Jains, Sikhs have highest proportion of older people

 Jains and Sikhs have the highest proportion of older people among them while Muslims are the younger lot with just around 6.9 per cent of its population above the age of 60 years, a latest Census report said.

If one takes population of those below 20 years of age, 47.27 per cent of 17.22 crore Muslims fall in this group. They have the highest proportion of young blood while 39.8 per cent of 96.62 crore Hindus fall in this age group. There are 8.14 crore Muslim children and teenagers while the corresponding figure for Hindus is 38.47 crore.

According to Census report ‘Religious Community by Age-group and Sex’, around 12.40 per cent of 44.51 lakh Jains and 11.8 per cent of 2.08 crore Sikhs are senior citizens. Among Hindus, around 9.29 per cent are in this age group while 10 .1 per cent in Christians and 9.79 per cent in Buddhists are also in this age group.

If one takes the 80 plus category also, Jains (66,090 or 1.48 per cent) and Sikhs (3.27 lakh or 1.18 per cent) have the highest proportion. There are 92.12 lakh Hindus (0.95 per cent of Hindus), 12.02 lakh Muslims (0.69 per cent), 3.30 lakh Christians (1.18 per cent) and 77,664 Buddhists (0.91 per cent) who are above 80 years.

The reason for better proportion among Sikhs and Jains may be due to their better economic standing, officials said.

Among 0-4 years age group, Muslims have the highest proportion of 11.28 per cent (1.94 crore) while Hindus come close at 9.03 per cent (8.73 crore).

Though Muslims have higher proportion for age groups until 24 years compared to Hindus, it is the other way for the subsequent age groups from 25-29 years. From 35-39 years age group, Christians have a higher proportion compared to both Hindus and Muslims.