Demographics of Punjab, India

Punjab is home to 2.3% of India's population; with a density of 551 persons per km2. According to the provisional results of the 2011 national census, Punjab has a population of 27,743,338, making it the 16th most populated state in India. Of which male and female are 14,639,465 and 13,103,873 respectively. 32% of Punjab's population consists of Dalits. In the state, the rate of population growth is 13.9% (2011), lower than national average. Out of total population, 37.5% people live in urban regions. The total figure of population living in urban areas is 10,399,146 of which 5,545,989 are males and while remaining 4,853,157 are females. The urban population in the last 10 years has increased by 37.5%. According to the 2011 Census of India, Punjab, India has a population of around 27.7 million.

Population density
The table below gives the population density (persons per square kilometre) of Punjab through the years.

The table below shows the population density by district in Punjab, according to the 2011 census.

Gender
The table below shows the sex ratio of Punjab through the years.

The table below shows the sex ratio of Punjab by district, according to the 2011 census.

Fertility rate
The table below shows the birth rate per 1000 persons in Punjab through the years.

According to the National Family Health Survey of 2015–16, the percentage of women age 15-19 who have begun childbearing (teenage pregnancy) was 2.6%.

The table below shows the variation the fertility rate (children per woman) according to the education of a woman in Punjab, as of 2019–21.

Family planning
According to the National Family Health Survey 2020–21, the unmet need for family planning increased from 6.2% in 2015–16 to 9.9% in 2020–21. In the same time period, the unmet need for child spacing increased from 2.4 to 3.7 percent.

Infant mortality
The list below shows the infant mortality rate per 1000 in Punjab, through the years.

Maternal mortality
The table below shows the maternal mortality rate per one lakh (1,00,000) per year, through the years.

Literacy rate
According to the 2011 census, the literacy rate of Punjab was 75.84%. The male literacy was 80.44% and the female literacy was 70.73%. The median number of years of schooling completed in the state was 6.5 for females and 7.8 for males, as of 2011.

District
The table given below shows the literacy rate by district for year 2011 in descending order.

Urban and Rural areas
The table given below shows the urban rural literacy rate of Punjab by district, in the year 2011.

Religion
The table below shows the literacy rate by religion in Punjab, according to 2001 census.

Caste
The table below gives the literacy rate of Scheduled castes by district, according to the 2011 census.

Human Development Index
The table below shows the district wise human development index of Punjab through the years.

Caste population
As of September 2020, the caste population data foreach Forward caste citizen in Punjab collected in Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011 has not been released to public by Government of India. Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes form 63.2% of the total population of Punjab.

Below is the list of districts according to the percentage of their SC population, according to 2011 census.

Scheduled caste (SC) population among different religions in Punjab - Census 2011

Crimes against SC/STs
The table below shows the number of recorded crimes against scheduled caste and scheduled tribe people from 2010 to 2018.

Urbanization
The table below shows the percentage of rural population in each district of Punjab in ascending order, according to the 2011 census.

Languages spoken
The Punjabi language written in the Gurmukhi script is the official language of the state. Muslims form a slight majority in the Malerkotla town and use Shahmukhi for communication. Punjabi is the sole official language of Punjab and is spoken by the majority of the population numbering around 24,919,067 constituting (89.82%) of the population as of 2011 census report. Hindi is the second largest language, spoken by 2,177,853 constituting 7.85% of the population. And the remaining 646,418 spoke other Indian languages, comprising 2.83% in the Others category.

2001 and 2011 census
Sikhism is the most practiced faith in Punjab, practiced by 16 million people representing  57.69% of the population of Punjab population, making it the only Sikh-majority state in India. Around 38.49% of the population i.e. 10.67 million practice Hinduism, while Islam is followed by 5.35 lakhs comprising 1.93% of the state population. Other faiths include Buddhism, Christianity and Jainism.

Urban and rural areas
The table given below shows the religion in the urban areas of Punjab, according to 2011 census.

The table below shows the population of different religions in absolute numbers in the urban and rural areas of Punjab.

East Punjab region
Prior to partition, the eastern portion of Punjab that was ultimately awarded to India following the demarcation of the Radcliffe Line was made into a new province – East Punjab. The area includes the contemporary states of Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh. Below is the religious demographics of this region broken down by district and princely state with an overall total as per the 1941 Indian census.

Contemporary Punjab state
The religious demography according to the 1941 census for the region that comprises the contemporary state of Punjab, India is also shown below, broken down by district and princely state with an overall total.

Data Missing of Kharar Ropar Tehil of Ambala & Mostly Una Tehsil Not minus Which gone hoshiarpur * & Its Also included Numbers of Present South Haryana Area of Nabha jind patiala areas like Mahendragarth, bawal, narnual, dadri, jind, narwana*

East Punjab region
Prior to partition, the eastern portion of Punjab that was ultimately awarded to India following the demarcation of the Radcliffe Line was made into a new province – East Punjab. The area includes the contemporary states of Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh. Below is the religious demographics of this region broken down by district and princely state with an overall total as per the 1931 Indian census.

Contemporary Punjab state
The religious demography according to the 1931 census for the region that comprises the contemporary state of Punjab, India is also shown below, broken down by district and princely state with an overall total.

East Punjab region
Prior to partition, the eastern portion of Punjab that was ultimately awarded to India following the demarcation of the Radcliffe Line was made into a new province – East Punjab. The area includes the contemporary states of Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh. Below is the religious demographics of this region broken down by district and princely state with an overall total as per the 1921 Indian census.

Contemporary Punjab state
The religious demography according to the 1921 census for the region that comprises the contemporary state of Punjab, India is also shown below, broken down by district and princely state with an overall total.

East Punjab region
Prior to partition, the eastern portion of Punjab that was ultimately awarded to India following the demarcation of the Radcliffe Line was made into a new province – East Punjab. The area includes the contemporary states of Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh. Below is the religious demographics of this region broken down by district and princely state with an overall total as per the 1911 Indian census.

Contemporary Punjab state
The religious demography according to the 1911 census for the region that comprises the contemporary state of Punjab, India is also shown below, broken down by district and princely state with an overall total.

East Punjab region
Prior to partition, the eastern portion of Punjab that was ultimately awarded to India following the demarcation of the Radcliffe Line was made into a new province – East Punjab. The area includes the contemporary states of Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh. Below is the religious demographics of this region broken down by district and princely state with an overall total as per the 1901 Indian census.

Contemporary Punjab state
The religious demography according to the 1901 census for the region that comprises the contemporary state of Punjab, India is also shown below, broken down by district and princely state with an overall total.

Sikhism in Punjab


Sikhism was born in the Punjab area of South Asia, which now falls into the present day states of India and Pakistan. The main religions of the area at the time were Hinduism and Islam.The Sikh faith began around 1500 CE, when Guru Nanak began teaching a faith that was quite distinct from Hinduism and Islam. Nine Gurus followed Nanak and developed the Sikh faith and community over the next centuries.

The Sikh population in India's Punjab have grown from 5.53 million in 1951 to 16 million in 2011 census (an increase of 10.47 million in last 60 years). Sikhs in Punjab have the lowest fertility rate of 1.6 children per women as per census 2011.

Decadal percentage of Sikhs in Punjab, India

After the 1947 Partition of Punjab, Sikhs became the majority religious group in Indian Punjab mainly due to the immigration of 2 million Sikhs from Pakistan into Indian Punjab, which have ultimately resulted in an increase in Sikh percentage from 33.70% in 1941 to 60.62% in 1951. While population that adheres to Sikh faith has increased, the percentage of Sikhs has declined from 60.62% in 1951 to 57.69% (a decline of 2.93% in last 60 years).

Hinduism in Punjab
Hinduism is the second largest and fastest growing religion in the Indian state of Punjab with around 38.5% followers as of 2011 census. Hinduism is the 2nd largest religion of Punjabi peoples. It was the largest religion in Punjab before the advent of Islam from the West and birth of Sikhism in Punjab region from the east. The Hindu population has increased drastically in the Indian Punjab from 1941 to 1951 mainly due to the immigration of 1 million Punjabi Hindu refugees from Pakistan's Punjab.

Decadal percentage of Hindus in Punjab, India

The Hindu percentage remained stable for decades. The Hindu percentage have increased from 37.66% in 1951 to 38.49% in 2011.

The Hindu population have increased from 3.44 million in 1951 to 10.67 million in 2011 (a growth of 7.23 million in 6 decades). Hindus in Punjab have a fertility rate of 1.9 children per women as per as census 2011.

Islam in Punjab
The Muslim population in the region that comprises the contemporary state of Punjab, India reduced from approximately 38.4% according to the 1941 census to 0.5% in 1947 as a result of Partition of Punjab riots which were caused during 1947 mainly in the various parts of East Punjab.

Prior to partition, according to the 1941 census, approximately 3.75 million Muslims resided in the region that forms the contemporary state of Punjab in India. At the time, Muslims formed the largest religious community in the region, comprising a narrow plurality at approximately 38.4 percent of the total population. Following the partition of India, the vast majority departed the region en masse, migrating westward to the Punjab region that fell on the western side of the Radcliffe Line, in the contemporary state of Punjab, Pakistan.

Most native Punjabi Muslims now live in Malerkotla, and it is the only district where communal violence haven't occurred during partition because Guru Gobind Singh Ji have promised the Nawab of Malerkotla, Sher Mohammad Khan that the Muslim community in Malerkotla would never be harmed in the future times to come and as a result of Guru ji's blessing words, most of the Muslims were able to stayed back there. Apart from Malerkotla, most of the Muslims living in other parts of Punjab are non-native and have came from neighbouring states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir on temporary basis as immigrants workers (small scale) and students.

Muslims in Punjab have a fertility rate of 2.4 children per women as per 2011 census. Islam is the fastest-growing religion in Punjab.

Decadal percentage of Muslims in Punjab, India