Distribution of Tribes

The Scheduled Tribes population of the country, as per census 2011, is 10.43 crore, constituting 8.6% of the total population. The population of Scheduled Tribes had grown at the growth rate of 23.66% during the period 2001-2011. More than half the Scheduled Tribes population is concentrated in the States of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

• Scheduled Tribes communities live in about 15% of the country’s areas, in various ecological and geo-climatic conditions ranging from plains and forests to hills and inaccessible areas. Tribal groups are at different stages of social, economic and educational development.
• Broadly the STs inhabit two distinct geographical areas. More than half of the Scheduled Tribe population is concentrated in the Central India i.e. Madhya Pradesh (14.69%), Chhattisgarh (7.5%), Jharkhand (8.29%), Andhra Pradesh (5.7%), Maharashtra (10.08%), Orissa (9.2%), Gujarat (8.55%) and Rajasthan (8.86%).
• The other distinct area is the North East (Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh). More than two-third of the ST population is concentrated only in the seven States of the country, viz. Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
• In three states (Delhi NCR, Punjab and Haryana) and two UTs (Puducherry and Chandigarh), there is no ST population as no Scheduled Tribe is notified.
• Among States, Mizoram has the highest proportion of the Scheduled Tribes (94.43) and Uttar Pradesh has the lowest proportion of the Scheduled Tribes (0.57).
• The Major Tribes: There are over 700 Scheduled Tribes notified under Article 342 of the Constitution of India, spread over different States and Union Territories of the country. Many tribes are present in more than one state. The largest numbers of scheduled tribes are in the State of Odisha.