മലയാളി Malayali Plural: Malayalikal
    |
| Narayana Guru • Saint Alphonsa • Raja Ravi Varma • Mata Amritanandamayi |
| Total population |
|---|
| 35,757,100[1] |
| Regions with significant populations |
|---|
 India | 33,066,392 | |
 UAE | 773,624 | [2] |
 Saudi Arabia | 447,440 | [2] |
 Kuwait | 134,728 | [2] |
 Oman | 134,019 | [2] |
 USA | 105,655 | [2] |
 Qatar | 94,310 | [2] |
 Bahrain | 58,146 | [2] |
 UK | 26,237 | [2] |
 Canada | 11,346 | [2] |
 Malaysia | 10,636 | [2] |
 Singapore | 7,800 | [2] |
 Israel | | |
 Germany | | |
 Thailand | | |
 South Africa | | |
 Botswana | | |
 Sri Lanka | | |
|
| Languages |
|---|
| Malayalam (മലയാളം) |
| Religion |
|---|
| Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism |
| Related ethnic groups |
|---|
| Dravidian people, Brahui people, Kannadiga, Tamil people, Telugu people, Tuluva |
Traditional dress of Kerala. A Malayali woman in a
set-sari (
tradition being wearing a mundum neriyathum) and a Malayalee man wearing a
mundu with a shirt (
tradition being not wearing a shirt).
The
Malayali people (also spelled
Malayalee;
Malayalam:
മലയാളി,
Malayāḷi ?,
IPA: [mɐləjaːɭɪ](
listen); plural:
Malayalikal) are a group of people who speak
Malayalam, originating from the
Indian state of
Kerala. The Malayali identity is primarily linguistic, although in recent times the definition has been broadened to include emigrants of Malayali descent who partly maintain Malayali
cultural traditions, even if they do not regularly speak the language. While the majority of Malayalis belong to Kerala, significant populations also exist in other parts of India, the
Middle East,
Europe and
North America. According to the Indian census of 2001, there were 30,803,747 speakers of Malayalam in Kerala,
[3] making up 96.7% of the total population of that state. Hence the word
Keralite is often used in the same context, though a proper definition is ambiguous.
[edit] Etymology
Malayalam, the Malayalis' native language, has its origin from the words
mala meaning
mountain and
alam meaning land or locality (which lies along side the mountain).
[4] Hence 'Malayali' means
people from the mountains who lived beyond the
Western Ghats, and Malayalam the language that was spoken there.
[edit] Geographic distribution and population
According to the
Indian census of 2001, there were 30,803,747 speakers of Malayalam in Kerala, making up 93.2% of the total number of Malayalam speakers in India, and 96.7% of the total population of the state. There were a further 701,673 (2.1% of the total number) in
Karnataka, 557,705 (1.7%) in
Tamil Nadu, and 406,358 (1.2%) in
Maharashtra. The number of Malayalam speakers in
Lakshadweep is 51,100, which is only 0.15% of the total number, but is as much as about 84% of the population of Lakshadweep. In all, Malayalis made up 3.22% of the total Indian population in 2001. Of the total 33,066,392 Malayalam speakers in India in 2001, 33,015,420 spoke the standard dialects, 19,643 spoke the
Yerava dialect and 31,329 spoke non-standard regional variations like
Eranadan.
[3] As per the 1991 census data, 28.85% of all Malayalam speakers in India spoke another second language and 19.64% of the total knew 3 or more languages.
Large numbers of Malayalis have settled in
Delhi,
Bangalore,
Hyderabad,
Mumbai (Bombay),
Pune and
Chennai (Madras). A large number of Malayalis have also emigrated to the
Middle East,
Europe and
North America. There were 179,860 speakers of Malayalam in USA, according to the 2000 census though the Keralite Population is thought to be more than 300,000.
[5] The 2001 Canadian census reported 7,070 people who listed Malayalam as their mother tongue. There were 2,968 Malayalam speakers in Australia in 2001.
[6] The 2006 New Zealand census reported 2,139 speakers.
[7] 134 Malayalam speaking households were reported in 1956 in
Fiji. There is also a considerable Malayali population in the
Persian Gulf regions, especially in
Dubai. They form the majority of the Indians residing in Dubai
[citation needed].
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