The first ever census in the country with a religious break-up sparked a number of controversies. Though the results of the religion-based census in Goa are not yet available in detail, initial reports reveal that the number of Christians in Goa is slowly, but surely declining.

ACCORDING TO THE the 2001 census, Hindus account for 65.8% of Goa’s 13, 47,668 population. As in the rest of the country, Muslims recorded the highest growth rate in the state and account for 15.2% of the population within the age of 0-6 years as compared to 10.9% Hindus and 9.6% Christians.

The number of Christians in Goa continues to decline steadily. Christians account for 26.7% of the State’s population, a 3.16% decrease since 1991. A far cry from the majority status Christians enjoyed in the 19 th century. According to a book released in 2001 by Prabhakar Angle, ‘Goa: An Economic Update’, Christians had a 64.5% majority in 1861, but 39 years later in 1900, Christians were up by just 0.48% over the rest. In 1961, Christians only accounted for 38% of the population.

The reasons for the decline in the Christian population, according to Angle, are not clear. He surmises that the end of missionary activities, re-conversion of a section of the Gauda community to Hinduism and the post liberation influx of labour from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh are the probable reasons for the rise in the Hindu population and the fall in that of the Christians.

While these may explain the sudden change in the first half of the 20 th century, the cause for the decline of the Christian majority from the 60s can perhaps be attributed to out-migration. Many Christians have moved outside the state and the country and continue to do so in search of better prospects. The observed trend is that the men first move out of Goa to work abroad (previously to the Gulf and lately to the UK) until the entire family can afford to migrate. In most cases however, the men work and send money to their families back home. The comparative figures for sex ratio of the adult population and the 0-6 year-olds population supports this premise. The Christian sex ratio is 1107, which means there are 1107 females for every thousand males, as compared to the figures of 918 in the case of Hindus and 867 for Muslims. Compare this with the 0-6 year-olds sex ratio for Christians which is 945. This means that, at birth, there are more boys than girls. Adult males are lesser in number, giving credence to the argument that there is substantial out-migration, at least as far as Christian males are concerned. Given the reverential treatment that boys enjoy in Goa, as in the entire country, it would be ridiculous to suggest male infanticide.

The sex ratio in Goa, as a whole, has been observing a decline since the 1960s. Before Liberation, there were over a thousand females to every thousand males. From 1066 in 1960, the figure has now dropped to 960 in 2001. But, the child sex ratio figures of the Hindus and Muslims reveal that there are more females at birth than at adulthood. The 0-6 sex ratio for Hindus is 934 in comparison to the 918 at adulthood. Alarmingly, the Muslim sex ratio is 867, but 947 in the 0-6 group, implying that there is a large instance of female infanticide among the Muslims. Interestingly, the taluka which recorded the lowest sex ratio is Mormugoa. This is presumably because of the large migrant population in the area. Labourers (mostly male) from the neighbouring states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and now even Madhya Pradesh and Orissa come to Goa in search of work, thereby increasing the male population in the region. The most alarming sex ratio is that of the migrant Sikhs. While the 0-6 sex ratio is 1021, indicating more female children than males, the adult sex ratio is a shocking 644. Which means, in accordance with the national scenario, North Indians do not find the birth of a girl child desirable.

Girls are also less favoured when it comes to education. Almost 89% males in Goa are literate, compared to the 75.2% females. The most literate taluka being Bardez at 85.5% and Canacona and Quepem posting the lowest figures at 74.8%. The religious break-up reveals that the Sikhs have a very high 94.9% female literacy rate, a figure improved upon only by the 820-odd Jain population in Goa at 95.2%. Among the three major religious groups, Christians recorded the highest literacy rate at 81.3% with a male literacy rate of 83.8% and female literacy rate at 78.8%. Hindus follow with 81.9% and 74.2% literacy rates for males and females respectively. Seventy percent of the female Muslim population is literate in comparison to the 75.4% literate males.

However, in spite of accounting for 6.8% of the state’s population, Muslims have a work participation rate of 34.3%, second only to Hindus who account for 41.8% of the state’s labour force. Christians have a 32.4% work participation rate, lower than Muslims, again possibly due to out-migration.

With Christians increasingly opting to move out of the state, their number is bound to dwindle. And going by the 2001 census, it may not be long before the Christians in Goa vanish completely.

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