Jains in India and Abroad

Author(s): Prakash C Jain
Publisher: International Summer School for Jain Studies

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Sex Ratio The 1991 census data reveal that of the 3,352,706 Jains, 1,722,715 were males and 1,629,991 females. The sex ratio (females per 1,000 males) thus comes to 946 which suggest a slight improvement over that for the census year 1981 that is 941. The sex ratio among the Jains was thus found to be better vis-à-vis Hindus (925), Muslims (930) and Sikhs (888) but worse than that among the Christians (994) and Buddhists (952). Unfortunately, this gain was wiped out in the 2001 census in which case there were only 2,047,655 females for 2,177,398 males. Thus the sex ratio among the Jains in 2001 declined to only 940. "Among the major states Kerala has returned the highest sex ratio of 996 for Jains. In Gujarat and Rajasthan also sex ratio of Jains is high at 969 and 966 respectively. In twenty states Jain population has sex ratio between 901 and 950” (The First Report on Religion Data 2004: xviii).
Even more alarming aspect of sex ratio among the Jains is the sharp decline of sex ratio in the 0-6 age group which is only 870 compared to 927 for all religious communities in India, 925 for Hindus and 950 for Muslims. In terms of state-wise distribution, sixteen states and union territories had a child sex ratio below 850 among the Jains (The First Report on Religion Data 2004: xviii). Among the major states having large Jain population sex ratio in the age group 0-6 is low at 832 in Gujarat, 878 in Rajasthan and 906 in Madhya Pradesh (Table 3.7).
On another measure, that is, the proportion of child population in the age group 0-6 years to the total population, the Jains are again lagging behind all other religious communities in India (Table 3.7). Thus Jains had the lowest proportion of child population (10.6%) compared with the national average (15.9%), Hindus (15.6%), Muslims (18.7%), Christians (13.5%), Sikhs (12.8%) and Buddhists (14.4%). "The proportion of population in the age group 0-6 among the Jains reveals that among the major states Karnataka accounts for highest proportion of 12 percent which is far below the national average. Gujarat has the lowest proportion of 9.2 percent. Low fertility trend among the Jains is evident from the fact that except two states all other states have child population proportion below 14 percent. Jains have reported the lowest child population 9.2 percent
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Jains in India and Abroad