 Peoples populating Assam | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 31,169,272 (2011)[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 India | 31,169,272[1] |
| Languages | |
| See Languages of Assam | |
| Religion | |
•  Majority Hinduism • .svg){kind=small} Minorities include Traditional, Panentheistic •  Islam • Christianity | |
| Part of a series on the |
| History of Assam |
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| Categories |
The People of Assam inhabit a multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and multi-religious society. They speak languages that belong to four main language groups: Tibeto-Burman, Indo-Aryan, Tai-Kadai, and Austroasiatic. The large number of ethnic and linguistic groups, the population composition, and the peopling process in the state has led to it being called an "India in miniature".[2]
The peopling of Assam was understood in terms of racial types based on physical features, types that were drawn by colonial administrator Risley. These classifications are now considered to have little validity, and they yield inconsistent results; the current understanding is based on ethnolinguistic groups[3] and in consonance with genetic studies.
- ^ a b Government of Assam Census 2011. "onlineassam". Archived from the original on 21 June 2012. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Assam is often referred to as 'India in miniature' so far its population composition and the process of peopling are concerned". (Taher 1993:201)
- ^ "The racial traits, reflected through the physical features of individuals, are of such a varying degree that it is perhaps safer to divide the State's population into ethnolinguistic groups". (Taher 1993:202)