Other Religions

India’s artificially wide ratio of baby boys to baby girls – which arose in the 1970s from the use of prenatal diagnostic technology to facilitate sex-selective abortions – now appears to be narrowing. Son bias has declined sharply among Sikhs, while Christians continue to have a natural balance of sons and daughters.

In recent weeks, protests in India over Muslim headscarves in schools have gained international attention.

Around a fifth (21%) of the 198 countries evaluated banned at least one religion-related group in 2019, our analysis found.

Religious pluralism has long been a core value in India. A new report shows that India’s religious composition has been fairly stable since 1951.

All major religious groups in India have shown sharp declines in their fertility rates, limiting change in the country’s religious composition since 1951. Meanwhile, fertility differences between India’s religious groups are generally much smaller than they used to be.

Indians overall know very little about Jainism and its practices. Here are six facts about Jains in India, from a June 2021 Center report.

Among India’s six largest religious groups, some are much more likely than others to abstain from eating meat.

Just about a third of Indian adults (35%) say they ever practice yoga, including 22% who say they do so monthly or less.

Indians see religious tolerance as a central part of who they are as a nation. Across the major religious groups, most people say it is very important to respect all religions to be “truly Indian.”

In some countries – particularly in a segment of West and Central Africa – polygamy is frequently legal and widespread.