Christians continued to record the highest sex ratio with the figure increasing from 1,030 in the 2001 Census to 1,049 in the 2011 Census. Although the child sex ratio was also high among Christians in the State, the growth was very marginal and it rose from 961 in 2001 census to 962 in 2011.
Economist Sangeeta Kattimani, who compiled these data from the two Census reports and the Religion Data of the Census 2011 released now, told The Hindu here that the lowest sex ratio of 739 was reported among Buddhists.
In fact, the sex ratio among Buddhists had seen a steep fall from 907 in the 2001 Census to 739 in the 2011 Census. The child sex ratio among Buddhists decreased from 953 in 2001 to 949 in 2011.
Prof. Kattimani said that the sex ratio of other major religious groups, including Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Jains, showed a marginal improvement when compared to the 2001 and 2011 census and same was the case under the child sex ratio head. While the sex ratio of Hindus rose from 966 in 2001 to 972 in 2011, the sex ratio of Muslims rose from 957 in 2001 to 969 in 2011.
There was a marked improvement in the sex ratio of Sikhs — from 739 in 2001 to 803 in 2011 census. The sex ratio of Jains rose from 926 in 2001 to 951 in 2011.
The child sex ratio of Hindus saw a marginal increase from 945 in 2001 to 947 in 2011. Among Muslims, it was 945 in 2001 and 947 in 2011.
The child sex ratio of Sikhs saw an increase from 882 in 2001 to 913 in 2011. Similarly, the child sex ratio of Jains rose from 882 in 2001 to 913 in 2011. Prof. Kattimani said that the latest figures released by the Registrar General of Census provided some interesting data of literacy levels of different religious groups. While the literacy rate of Christians and Jains, who always placed education as a priority in their life, was high, the literacy level of Muslims was higher than Hindus in the State.
As much as 90.80 per cent of Christians were literate and it was 88.32 per cent among Jains in the State. Surprisingly, a higher number of Muslims were literate when compared to Hindus in the State.
The literacy percentage of Hindus was 74.36 per cent as per the 2011 census figures while it was 78.89 per cent among Muslims in the State.
Prof. Kattimani said that the literacy rate of Buddhists saw a record increase from 53.16 per cent in 2001 census to 76.11 per cent.
Under the child sex ratio head too, Christians record growth, though it
is only marginal
