Tamil - Worldwide distribution (2024)

FAQs

What is the population distribution of Tamils? ›

The Tamil language is primarily spoken in India and it is the official language of the state of Tamil Nadu and the territory of Puduch*erry (both located in India) as well as one of the official languages of Sri Lanka and Singapore.

Tamil speaking countries

The Tamil language (native name: தமிழ்) has its roots in the Dravidian language family. With 82.69 million native speakers, Tamil has the highest prevalence in India. A total of about 89.4 million people worldwide speak Tamil as their mother tongue.

Today, approximately 85 million speak the language worldwide, with communities in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Canada, Fiji, Mauritius, and more. But Tamil's origins are shrouded in mystery, with early works dating back to the Sangam age, a literary period.

Tamil is the oldest language still in use today. By order of appearance, the Tamil language (part of the family of Dravidian languages) would be considered the world's oldest living language as it is over 5,000 years old, with its first grammar book having made its first appearance in 3,000 BC.

The earliest records in Old Tamil are short inscriptions from 300 BC to 700 AD. These inscriptions are written in a variant of the Brahmi script called Tamil-Brahmi.

Tamil is an older language than Sanskrit. Records of the Tamil language date to the third century BCE and records of the Sanskrit language date to the second century BCE. Tamil is still in everyday use today, but Sanskrit died out around 600 BCE and is used for mainly religious and literature purposes today.

Numbering about 64 million in the early 21st century (including about 3 million speakers in northern and eastern Sri Lanka), Tamil speakers make up the majority of the population of Tamil Nadu state and also inhabit parts of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh states, all situated in the southernmost third of India.

The Tamil American population exceeds 1,500,000 individuals. The Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America functions as an umbrella organization for the growing community. Central New Jersey is home to the largest population concentration of Tamil Americans.

Where do most Tamils live in USA? ›

Still hypothetically considering all Tamil speaking people to be Indians, the number of Indians living in USA is 2,843,000 out of which Tamil speaking percentage is 21.44%. ( correct me if i am wrong) and hence for every 100 Indians there are 21 Tamilans and most of them live in New Jersey and New York city.

The vast majority of Tamil people are Hindus and many follow a particular way of religious practice that includes the veneration of a plethora of village deities and ancient Tamil gods. A smaller number are Christians and Muslims, and a small Jain community survives from the classical period as well.

Tamil language, member of the Dravidian language family, spoken primarily in India. It is the official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puduch*erry (Pondicherry).

Tamil is Sri Lanka's second official language, spoken by about five million people on the island, which is about 15 percent of the population. Tamil belongs to the Dravidian language family, which is predominant in southern India, particularly in state of Tamil Nadu.

Numbering about 64 million in the early 21st century (including about 3 million speakers in northern and eastern Sri Lanka), Tamil speakers make up the majority of the population of Tamil Nadu state and also inhabit parts of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh states, all situated in the southernmost third of India.

Tamils constitute 5.9% of the population in India (concentrated mainly in Tamil Nadu and Puduch*erry), 15% in Sri Lanka (excluding Eelam Moors), 7% in Malaysia, and 5% in Singapore.

Tamil Nadu ranks 12th among all the states of India in population density. The population density of India as per census 2011 was 382 persons per square kilometre, whereas the population density of Tamil Nadu is 555 persons per square kilometre.

According to information from the 2011 Census, there were approx 7.21 million people living in Tamil Nadu, up from 6.24 million in the 2001 Census. According to the most recent census, the population of Tamil Nadu was 72,147,030 people living in Tamil Nadu, with 36,137,975 men and 36,009,055 women.