herbert S. 2004. Template:Usurped. Siemens AG, Munich.)</ref>

File:Fastest growing languages of India — Hindi (first), Kashmiri (second), Gujarati & Meitei alias Manipuri (third), Bengali (fourth) — based on 2011 census of India.jpg
Fastest growing languages of India — Hindi (first), Kashmiri (second), Gujarati & Meitei/Manipuri (third), Bengali (fourth) — based on 2011 census of India

Hindi is the fastest growing language of India, followed by Kashmiri in the second place, with Meitei (officially called Manipuri) as well as Gujarati, in the third place, and Bengali in the fourth place, according to the 2011 census of India.<ref>—{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}
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Thirteen languages account for more than 1% of Indian population each, and between themselves for over 95%; all of them are "scheduled languages of the constitution". Scheduled languages spoken by fewer than 1% of Indians are Santali (0.63%), Kashmiri (0.54%), Nepali (0.28%), Sindhi (0.25%), Konkani (0.24%), Dogri (0.22%), Meitei (0.14%), Bodo (0.13%) and Sanskrit (In the 2001 census of India, 14,135 people reported Sanskrit as their native language).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The largest language that is not "scheduled" is Bhili (0.95%), followed by Gondi (0.27%), Khandeshi (0.21%), Tulu (0.17%) and Kurukh (0.10%).

As per 2011 census, 26% of Indians are bilingual and 7% are trilingual.<ref>https://censusindia.gov.in/census.website/data/census-tables Table C-17</ref>

India has a Greenberg's diversity index of 0.914—i.e. two people selected at random from the country will have different native languages in 91.4% of cases.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

As per the 2011 Census of India, languages by highest number of speakers are as follows: Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati, Urdu, Kannada, Odia, Malayalam.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="2011Stm4">Statement 4 : Scheduled Languages in descending order of speakers' strength – 2011</ref>

List of languages by number of native speakersEdit

Ordered by number of speakers as first language.

More than one million speakersEdit

The 2011 census recorded 31 individual languages as having more than 1 million native speakers (0.1% of total population). The languages in bold are scheduled languages (the only scheduled language with less than 1 million native speakers is Sanskrit). The first table is restricted to only speaking populations for scheduled languages.

First, second, and third languages by number of speakers in India (2011 Census)
First language speakers Second language
speakers<ref name="thehindu" /> 		Third language
speakers<ref name="thehindu" /> 		Total speakers
Language citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

% of total
population 		Figure<ref name="timesofindia">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="thehindu" /> % of total
population
HindiTemplate:Refn 528,347,193 43.63% 139,207,180 24,160,696 691,347,193 57.09%
Bengali 97,237,669 8.03% 9,037,222 1,008,088 107,237,669 8.85%
Marathi 83,026,680 6.86% 12,923,626 2,966,019 99,026,680 8.18%
Telugu 81,127,740 6.70% 11,946,414 1,001,498 94,127,740 7.77%
Tamil 69,026,881 5.70% 6,992,253 956,335 77,026,881 6.36%
Gujarati 55,492,554 4.58% 4,035,489 1,007,912 60,492,554 4.99%
UrduTemplate:Refn 50,772,631 4.19% 11,055,287 1,096,428 62,772,631 5.18%
Kannada 43,706,512 3.61% 14,076,355 993,989 58,706,512 4.84%
Odia 37,521,324 3.10% 4,972,151 31,525 42,551,324 3.51%
Malayalam 34,838,819 2.88% 499,188 195,885 35,538,819 2.93%
Punjabi 33,124,726 2.74% 2,300,000 720,000 36,074,726 2.97%
Assamese 15,311,351 1.26% 7,488,153 740,402 23,539,906 1.94%
Maithili 13,063,042 1.08% 400,200 120,222 13,583,464 1.12%
English 259,678 0.02% 83,125,221 45,993,066 129,259,678 10.67%
Table: Population ordered by number of native speakers
Rank Language 1991 census of India<ref name="2001Stm5">Comparative Speaker's Strength of Scheduled Languages -1971, 1981, 1991 and 2001 Template:Webarchive, Census of India, 1991</ref>
(total: 838,583,988) 		2001 census of India<ref name="2001Stm1">Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues – 2000 Template:Webarchive, Census of India, 2001</ref>
(total: 1,028,610,328) 		2011 Census of India<ref name="language">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref><ref name="2011Stm1">Statement 1 : Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues – 2011 Template:Webarchive</ref>
(total: 1,210,854,977)<ref name="2011Stm2">Statement 2 : Distribution of population by Scheduled and other Languages India, States and Union Territories – 2011 Template:Webarchive</ref>

Encarta 2007 estimate<ref name="2007Encarta">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>
Worldwide total

Speakers Percentage Speakers Percentage Speakers Percentage Speakers
1 Hindi<ref group="note" name="Hindi" /> 329,518,087 39.29% 422,048,642 41.1% 528,347,193 43.63% 366 million
2 Bengali 69,595,738 8.30% 83,193,311 8.09% 97,237,669 8.03% 207 million
3 Marathi 62,481,681 7.45% 71,936,894 6.99% 83,026,680 6.86% 68.0 million
4 Telugu 66,017,615 7.87% 74,002,856 7.19% 81,127,740 6.70% 69.7 million
5 Tamil 53,006,368 6.32% 60,793,814 5.91% 69,026,881 5.70% 66.0 million
6 Gujarati 40,673,814 4.85% 46,091,617 4.48% 55,492,554 4.58% 46.1 million
7 Urdu<ref group="note" name="Hindustani" /> 43,406,932 5.18% 51,536,111 5.01% 50,772,631 4.19% 60.3 million
8 Kannada 32,753,676 3.91% 37,924,011 3.69% 43,706,512 3.61% 35.3 million
9 Odia 28,061,313 3.35% 33,017,446 3.21% 37,521,324 3.10% 32.3 million
10 Malayalam 30,377,176 3.62% 33,066,392 3.21% 34,838,819 2.88% 35.7 million
11 Punjabi 23,378,744 2.79% 29,102,477 2.83% 33,124,726 2.74% 57.1 million
12 Assamese 13,079,696 1.56% 13,168,484 1.28% 15,311,351 1.26% 15.4 million
13 Maithili 7,766,921 0.926% 12,179,122 1.18% 13,583,464 1.12% 24.2 million
14 Bhili/Bhilodi 9,582,957 0.93% 10,413,637 0.86%
15 Santali 5,216,325 0.622% 6,469,600 0.63% 7,368,192 0.61%
16 Kashmiri 5,527,698 0.54% 6,797,587 0.56%
17 Gondi 2,713,790 0.26% 2,984,453 0.25%
18 Nepali 2,076,645 0.248% 2,871,749 0.28% 2,926,168 0.24% 16.1 million
19 Sindhi 2,122,848 0.253% 2,535,485 0.25% 2,772,264 0.23% 19.7 million
20 Dogri 2,282,589 0.22% 2,596,767 0.21%
21 Konkani 1,760,607 0.210% 2,489,015 0.24% 2,256,502 0.19%
22 Kurukh 1,751,489 0.17% 1,988,350 0.16%
23 Khandeshi 2,075,258 0.21% 1,860,236 0.15%
24 Tulu 1,722,768 0.17% 1,846,427 0.15%
25 Meitei (Manipuri) 1,270,216 0.151% 1,466,705* 0.14% 1,761,079 0.15%
26 Bodo 1,221,881 0.146% 1,350,478 0.13% 1,482,929 0.12%
27 Khasi 1,128,575 0.11% 1,431,344 0.12%
28 Ho 1,042,724 0.101% 1,421,418 0.12%
29 Garo 1,061,352 0.103% 1,145,323 0.09%
30 Mundari 889,479 0.086% 1,128,228 0.09%
31 Tripuri 854,023 0.083% 1,011,294 0.08%

* Excludes figures of Paomata, Mao-Maram and Purul sub-divisions of Senapati district of Manipur for 2001.
** 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.

100,000 to one million speakersEdit

Rank Language 2001 census
Speakers Percentage
32 Kui 916,222 0.089%
33 Lushai/Mizo 674,756 0.066%
34 Halabi 593,443 0.058%
35 Korku 574,481 0.056%
36 Miri/Mishing 551,224 0.054%
37 Munda 469,357 0.046%
38 Karbi/Mikir 419,534 0.041%
39 Koya 362,070 0.035%
40 Ao 261,387 0.025%
41 Savara 252,519 0.025%
42 Konyak 248,109 0.024%
43 Kharia 239,608 0.023%
44 English 226,449 0.022%
45 Malto 224,926 0.022%
46 Nissi/Dafla 211,485 0.021%
47 Adi 198,462 0.019%
48 Thado 190,595 0.019%
49 Chakma 176,458 0.017%
50 Lotha 170,001 0.017%
51 Coorgi/Kodagu 166,187 0.016%
52 Rabha 164,770 0.016%
53 Tangkhul 142,035 0.014%
54 Kisan 141,088 0.014%
55 Angami 132,225 0.013%
56 Phom 122,508 0.012%
57 Kolami 121,855 0.012%
58 Khond/Kondh<ref>different from Kui language</ref> 118,597 0.012%
59 Dimasa 111,961 0.011%
60 Ladakhi 104,618 0.010%
61 Sema 103,529 0.010%

List of mother tongues by number of speakersEdit

Each of the languages of the 2001 census subsumes one or more mother tongues. Speaker numbers are available for these mother tongues and they are also included in the speaker numbers for their respective language. For example, the language Telugu (with a total of 81,127,740 speakers) includes the mother tongues of Telugu (with 80,912,459 speakers), Vadari (198,020 speakers) and "Others" (17,261 speakers).<ref>The data are from http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/C-16/DDW-C16-STMT-MDDS-0000.XLSX. Template:Webarchive</ref> The General Notes from the 2001 census define "mother tongue" as "the language spoken in childhood by the person's mother to the person. If the mother died in infancy, the language mainly spoken in the person's home in childhood will be the mother tongue."<ref name=2001notes>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The following table lists those mother tongues that have more than one million speakers according to the 2011 census:<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Mother tongues with more than one million speakers
Rank Mother tongue 2011 census Included
in language
Speakers Percentage
1 Hindi Template:Sigfig Template:Sigfig%
2 Bengali Template:Sigfig Template:Sigfig%
3 Marathi Template:Sigfig Template:Sigfig%
4 Telugu Template:Sigfig Template:Sigfig%
5 Tamil Template:Sigfig Template:Sigfig%
6 Gujarati Template:Sigfig Template:Sigfig%
7 Urdu Template:Sigfig Template:Sigfig%
8 Bhojpuri Template:Sigfig Template:Sigfig% Hindi
9 Kannada Template:Sigfig Template:Sigfig%
10 Malayalam Template:Sigfig Template:Sigfig%
11 Odia Template:Sigfig Template:Sigfig%
12 Punjabi Template:Sigfig Template:Sigfig%
13 Rajasthani Template:Sigfig Template:Sigfig% Hindi
14 Chhattisgarhi Template:Sigfig Template:Sigfig% Hindi
15 Assamese Template:Sigfig Template:Sigfig%
16 Maithili Template:Sigfig Template:Sigfig%
17 Magahi Template:Sigfig Template:Sigfig% Hindi
18 Haryanvi Template:Sigfig 0.810% Hindi
19 Khortha/Khotta Template:Sigfig 0.664% Hindi
20 Marwari Template:Sigfig 0.647% Hindi
21 Santali Template:Sigfig 0.576%
22 Kashmiri Template:Sigfig 0.541%
23 Bundeli/Bundel khandi Template:Sigfig 0.465% Hindi
24 Malvi Template:Sigfig 0.430% Hindi
25 Sadan/Sadri Template:Sigfig 0.359% Hindi
26 Mewari Template:Sigfig 0.348% Hindi
27 Awadhi Template:Sigfig 0.318% Hindi
28 Wagdi Template:Sigfig 0.280% Bhili/Bhilodi
29 Lamani/Lambadi Template:Sigfig 0.271% Hindi
30 PahariTemplate:Refn Template:Sigfig 0.269% Hindi
31 Bhili/Bhilodi Template:Sigfig 0.265%
32 Hara/Harauti Template:Sigfig 0.243% Hindi
33 Nepali Template:Sigfig 0.242%
34 Gondi Template:Sigfig 0.236%
35 Bagheli/Baghel Khandi Template:Sigfig 0.221% Hindi
36 Sambalpuri Template:Sigfig 0.217% Odia
37 Dogri Template:Sigfig 0.214%
38 Garhwali Template:Sigfig 0.205% Hindi
39 Nimadi Template:Sigfig 0.191% Hindi
40 Surjapuri Template:Sigfig 0.186% Hindi
41 Konkani Template:Sigfig 0.177%
42 Kumauni Template:Sigfig 0.172% Hindi
43 Kurukh/Oraon Template:Sigfig 0.163%
44 Tulu Template:Sigfig 0.152%
45 Manipuri Template:Sigfig 0.145%
46 Surgujia Template:Sigfig 0.144% Hindi
47 Sindhi Template:Sigfig 0.139%
48 Bagri Template:Sigfig 0.137% Punjabi
49 Ahirani Template:Sigfig 0.135% Khandeshi
50 Banjari Template:Sigfig 0.131% Hindi
51 Brajbhasha Template:Sigfig 0.129% Hindi
52 Dhundhari Template:Sigfig 0.122% Hindi
53 Bodo/Boro Template:Sigfig 0.120% Bodo
54 Ho Template:Sigfig 0.117%
55 Gojri/Gujjari/Gujar Template:Sigfig 0.101% Hindi
56 Mundari Template:Sigfig 0.093%
57 Garo Template:Sigfig 0.093%
58 Kangri Template:Sigfig 0.092% Hindi
59 Khasi Template:Sigfig 0.086%
60 Kachchhi Template:Sigfig 0.085% Sindhi

NotesEdit

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See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

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General referencesEdit

External linksEdit

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