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The most spoken languages in India, ranked by the total number of speakers as per the 2011 Census data.

This list is based on the number of people who reported these languages as their mother tongue.

Serial Number	Language	Total Number of Speakers (As per 2011 Census)	Percentage of Total Population
1	Hindi	52,83,47,193 (528.3 million)	43.63%
2	Bengali	9,72,37,669 (97.2 million)	8.03%
3	Marathi	8,30,26,680 (83.0 million)	6.86%
4	Telugu	8,11,27,740 (81.1 million)	6.70%
5	Tamil	6,90,26,881 (69.0 million)	5.70%
6	Gujarati	5,54,92,554 (55.5 million)	4.58%
7	Urdu	5,07,72,631 (50.8 million)	4.19%
8	Kannada	4,37,06,512 (43.7 million)	3.61%
9	Odia	3,75,21,306 (37.5 million)	3.10%
10	Malayalam	3,48,38,890 (34.8 million)	2.88%
11	Punjabi	3,31,24,726 (33.1 million)	2.74%
12	Assamese	1,53,11,351 (15.3 million)	1.26%
13	Maithili	1,35,83,464 (13.6 million)	1.12%
14	Santali	76,97,094	0.64%
15	Kashmiri	67,97,587	0.56%

Please note:

• As per the 2011 Census, over 19,500 languages or dialects were reported as mother tongues in India.
• The Indian Constitution’s Eighth Schedule recognizes 22 official languages. This table highlights the top languages based on speaker count.

Exam-Oriented Facts & Interesting Notes on Indian Languages

1. Constitutional & Official Status

• Official Language of the Union: Hindi (Devanagari script) & International Indian Numerals (Art. 343).
• Associate Official Language: English (Official Languages Act, 1963).
• Eighth Schedule Languages (22):
  • Originally 14.
  • 1967 (21st Amendment): Sindhi
  • 1992 (71st Amendment): Konkani, Manipuri, Nepali
  • 2004 (92nd Amendment): Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, Santali

2. Classical Language Status (11 Languages)

• Revised Criteria (July 2024 by LEC): High antiquity (1500-2000 years), valuable ancient literature (poetry + prose/inscriptions), distinct from modern forms.
• Full List (with year of designation):
  • Tamil (2004) – First to be accorded status.
  • Sanskrit (2005)
  • Kannada (2008)
  • Telugu (2008)
  • Malayalam (2013)
  • Odia (2014)
  • Assamese (October 2024)
  • Bengali (October 2024)
  • Marathi (October 2024)
  • Pali (October 2024); Language of Theravada Buddhist Canon (Tipitakas).
  • Prakrit (October 2024) – Group of Middle Indo-Aryan languages, distinct from Sanskrit; key for Jainism & Buddhism spread.

3. Linguistic Families

• Indo-Aryan (Indo-European): 74% speakers. (e.g., Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Odia, Assamese, Sindhi, Kashmiri, Nepali, Urdu, Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit).
• Dravidian: 24% speakers (Southern India). (e.g., Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam).
• Austro-Asiatic: 1.3% speakers. (e.g., Santali, Mundari, Ho, Khasi).
• Sino-Tibetan: 0.7% speakers (Himalayan/NE India). (e.g., Bodo, Manipuri).
• Andamanese: Endangered, unique.

4. Interesting Facts & Important Points

• Hindi: Most widely spoken, largest number of native speakers (over 520 million as per 2011 Census).
• Sanskrit: Mother of many Indian languages, sacred in Hinduism, vast literary tradition.
• Tamil: One of the oldest living languages (2000+ years recorded history).
• Diversity: Hundreds of languages, thousands of dialects. 121 languages spoken by 10,000+ people (2011 Census).
• Script Diversity: Uses various scripts (Devanagari, Bengali, Tamil, etc.).
• States Reorganisation Act, 1956: States largely organized on linguistic lines.
• Linguistic Minorities: Special Officer for their safeguarding (Art. 350B).
• Promotion of Hindi: Union’s directive to promote Hindi (Art. 351).