Jammu - Demographics

Demographics

Ethnically, Jammu is largely Dogra, which group constitutes approximately 67% of the population. There is also a sizeable population of Punjabi descent, most of them being Hindus and Sikhs.

Jammu is the only region in the state of Jammu and Kashmir that has a Hindu majority population – 65% of Jammu's population practice Hinduism, 30% practice Islam and most of the remainder are Sikhs. Most of Jammu's Hindus are Dogras, Kashmiri Pandits, migrants from Kotli and Mirpur and Punjabi Hindus. The Hindus mostly live in and around the Jammu city and Udhampur. Many Sikhs are migrants from Pakistani Controlled Kashmir (from areas like Muzaffarabad and Punch sector areas occupied by Pakistan during 1947).

People of Jammu speak mostly Dogri, Poonchi, Gojri, Kotli, Mirpuri, Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu.

Hindus of Jammu region are subdivided into various ethnic groups, and of them Brahmins and Rajputs are the predominant ones. According to the 1941 census, 30% of them were Brahmin, 27% Rajput, 15% Thakkar, 4% Jat and 8% Khatri.

The Muslims of the region form the majority in the districts of Rajouri, Poonch, Doda & Kishtwar (the rest being Hindu majority). The Muslims ethnic groups are Dogra, Gujjar & Bakerwal who are ethno-linguistically different from the Kashmiri Muslims. Most Muslims of the Jammu region do not share the Kashmiri Muslims’ views of secession from India, either.

The Jammu region is also temporary home to about 1,00,000 Kashmiri Hindus (Pandits) who have been living in refugee camps after being driven out of the Kashmir Valley by Islamic extremists in 1990 at the onset of the Kashmir conflict. The camps are close to Jammu city.