Jains in India according to 2001 census
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This article details information about Jains in India according to 2001 census.
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[edit] Overview
Statistics about the Jain Community are published in the Census of India 2001 under the heading THE FIRST REPORT ON RELIGION DATA[1]. . There are only 5,200,000 Jains in the total population of India of 1.028 billion. It means that there is one Jain among 243 Indians. Though so less in the numbers, Jains are to be found in 34 out of 35 states and union territories. The only union territory without Jains is Lakshdweep.
States having more than 0.1 million Jains are only seven and they are:-
State Jain Population (apsolute) Jain Population (%)
1 Maharashtra 1,301,842 1,32%
2 Rajasthan 650,493 1,15%
3 Madhya Pradesh 545,448 0,91%
4 Gujarat 525,306 1,03%
5 Karnataka 412,654 0,74%
6 Uttar Pradesh 207,111 0,12%
7 Delhi 155,122 1,12%
Maharashtra has the distinction of having the largest number of Jains in the country. The state of Jharkhand, which contains the holiest of holy pilgrimage centre of Samyed Sikharji and is the birthplace of Jainism, is reduced to having a population of only 16,301 Jains.
A matter of great pride brought out by the religious census data is that among all religions, the literacy percentage of Jains is the highest at 94.1% as seen from the table below.
[edit] Literacy percentage by Religion, 2001
Religion Literacy Rate
1 Jains 94.1
2 Christians 80.3
3 Buddhists 72.7
4 Sikhs 69.4
5 Hindus 65.1
6 Muslims 59.1
The remarkable achievement of Jains is that their literacy is highest and their percentage of literacy is 14% more than that of Christians who are famous for their progress in the educational field.
[edit] Work Participation Ratio of Males and Females, by religion (Percent)
Religion Males Females
1 Buddhists 49.2 31.7
2 Christians 50.7 28.7
3 Hindus 52.4 27.4
4 Sikhs 53.3 20.2
5 Muslims 47.5 14.1
6 Jains 55.2 9.2
Another aspect where the Jain community has to reform itself is in the work participation ratio of women. It is only by coming out of the four walls of the house and participating in the Economic, Social and Cultural life in the outside world that a woman can develop her total personality. Work participation ratio for males and females demonstrates that while Jain men are at the top with 55.2%, Jain women are at the bottom of work participation with a miserable 9.2% ratio as seen from the above table.
