70,000 Plus Buddhists Residents in Mizoram

Aizawl, Jun 3 : More than 70 thousand Buddhists live in Christian-dominated Mizoram and they constitute the second largest religious group in the state, Statistical Abstract of Mizoram, 2011 said.

Recently approved by the Centre, the report says that a total of 70,494 Buddhists live in Mizoram.

State Economics and Statistics department officials said that Buddhists were mainly Chakmas inhabiting the western belt of the state.

They mostly live in the south western part of the state where Chakmas were given a separate autonomous district council in 1972, sources said.

The population was based on the Census 2001 in which the number of Christians was placed at 7,72,809.

Buddhist community was followed by Hindus at 31,562 and by Muslims at 19,326, the report said.

There were 326 Sikhs, and 179 people following Jainism and 3,105 classified as others.