THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The census data on religions, published on Tuesday, has revealed that 54.73 per cent of the people of Kerala are Hindus, 26.56 per cent Muslims and 18.38 per cent Christians.
Of the total 3,34,06,061 people in the state, Hindus constitute 1,82,82,492, while Muslims and Christians constitute 88,73,472 and 61,41,269 respectively. There are 3,814 Sikhs in the state, while Buddhists number 4,752 and Jains, 4,489. As many as 7,618 people are listed under ‘Other religions and persuasions’ while 88,155 have not stated their religion. “The present data pertains to the six major religions in the state. Detailed data on other religions will be released later,” A N Rajeev, Additional Director, Census Operations, Kerala, said. The Registrar-General and Census Commissioner released the data on ‘Population by Religious Community of Census 2011’ in New Delhi on Tuesday.
In the Hindu community in Kerala, 88.03 lakh are males, while females number 94.79 lakh; 94.08 lakh Hindus live in the rural areas of the state, while 88.73 inhabit urban areas. Muslim males number 41.76 lakh and females, 46.97 lakh; 42.51 lakh Muslims live in the rural areas and 46.21 lakh in urban locales. In the Christian community, there are 29.93 lakh males and 31.47 lakh females. As many as 37.55 lakh Christians live in the rural parts of the state, while 23.85 lakh inhabit urban areas. An interesting slice of data is that more women than men have chosen not to state their religion. Of the 88,155 people who have not stated their religion, 45,188 are women, while only 42,967 are men.