Jains have highest percentage of literates: Census 2011
Census 2011 data on ‘education level by religious community for
age 7 and above’ was recently released.
Highlights of the data:
- Jains have the highest percentage of literates above 7 years of age among India’s religious communities, with 86.73% of them as literate and only 13.57% as illiterate.
- Muslims have the highest percentage of illiterates aged beyond 7 years at 42.72%, as compared to 36.40% among Hindus, 32.49% among Sikhs, 28.17% among Buddhists and 25.66% among Christians.
- Other minority communities score over both Hindus and Muslims in literacy levels. As compared to 63.60% of 7 years-plus Hindus and 57.28% Muslims in the ‘literate’ category, the percentage of literates among Christians is 74.34%, among Buddhists 71.83% and among Sikhs 67.51%.
The overall
literacy rates among all communities have gone up since 2001. The following table shows the rise in literacy levels of various
religious communities in 2011 when compared to 2001.
|
Religion
|
2001
|
2011
|
|
Hindus
|
54.92
|
63.60
|
|
Muslims
|
48.05
|
57.28
|
|
Christians
|
69.45
|
74.34
|
|
Sikhs
|
60.56
|
67.51
|
|
Buddhists
|
62.16
|
71.83
|
