Hindu population below 80 per cent

New Delhi: The Cental government on Tuesday released the data on population by religious communities from Census 2011 which showed the proportion of Muslims to the total population is growing marginally faster than that of hindhu and other religions.

India now has 966.3 million Hindus, who make up 79.8 per cent of its population, and 172.2 million Muslims, who make up 14.23 per cent. Among the other minorities, Christians make up 2.3 per cent of the population and Sikhs 2.16 per cent.

Critics questioned the timing of the release of the data just weeks ahead of polls in Bihar, where Muslims can influence the outcome in about 50 of the 243 assembly constituencies. According to an official statement, the proportion of Hindus in the total population has declined by 0.7 percentage point, Sikhs by 0.2 percentage points and Buddhists by 0.1 percentage points during 2001-2011.