1961 census of India

The 1961 census of India was the tenth in a series of censuses held in India every decade since 1872.^[1]

1961 census of India
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General information
Country	India
Results
Total population	438,936,918 (21.62)
Most populous region	Uttar Pradesh (70,144,160)
Least populous region	Sikkim (162,863)

The population of India was counted as 438,936,918 people.^[2]

Population by state

Population of Indian states and union territories in 1961 ^[3]

State/Union Territory	Population
Andhra Pradesh	35.99 million
Assam	11.87 million
Bihar	46.45 million
Gujarat	20.63 million
Jammu and Kashmir	3.56 million
Kerala	16.9 million
Madhya Pradesh	32.37 million
Madras	33.68 million
Maharashtra	41.64 million
Maharashtra	39.55 million
Mysore	23.58 million
Orissa	17.54 million
Punjab	20.3 million
Rajasthan	21.15 million
Uttar Pradesh	73.74 million
West Bengal	34.92 million
Andaman and Nicobar Islands	63,548
Delhi	2.65 million
Himachal Pradesh	1.35 million
Lakshadweep	24,108
Manipur	780,037
Tripura	1.14 million
Dadra and Nagar Haveli	57,963
Goa, Daman and Diu	626,978
North-East Frontier Agency	336,558
Nagaland	369,200
Pondicherry	369,079
Sikkim	162,189

Language data

The 1961 census recognized 1,652 mother tongues, counting all declarations made by any individual at the time when the census was conducted.^[2] However, the declaring individuals often mixed names of languages with those of dialects, sub-dialects and dialect clusters or even castes, professions, religions, localities, regions, countries and nationalities.^[2] The list therefore includes "languages" with barely a few individual speakers as well as 530 unclassified "mother tongues" and more than 100 idioms that are non-native to India, including linguistically unspecific demonyms such as "African", "Canadian" or "Belgian".^[2] Modifications were done by bringing in two additional components- place of birth i.e. village or town and duration of stay (if born elsewhere).

See also

• Demographics of India

References

1. Vijayanunni, M. (26–29 August 1998). "Planning for the 2001 Census of India based on the 1991 Census" (PDF). 18th Population Census Conference. Honolulu, Hawaii, US: Association of National Census and Statistics Directors of America, Asia, and the Pacific. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 November 2008. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
2. Mallikarjun, B. (5 August 2002). "Mother Tongues of India According to the 1961 Census". Languages in India. 2. M. S. Thirumalai. ISSN 1930-2940. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
3. "Census of India 1961 Final Population Totals" (PDF). 1962. pp. 3–6.