Tamil Nadu has a considerable Christian population. Of the total 2.78 crore Christians counted in India in 2011, 44 lakh are in Tamil Nadu, where they form 6.12 percent of the population. Their number and share in Tamil Nadu is the highest of all major States except the adjoining Kerala. Tamil Nadu and Kerala account for more than 1 crore of Christians in the country.
Christians in Tamil Nadu are spread across nearly all the districts, but their presence is relatively higher in a few pockets, which are also spread across different parts of the State. Their highest presence is in the south, particularly in Kanniyakumari. This district alone accommodates one-fifth of all Christians in the State.
The share of Christians in the State as well as in many of the districts has been rising slowly for several decades. But their growth has been very rapid in Kanniyakumari, where their share in the population rose from 30.7 percent in 1921 to 34.7 percent in 1951 and has risen to 46.8 percent since then. There has been an accretion of 2.4 percentage points during the last decade alone.
Besides Kanniyakumari, the growth of Christians has been remarkable in Kancheepuram and Thiruvallur districts that surround Chennai city. These two earlier formed the single district of Chengalpattu; the share of Christians in the undivided Chengalpattu district has risen from 2.35 percent in 1951 to 6.35 percent in 2011.
The number and share of Muslims in Tamil Nadu is almost similar to the Christians. But they are spread even more uniformly across the State. Their highest concentration is in Ramanathapuram, where they form 15.4 percent of the population.
Tamil Nadu is one of the rare States where Christians have grown faster than the Muslims in the period following Independence. Between 1951 and 2011, the number of Christians has risen from 14.3 to 44.2 lakh, while that of Muslims has grown from 14.4 to 42.3 lakh. In the same period, the share of Muslims in the population has grown from 4.79 to 5.86 percent and of the Christians from 4.74 to 6.12 percent.
Tamil Nadu is also unusual in having several districts and many more taluks with considerable presence of both Christians and Muslims. In general, the areas of high presence of these two communities tend to be different. In conformity with that trend, the share of Muslims in Kanniyakumari—where Christians have a very high and rapidly growing presence—is low.
(The rest of the article can be read in the blog of Centre for Policy Research.)
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