The religion-wise data of religious communities released by the Registrar-General and Census Commissioner for Karnataka provides some interesting insights in the distribution of the religious communities in the State.

According to economist Sangeeta Kattimani, who compiled the information pertaining to Karnataka from the information released by the Registrar-General and Census Commissioner, hindus constitute 83.99 per cent of the population in the State registering a decadal of growth rate of 15.78 per cent in comparison to the Census figures of 2001.

Prof. Kattimani said that the highest percentage of hindu population resided in Mandya district with 94.84 per cent while the least of the hindu population resided in Dakshina Kannada district where there were only 67.18 per cent of hindus in the total population.

In north Karnataka districts, Koppal topped with 87.63 per cent of hindus, while the Dharwad district reported the lowest hindu population of 75.25 per cent. Among the minorities, muslims registered a decadal growth rate of 22.12 per cent higher than that of other religious minorities.

The muslim population in the state had increased from 6463127 in 2001 census to 7893065, a hike from 12.12 per cent to 12.91 per cent.

The highest percentage of muslim population has been reported in Dakshina Kannada district (24.01 per cent) in the State and in north Karnataka districts, Dharwad has 20.94 per cent muslim population followed by Kalaburagi district with 19.99 per cent, and Bidar 19.67 per cent of muslim population.

The other minorities in the State have shown a decline in the population in comparison to the 2001 Census figures. Christian population has come down from 1.91 per cent to 1.87 per cent now. While the Buddhists constitute 0.15 per cent population, Jains have a population of 0.72 per cent, and Sikhs 0.04 per cent of the State’s population.

Registrar-General and Census Commissioner released the data