Kashmir Valley - Demographics

Demographics

The majority of people of Kashmir Valley are called Kashmiri and they speak the Kashmiri language. Kashmir Valley has a Muslim majority population. Islam is practiced by 97% of the population. The valley has also small communities of Hindu Kashmiri Pandits and Sikhs.

Approximately 95% of the total population of 160,000–170,000 of Kashmiri Brahmins, also called Kashmiri Pandits, (approximately 150,000 to 160,000) left the Kashmir Valley in 1990 due to the threats by terrorists from across the line of control who also killed many Hindus and Sikhs. According to an estimate by the Central Intelligence Agency, about 100,000 Kashmiri Pandits from the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir have been internally displaced due to the ongoing violence. According to another estimate, 150,000 to 300,000 Kashmiri Pandits have been internally displaced due to militancy.

Ten districts in Kashmir valley (Kashmir Division of the Jammu and Kashmir state) had population of 6,907,623 as per 2011 census. The religious compostion was 97.16% Muslim and 2.84% Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist and others.

The principal languages in the valley are Kashmiri and Urdu. However, Urdu written in the Persian script is the official language. Many speakers of these languages also know English as a second language. Hindi is the lingua franca for the security forces stationed in Kashmir valley.