India Witnesses Biggest Decline In Majority Population After Myanmar, Majority Share Increases In Muslim Countries: Study

A study done by Dr Shamika Ravi, Abraham Jose and Apurv Mishra on 'Share of Religious Minorities' across countries revealed that India witnessed the biggest decline in the majority population after Myanmar.

The study is a part of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister Working Paper Series. It analyses the demographic transitions in 167 countries from 1950 to 2015.

The study found that while the majority population in India declined by 7.82 per cent, Myanmar witnessed a 10 percent decline. This shows that minorities in India are thriving as their shares increased in 65 years.

India's neighbours like Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Afghanistan witnessed the share of the majority religious denomination increasing and minority populations have shrinking alarmingly.

On the Indian subcontinent, all the Muslim-majority countries witnessed an increase in the share of the majority religious denomination except Maldives where the share of the majority group (Shafi’i Sunnis) declined by 1.47 per cent.

Bangladesh recorded the largest increase in the share of the majority religious group in the Indian subcontinent with 18 per cent surge, while Pakistan witnessed an increase of 3.75 per cent.

There was a contrast in Christian and Muslim majority countries. Of the 94 countries that reported being Christian majority in 1950, 77 saw a decrease in the share of the majority religious denomination.

Contrary to this, 25 out of the 38 countries that reported being Muslim majority, saw an increase in the share of the majority religious denomination in the same period.