Jain Journal 1986 10

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 12

42
As compared to these, following 5 out of 6 districts having decline in the number of Jains are situated in Gujarat :
Decadal % variation
District
Banskantha
Kheda
Rajkot
Jamnagar
Mehsana
-2.29
-6.28
-9.08
-10.73
-11.42
JAIN JOURNAL
After having analysed the patterns of population dispersal and growth of Jains, it is intended here to present a brief account of a few selected population characteristics. This is being attempted on the basis of limited data available from the 1981 Census on sex composition, ruralurban distribution and number of household by religion of head of the household. It is seen from the figures presented in the Table 6 that the decadal percent population change is slower among Jains than Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs during 1971-81. This slower rate in case of Jains as explained earlier, is largely due to the low fertility level among them. The level of urbanization (the percentage of population living in urban areas), on the other hand, is the highest among Jains (64 percent) as compared to other religious communities. In other words, Jains live mostly in cities and towns thus, confirming the observation made by Sangave in his study on Jain community that "The Jain Community is essentially urban in character." The sex ratio or the number of females per thousand male population among Jains is comparatively higher than Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. Lastly, the average household size or the number of persons per household is higher among Jains as compared to Hindus, Christians and Buddhists and lower than Muslims and Sikhs. When we view this higher household size in the context of the prevailing level of fertility among Jains, we notice that the Total Marital Fertility Rate is lowest among Jains as compared to other religious communities as per 1981 Census as explained in the first section of this study. This fact may be regarded as an indication of the prevalence of joint family system among Jains on a large scale despite its being one of the most urbanized community in India.
7 V. A. Sangave, Jain Community: A Social Survey, Allied, Bombay, 1959, p. 5.