Demographics
The majority follow Hinduism and there are significant minority who follow Islam and smaller number who follow Buddhism and Christianity. There are also a few indigenous Jews called the Bene Israel who speak Marathi. The Parsees who settled in Gujarat made Mumbai and Surat their home. Significant percentages of Jains and Buddhists can be found too. Most Christians live in the state of Goa.
Overall, 83.66% of the population is Hindu, 10.12% Muslim, 4% Buddhist with Christians in Goa and Maharashtra making up the majority of the remainder. Marathi, with about 73 million speakers is the most widely spoken language, followed by Gujarati with about 46 million speakers and Konkani 2.5 million speakers, all of which are Indo-Aryan languages. As in other parts of India, a high level of multilingualism is seen with English and Hindi being spoken as additional languages in urban areas.
The average literacy rate of West India is around 76%, higher than the national average of 70.5%. The population density is around 290 per square km. The average fertility rate is about 2.2, while the average household size is about 4.7.
Read more about this topic: West India