Reports suggest about 80 per cent of people in India are Hindu and 15 per cent are Muslim.

By Abdullahi Yusuf

Population in India has more than tripled in the six decades after independence. From 36.1 crore people in the 1951 census, it was more than 120 crore in 2011, consisting of several religions, mainly Hindus. Reports suggest about 80 per cent of people in India are Hindu and 15 per cent of people living in India are Muslim. But India will overtake Indonesia as the country with the largest number of Muslims in 2050, according to a report by the US think-tank Pew Research Centre. It added Hindus would become the world’s third-largest population by that time. India is expected to have 311 million Muslims in 2050 (11% of the global total), with the largest population of Muslims in the world. Currently, Indonesia has the world’s largest number of Muslims.

India is already home to most of the world’s Hindus. In 2010, 94 per cent of the world’s Hindus lived in India. This is expected to remain true in 2050 when 1.3 billion Hindus are projected to live in the country. India will continue to be a multicultural and multi-religious nation where followers of various religions show unity in diversity and live in peace.

This is because Muslims have the youngest median age and the highest fertility rates among major religious groups in India. In 2010, the median age of Indian Muslims was 22, compared with 26 for Hindus and 28 for Christians. Likewise, Muslim women have an average of 3.2 children per woman, compared with 2.5 for Hindus and 2.3 for Christians.

Due to these factors, India’s Muslim community will expand faster than its Hindu population, rising from 14.4% in 2010 to 18.4% in 2050. But, even with this increase, Hindus will make up more than three-in-four Indians (76.7%) in 2050.