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CHAPTER 1 -
POPULATION
1. TOTAL AND GROWTH OF JAINA POPULATION
The population of Jainas in India according to the 1971 Census is only 26,04,646 in the total population of India of 54,79,49,809. The distribution of population of India as per Census of India,
1971 among the major religious communities and their percentage : to total population is given in Table 1.1
Table 1
Serial No.
Major Religious
Communities
Population
Percentage to total
population
Hindus Muslims Christians Sikhs Buddhists Jainas
45,32,92,086 6,14,17,934 1,42,23,382 1,03,78,797
39,12,325 26,04,646
82.72 11.21 2.60 1.89 0.70 0.47
6.
From the above table it is evident that from the point of view of population the Jaina community is the smallest among the six major religious communities of India. Since the Jaina population is only about 26 lakhs, the Jainas are only 0.47 per cent in the total population of India. It means that out of every 10,000 persons in India only 47 are Jainas.
In fact this figure of 26 lakhs of Jaina population in 1971 is much larger than the corresponding figures recorded in the last ten Census Reports of India. The total Jaina population
J...1
