Hindus' share in India's population shrunk by 8%, and Muslims grew by 43%: PM's panel

Between 1950 and 2015, the population of Hindus in India declined sharply by 7.8% while Muslims grew by 43.15%, Christians by 5.38%, and Sikhs by 6.58%, according to a report released by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi (EAC-PM).

The study titled, Share of Religious Minorities – A Cross-Country Analysis (1950-2015) by by Shamika Ravi, Abraham Jose, and Apurv Kumar Mishra. It discussed the global trends of the demographic transitions in 167 countries where a religious denomination/group was in the “majority”.

According to the study, the share of Hindus in India’s population saw a decrease from 84% in 1950 to 78% in 2015, while that of Muslims witnessed an increase from 9.84% to 14.09% in the same period. Meanwhile, Christians saw a 5.38% increase, Sikhs a 6.58% rise, and Buddhists witnessed a slight increase.

Difference India’s demographic shift with our neighbourhood

India's population growth story is starkly different from countries in its immediate neighbourhood. The share of the Indian majority community, the Hindus, in the country's population declined by 7.8% between 1950 and 2015. However, in the neighbouring countries, where Muslims are a majority, the community's share witnessed an increase in the demographic mix. In neighbouring countries where Muslims (or their sect) constitute more than 50% – a majority, the community’s share witnessed an increase in the demographic mix. Pakistan witnessed an increase of 3.75% in the share of the majority religious denomination (Hanafi Muslim) and a 10% increase in the share of the total Muslim population.

However, Hindus’ decline by 7.8% in India is the second most significant decline in the immediate neighbourhood, just after Myanmar’s 10%. Myanmar saw the highest decline in the majority community’s share in the overall population of the country.

In Myanmar, the majority population of Theravada Buddhists declined by 10% in 65 years. According to the study, just like India, Nepal’s majority community (Hindus) saw a 3.6% decline in its share of the country’s population.

India’s neighbours with a majority Buddhist population, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, also saw an increase of 17.6% and 5.25%, respectively. However, in the Maldives, the share of the majority group (Shafi’i Sunnis) declined by 1.47%, as per the study by PM’s EAC.

"The change in the proportion of minorities as a share of the total population serves as a reliable proxy for the status of minorities in a country, which is fostered through policies including defining minorities, which itself is a rare practice globally," said the study, which assessed the trends in 167 countries globally.