Counting Parsis

The community not only doesn't allow conversions, but expels a woman who marries out. This tradition does not bode well for a community that has only around 1075 girls under four years of age.   The Parsi community, the most highly educated demographic in India, currently comprises 0.0069 percent of the country's population – less than 70,000 in 2001 – and is shrinking quickly. The community's negative growth rate is setting off alarm bells about its possible extinction. If census projections are anything to go by, the Parsis – descendents from Persian exiles who landed in Sanjan, Gujarat, during the 8th century – might not last until the end of this century. "At the rate we're declining, we should be extinct in 100 years," says Ava Khuller, head of the demographics department at the Parzor Foundation, a UNESCO-funded organisation dedicated to the preservation of Parsi culture.

The Parsi community's last positive population growth rate was recorded during 1931-41. While census figures for 1881 gave a count of 85,400 Parsis in India, the 1941 census reported nearly 114,900. Since then, the population has decreased by about 10 percent per decade, compared to 21 percent growth for India as a whole. By 2001, the national census recorded only 69,600 Parsis. While India's under-six age group makes up about 15 percent of the country's population, only 4.7 percent of the Parsi community falls into this category. More than 30 percent of Parsis are over 60 years old, compared to just seven percent for the country as a whole. The Parsi birth rate is as low as six per 1000 per annum, while the death rate is as high as 18 per 1000. Given this imbalance, says Ava Khuller, "We are losing about 6900 Parsis every year."