The largest city in India, the city’s population is also one of the highest in the world with over 12.6 million residents. The density is 28,834 per square kilometre. There are 811 females to every 1000 males. This figure is mainly due to the fact that many males with families in rural areas work in the city. Mumbai has a modest literacy rate of 77%, though much higher than the national average. Out of this figure 82% of adult males and 71.6% of adult females are literate. 68% of the city’s residents are Hindus, 17% are Muslim, 4% Christian & 4% Buddhist. The remaining 6% are followers of Parsi, Jain, Sikh and Jewish religions and Atheist ideology.
Mumbai is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in India with over 50% of its population of non-Maharashtrian ethnicity. There are many large ethnic groups represented such as Gujaratis (in Ghatkopar, Mulund, Borivali, and Kandivali) South Indians (Tamils and Malayalis in Chembur, Marol etc.), Parsis & Sindhis in South-Bombay (south of Dadar), and large communities from UP, Bihar and Punjab scattered around. A large number of people who work as vegetable vendors and shoe-polishers (and other small tradesmen) are migrant labourers from UP and Bihar. Because of a perceived sidelining of Marathi in this large mixture of peoples and cultures, some Maharashtrians (including the elite) emphasize that Marathi should be given due importance, Mumbai being a part of Maharashtra.

Slum population

According to the results of Census of India, 2001, 5,823,510 people lived in the slums of Mumbai or 48.88% of the population of Mumbai. This is by far the largest slum population in any city of India. 72.48% of this slum population was literate. Also, Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata are the only 3 cities in India where over 1 million people live in slums.

AIDS

With 4.7% of AIDS cases in India from Mumbai, Mumbai is subject to 160% more AIDS than the average prevalence in India.