Chennai - Demographics

Demographics

A resident of Chennai is called a Chennaite. According to the provisional population results of 2011, the city had a population of 4,681,087, with a density of 26,903 per km² and the urban agglomeration had a population of 8,696,010. The city registered a growth rate of 7.8% during the period 2001–2011. In 2001, the population density in the city was 24,682 per km² (63,926 per mi²), while the population density of the metropolitan area was 5,922 per km² (15,337 per mi²), making it one of the most densely populated cities in the world. The Chennai metropolitan area is the fourth most populated agglomeration in India and 31st largest urban area in the world The sex ratio is 951 females for every 1,000 males, slightly higher than the national average of 944. The average literacy rate rose from 85.33% in 2001 to 90.33% in 2011, much higher than the national average of 79.5%. However, the city has the fourth highest population of slum dwellers among major cities in India, with about 820,000 people (18.6% of the city's population) living in slum conditions. According to 2011 census, the chennai district has 11 lakh households, with 51% of them living in rented houses.

The majority of the population in Chennai are Tamils. Tamil is the primary language spoken in Chennai. English is spoken largely by white-collar workers, often mixed into Tamil. Telugus form the majority among the non-Tamil communities. In 2001, out of the 937,000 migrants (21.6% of its population) in the city, 74.5% were from other parts of the state, 23.8% were from rest of India and 1.7% were from outside the country. Some minority communities are Marwaris, Oriyas, Kannadigas, Anglo-Indians, Bengalis Punjabi and Malyalees. According to the 2001 census, Hindus constitute about 81.3% of the city's population, and Muslims (9.4%), Christians (7.6%) and Jains (1.1%) are other major religious groups.