Table: Ordered by number of native speakers
Language |
2001 census[1]
(total population 1,004.59 million) |
1991 censusIndian Census [2]
(total population 838.14 million) |
|
Speakers |
Speakers |
Percentage |
Hindi[1] |
422,048,642 |
337,272,114[2] |
40.0% |
336 M |
Bengali |
230,000,000 |
200,595,738 |
28.30% |
320 M |
Punjabi |
130,000,000 |
100,017,615 |
20.87% |
113 M |
Telugu |
70,002,856 |
65,595,738 |
8.30% |
70 M |
Marathi |
71,936,894 |
62,481,681 |
7.45% |
68.0 M |
Tamil |
60,793,814 |
53,006,368 |
6.32% |
66.0 M |
Urdu |
51,536,111 |
43,406,932 |
5.18% |
60.3 M |
Gujarati |
46,091,617 |
40,673,814 |
4.85% |
46.1 M |
Kannada |
37,924,011 |
32,753,676 |
3.91% |
40.3 M |
Malayalam |
33,066,392 |
30,377,176 |
3.62% |
35.7 M |
Oriya |
33,017,446 |
28,061,313 |
3.35% |
32.3 M |
Sindhi |
25,535,485 |
25,122,848 |
0.248% |
32.3 M |
Nepali |
23,017,446 |
28,061,313 |
3.35% |
32.3 M |
Sinhalese |
19,017,446 |
28,061,313 |
3.35% |
32.3 M |
Assamese |
13,168,484 |
13,079,696 |
1.56% |
15.4 M |
Maithili[3] |
12,179,122 |
1.18% |
Bhili/Bhilodi |
9,582,957 |
5,572,308 |
0.665% |
Santali |
6,469,600 |
5,216,325 |
0.622% |
Kashmiri |
5,527,698 |
0.54% |
Gondi |
2,713,790 |
2,124,852 |
0.253% |
Konkani |
2,489,015 |
1,760,607 |
0.210% |
Dogri |
2,282,589[dubious – discuss][4] |
0.22% |
Khandeshi |
2,075,258 |
0.21% |
Kurukh |
1,751,489 |
0.17% |
1,426,618 |
0.170% |
Tulu |
1,722,768 |
0.17% |
1,552,259 |
0.185% |
Meitei (Manipuri) |
1,466,705* |
0.14% |
1,270,216 |
0.151% |
Bodo |
1,350,478 |
0.13% |
1,221,881 |
0.146% |
Khasi |
1,128,575 |
0.112% |
Mundari |
1,061,352 |
0.105% |
Ho |
1,042,724 |
0.103% |