Hindus' population share shrunk 8%, Muslims grew 43% between 1950 and 2015: PM's panel

Hindu's population share declined by nearly 8% between 1950 and 2015 while Muslim's share grew a record 43% in the same period, according to a study by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM). In 1950, Hindu population share was 84%, but it came down to 78% in 2015. However, in the same period, the share of minorities, including Muslims, Christian, Buddhist, and Sikhs, went up. The number of Jains and Parsis in the population mix decreased.

Between 1950 and 2015, the Muslim population share in India surged by 43.15%, Christians saw a 5.38% increase, Sikhs a 6.58% rise, and Buddhists witnessed a slight increase. Muslims' share in the population recorded an increase from 9.84% to 14.09% in the same period (of 65 years), according to the EAC-PM study.

The shrinking of the Hindu population in India is the second most significant decline in the immediate neighbourhood, just after Myanmar's 10%.

Apart from India, Nepal's majority community (Hindu) saw a 3.6% decline in its share of the country's population. 

"Within the immediate neighborhood of South Asia, India has witnessed the biggest decline in the majority population (7.82%) only next to Myanmar - which has witnessed a 10 percent decline in its majority population over 65 years," said the report authored by economist Shamika Ravi, Abraham Jose, and Apurv Kumar Mishra.   

"The share of minorities as a composite group has increased significantly. In particular, India has witnessed an increase in the shares of Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, and Sikh populations and a decline in the shares of Jain and Parsi populations."

The report, which came out in May, said contrary to the noise in several quarters, careful analysis of the data shows that "minorities are not just protected but indeed thriving in India."

BJP's IT Cell head Amit Malviya blamed the Congress for the decline of Hindu's population share. "The share of Hindus shrunk 7.8% between 1950 and 2015. The Muslim population grew at 43%. This is what decades of Congress rule did to us. Left to them, there would be no country for Hindus," he said in a tweet.