List of languages by number of native speakers in India

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

India is home to several hundred languages. Most Indians speak a language belonging to the families of
the Indo-Aryan branch of Indo-European (ca.74%), the Dravidian (ca. 24%), theAustroasiatic (Munda) (ca.
1.2%), or the Tibeto-Burman (ca. 0.6%), with some languages of the Himalayas still unclassified. The SIL
Ethnologue lists 415 living languages for India.

Contents
[hide]

1 Overview

2 List by number of native speakers

o

2.1 More than one million speakers

2.2 100,000 to one million speakers

2.3 10,000 to 100,000 speakers

2.4 Fewer than 10,000 speakers

3 See also

4 References

4.1 Notes

4.2 General references

5 External links

Overview[edit source]
Hindi is the most widespread language of India. The Indian census takes the widest possible definition of
"Hindi" as a broad variety of "Hindi languages". The native speakers of Hindi so defined account for about 41%
of Indians according to the 2001 census.
Indian English is recorded as the native language of 226,449 Indians in the 2001 census. English is the second
"language of the Union" besides Hindi.[1]
Thirteen languages account for more than 1% of Indian population each, and between themselves for over
95%; all of them are "scheduled languages of the constitution." Scheduled languages spoken by fewer than 1%
of Indians
are Santali (0.64%), Nepali (0.28%), Sindhi (0.25%), Manipuri (0.14%), Bodo (0.13%), Dogri (0.01%), spoken
in Jammu and Kashmir). The largest language that is not "scheduled" is Bhili (0.95%), followed
by Gondi (0.27%), Kumaoni (0.21%), Tulu (0.17%) and Kurukh (0.10%)

List by number of native speakers[edit source]

Further information: List of languages by number of native speakers
Ordered by number of speakers as first language. Indian population in 1991 exhibited 19.4%
of bilingualism and 7.2% of trilingualism, so that the total percentage of "native languages" is at about 127%.

More than one million speakers[edit source]

The 2001 census recorded 29 individual languages as having more than 1 million native speakers (0.1% of
total population).

Table: Ordered by number of native speakers

Rank

Language

2001 census[2]

1991 census[3]

(total population 1,028,610,328 )

(total population 838,583,988)

Speakers

Percentage Speakers

Encarta 2007 estimate[4]

(worldwide speakers)

Percentage Speakers

Hindi[5]

422,048,642 41.03%

329,518,087 39.29%

366 M

Bengali

83,369,769 8.11%

69,595,738 8.30%

207 M

Telugu

74,002,856 7.19%

66,017,615 7.87%

69.7 M

Marathi

71,936,894 6.99%

62,481,681 7.45%

68.0 M

Tamil

60,793,814 5.91%

53,006,368 6.32%

66.0 M

Urdu

51,536,111 5.01%

43,406,932 5.18%

60.3 M

Gujarati

46,091,617 4.48%

40,673,814 4.85%

46.1 M

Kannada

37,924,011 3.69%

32,753,676 3.91%

35.3 M

Table: Ordered by number of native speakers

Rank

Language

2001 census[2]

1991 census[3]

(total population 1,028,610,328 )

(total population 838,583,988)

Encarta 2007 estimate[4]

(worldwide speakers)

Malayalam

33,066,392 3.21%

30,377,176 3.62%

35.7 M

10

Oriya

33,017,446 3.21%

28,061,313 3.35%

32.3 M

11

Punjabi

29,102,477 2.83%

23,378,744 2.79%

57.1 M

12

Assamese

13,168,484 1.28%

13,079,696 1.56%

15.4 M

13

Maithili

12,179,122 1.18%

7,766,921

0.926%

24.2 M

14

Bhili/Bhilodi

9,582,957

0.93%

15

Santali

6,469,600

0.63%

5,216,325

0.622%

16

Kashmiri

5,527,698

0.54%

17

Nepali

2,871,749

0.28%

2,076,645

0.248%

16.1 M

18

Gondi

2,713,790

0.26%

19

Sindhi

2,535,485

0.25%

2,122,848

0.253%

19.7 M

20

Konkani

2,489,015

0.24%

1,760,607

0.210%

21

Dogri

2,282,589

0.22%

Table: Ordered by number of native speakers

Rank

Language

2001 census[2]

1991 census[3]

(total population 1,028,610,328 )

(total population 838,583,988)

22

Khandeshi

2,075,258

0.21%

23

Kurukh

1,751,489

0.17%

24

Tulu

1,722,768

0.17%

25

Meitei/Manipuri 1,466,705*

0.14%

1,270,216

0.151%

26

Bodo

1,350,478

0.13%

1,221,881

0.146%

27

Khasi

1,128,575

0.11%

28

Mundari

1,061,352

0.103%

29

Ho

1,042,724

0.101%

Encarta 2007 estimate[4]

(worldwide speakers)

* Excludes figures of Paomata, Mao-Maram and Purul sub-divisions of Senapati district of Manipur for 2001.
** The percentage of speakers of each language for 2001 has been worked out on the total population of India
excluding the population of Mao-Maram, Paomata and Purul subdivisions of Senapati district of Manipur due to
cancellation of census results.

100,000 to one million speakers[edit source]

Rank

Language

2001 census

Speakers Percentage

30

Kui

916,222

31

Garo

889,479

32

Kokborok

854,023

33

Mizo

674,756

34

Halabi

593,443

35

Korku

574,481

36

Munda

469,357

37

Mishing

390,583 0.047%

38

Karbi/Mikir

366,229 0.044%

39

Saurashtra

310,000 0.037%

40

Savara

273,168 0.033%

41

Koya

270,994 0.032%

42

English

226,449 0.027%

43

Kharia

225,556 0.027%

44

Khond/Kondh 220,783 0.026%

45

Nishi

173,791 0.021%

46

Ao

172,449 0.021%

50

Sema

166,157 0.020%

51

Kisan

162,088 0.019%

52

Adi

158,409 0.019%

53

Rabha

139,365 0.017%

54

Konyak

137,722 0.016%

55

Malto

108,148 0.013%

56

Thado

107,992 0.013%

57

Tangkhul

101,841 0.012%

10,000 to 100,000 speakers[edit source]

1991 census

SIL estimate

58 Kolami

98,281 (0.012%) 115,000 (1997) Northwestern: 50,000; Southeastern: 10,000

59 Angami

97,631 (0.012%) 109,000 (1997)

60 Kodava Takk

97,011 (0.012%) 122,000

61 Dogri

89,681 (0.011%) (Pakistan+India: 2.1 million)

62 Dimasa

88,543 (0.011%) 106,000

63 Lotha

85,802 (0.010%) 80,000

64 Mao

77,810 (0.009%) 81,000

65 Tibetan

69,146 (0.008%) 124,280 (1994)

66 Kabui (Rongmei) 68,925 (0.008%) 59,000 (1997)

67 Phom

65,350 (0.008%) 34,000 (1997)

The following are SIL Ethnologue estimates:

estimated native speakers

Gaddi

120,000

Pardhi

119,700

Pardhan

116,919

Churahi

110,552

Sauria Paharia

110,000

Kullu

109,000

Bhattiyali

102,252

Ladakhi

102,000

Dungra Bhil

100,000

Adiwasi Garasia

100,000

Rajput Garasia

100,000

Noiri

100,000

Jaunsari

97,000

Pnar

84,000

Andh

80,000

Mara

79,000 (India: 47,000 Burma:32,000)

Mawchi

76,000

Bishnupriya

75,000

Duruwa

75,000

Lodhi:

75,000

Saraiki:

74,000

Bhadrawahi

69,000

Eastern Magar

67,691

Balti

67,000

Korwa

66,000

Mahali

66,000

Rana Tharu

64,000

Paniya

63,827

Rathwi Bareli

63,700

Rawang

60,536

Sansi

60,000

Kachari

59,000

Bazigar

58,236

Agariya

55,757

Kanjari

55,386

Mal Paharia

51,000

Poumei Naga

51,000

Bodo Parja

50,000

Hmar

50,000

Juang

50,000

Desiya Oriya

50,000

Kinnauri

48,778

Moinba

46,000

Paite

45,000

Tase Naga

45,000

Wancho Naga

45,000

Braj Bhasha

44,000

Buksa

43,000

Sangtam Naga

39,000

Lepcha

38,000

Kudmali

37,000

Yimchungru Naga

37,000

Gavli

35,000

Jennu Kurumba

35,000

Nocte Naga

35,000

Khirwar

34,251

Betta Kurumba

32,000

Chang Naga

31,000

Dangaura Tharu

31,000

Gadaba

31,000 (Pottangi Ollar: 15,000; Bodo: 8,000; Mudhili: 8,000)

Zeme Naga

30,800

Naga Pidgin

30,000

Car Nicobarese

30,000

Kurichiya

29,375

Mzieme Naga

29,000

Chenchu

28,754

Sikkimese

28,600

Limbu

28,000

Majhwar

27,958

Vaiphei

27,791

Ravula

27,413

Western Panjabi

27,386

Deori

26,900

Khoibu Naga

25,600

Falam Chin

25,367

Kanikkaran

25,000

Khiamniungan Naga

25,000

Maram Naga

25,000

Tutsa Naga

25,000

Sirmauri

25,000

Arakanese

24,000

Chokri Naga

24,000

Sholaga

24,000

Thangal Naga

23,600

Kamar

23,456

Apatani

23,000

Koch

23,000

Khezha Naga

23,000

Tiwa

23,000

Southern Rengma Naga 21,000

Shina

21,000

Gowlan

20,179

Kumarbhag Paharia

20,179

Savara

20,179

Matu Chin

20,000

Liangmai Naga

20,000

Ooty, Nilgiris

20,000

Sakechep

20,000

Seraiki

20,000

Sherpa

20,000

Toto

20,000

Khowar

19,200

Biete

19,000

Hajong

19,000

Reli

19,000

Manna-Dora

18,964

Hrangkhol

18,665

Bhunjia

18,601

Persian

18,000

Mukha-Dora

17,456

Maring Naga

17,361

Pangwali

17,000

Asuri

16,596

Dhatki

16,400

Malaryan

16,068

Malavedan

15,241

Gangte

15,100

Konda-Dora

15,000

Korra Koraga

15,000

Mudu Koraga

15,000

Kalto (Nahali)

15,000

Dhivehi (Mahl dialect) 15,000

Northern Pashto

15,000

Ullatan

14,846

Eastern Tamang

14,000

Anal

13,853

Northern Rengma Naga 13,000

Pochuri Naga

13,000

Western Muria

12,898

Muthuvan

12,219

Zangskari

12,006

Mirgan

12,000

War

12,000

Kaikadi

11,846

Idu-Mishmi

11,041

Pattani

11,000

Changthang

10,089

Degaru

10,089

Eastern Muria

10,089

Far Western Muria

10,089

Andaman Creole Hindi 10,000

Palya Bareli

10,000

Birhor

10,000

Lamkang

10,000

Inpui Naga

10,000

Spiti Bhoti

10,000

Vaagri Booli

10,000

Fewer than 10,000 speakers[edit source]

Zome: 9,112

Bondo: 9,000

Khamti: 8,879

Bhalay: 8,672

Digaro-Mishmi: 8,622

Paliyan: 8,615

Holiya: 8,000

Rongpo: 7,500

Malankuravan: 7,339

Mannan: 7,289

Pao: 7,223

Simte: 7,150

Nagarchal: 7,090

Chiru: 7,000

Miju-Mishmi: 6,500

Kinnauri, Harijan: 6,331

Sanskrit: 6,106

Turi: 6,054

Darlong: 6,000

Kinnauri, Bhoti: 6,000

Kurumba, Mullu: 6,000

Urali: 5,843

Sulung: 5,443

Chamari: 5,324

Bhatola: 5,045

Nicobarese, Southern: 5,045

Aiton: 5,000

Balochi, Eastern: 5,000

Kom: 5,000

Phake: 5,000

Katkari: 4,951

Chin, Bawm: 4,439

Manda: 4,036

Gahri: 4,000

Hruso: 4,000

Kupia: 4,000

Sajalong: 4,000

Naga, Moyon: 3,700

Naga, Chothe: 3,600

Thulung: 3,313

Naga, Monsang: 3,200

Malapandaram: 3,147

Sherdukpen: 3,100

Gata': 3,055

Brokskat: 3,000

Dzongkha: 3,000

Koireng: 3,000

Kurmukar: 3,000

Naga, Puimei: 3,000

Singpho: 3,000

Zyphe: 3,000

Rawat: 2,926

Byangsi: 2,829

Teressa: 2,767

Aimol: 2,643

Kurumba, Alu: 2,500

Stod Bhoti: 2,500

Kudiya: 2,462

Bijori: 2,391

Kadar: 2,265

Nicobarese, Central: 2,200

Shumcho: 2,174

Darmiya: 2,027

Chaura: 2,018

Kota: 2,000

Nihali: 2,000

Tinani: 2,000

Jangshung: 1,990

Chaudangsi: 1,825

Na: 1,500

Kanashi: 1,400

Naga, Kharam: 1,400

Bellari: 1,352

Khamba: 1,333

Merwari: 1,312

Mru: 1,231

Kinnauri, Chitkuli: 1,060

Bugun: 1,046

Rangkas: 1,014

Lohar, Gade: 1,009

Phudagi: 1,009

Lhomi: 1,000

Lisu: 1,000

Yakha: 1,000

Naga, Tarao: 870

Bateri: 800

Parenga: 767

Korlai Creole Portuguese: 750

Lohar, Lahul: 750

Tukpa: 723

Indo-Portuguese: 700

Toda: 600

Sunam: 558

Naga, Purum: 503

Chinali: 500

Varhadi-Nagpuri: 463

Dhimal: 450

Allar: 350

Ralte: 303

Jad: 300

Jarawa: 300

Koda: 300

Zakhring: 300

Majhi: 246

Aranadan: 236

Pankhu: 234

Shom Peng: 223

Vishavan: 150

Hinduri: 138

Nahari: 108

Sentinel: 101

Mugom: 100

nge: 96

Gurung, Western: 82

Godwari: 61

Khamyang: 50

Great Andamanese: 25

See also[edit source]

Official languages of India

Languages of India

List of endangered languages in India

References[edit source]
Notes[edit source]
1. Jump up^ In 1991, there were 90,000,000 "users" of English. (Census of India's Indian Census,
Issue 10, 2003, pp 810, (Feature: Languages of West Bengal in Census and Surveys,
Bilingualism and Trilingualism) and Tropf, Herbert S. 2004. India and its Languages. Siemens
AG, Munich.)
2. Jump up^ Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues 2000, Census of
India, 2001
3. Jump up^ Comparative Speaker's Strength of Scheduled Languages -1971, 1981, 1991 and
2001, Census of India, 1991
4. Jump up^ "Languages Spoken by More Than 10 Million People Table MSN Encarta".
Archived from the original on 2007-12-3.
5. Jump up^ includes Western Hindi, Eastern Hindi, Bihari languages except
for Maithili, Rajasthani languages and Pahari languages.

General references[edit source]

Data table of Census of India, 2001

Language Maps from Central Institute of Indian Languages

Scheduled Languages in descending order of speaker's strength 2001

Comparative ranking of scheduled languages in descending order of speaker's strength-1971, 1981, 1991
and 2001

Census data on Languages

External links[edit source]

Major Indian Languages