Thiruvananthapuram: If the results of a study published by the Media Research and Development Foundation, Kozhikode are to be believed, maximum number of religious converts in the state chose to embrace Hinduism.

The research that studied gazette records from January 2011 to December 2017 has found that a total of 8,334 people chose to convert to a different religion and published a name change in the official gazette.

Of this a whopping 60% or 4,968 converts chose Hinduism.

At the bottom of the list is Buddhism with six people choosing it. The period saw 1,864 conversions to Islam and 1,496 to Christianity.

While the data has been collected by Intelligence agencies too, there is apprehension that the list may exclude those converts who did not publish a name change in the gazette.

Vital stats:

A total of 4,756 Christians and 212 Muslims converted to Hinduism during the seven years. Total 4,968, out of which 2,244 were women.

Christianity attracted 1,424 Hindus and 72 Muslims. Total 1,496, of which 720 were women.

Conversions to Islam numbered at 1,864, of which 1,472 converts were Hindus, 390 were Christians and one each were from Buddhism and Jainism. The number of women who converted stood at 1,055.

A Christian and five Hindus chose Buddhism during this period. Two of them were women.

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