How many Scheduled Tribes are there in India?
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India has notified over 700 Scheduled Tribes across its states and union territories. The 2011 census counted about 104 million people belonging to Scheduled Tribes, which is 8.6% of the national population. The exact number of tribes changes as parliament adds communities to the lists.
Scheduled Tribes are listed separately for each state and union territory under Article 342 of the constitution. The figure of just over 700 counts each entry on these lists, so a people living in several states is counted more than once.
The 2011 census recorded about 104 million Scheduled Tribe members. About nine in ten lived in rural areas. The largest populations were in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. The two largest tribes, the Bhil and the Gond, together accounted for more than a quarter of the total.
Some states and territories have no Scheduled Tribes on their lists, including Punjab, Haryana and Delhi. In several north-eastern states, by contrast, Scheduled Tribes are the majority. Within the Scheduled Tribes, the government has identified 75 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups, which are small communities judged to be most at risk and given extra support.