Urdu-speaking people
اہلِ زبانِ اردو | |
|---|---|
The phrase Zuban-e-Urdu-e-Mualla or "Language of the Exalted Camp" | |
| Total population | |
| 68.62 million (2019) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| India (diasporic Urdu Belt, a regional belt that consists of Hindi-Urdu belt states, many speakers live in various cities in Deccan Plateau) Pakistan (Muhajirs in Karachi, Hyderabad & mainly across large cities in Sindh and other large Pakistani cities) | |
| India | 50,772,631 (2011) |
| Pakistan | 14,706,159 - 30,000,000 (2017 census & 2013)[a] |
| United States | 397,502 (2013) |
| United Kingdom | 270,000 (2011) |
| Canada | 210,815 (2016) |
| Australia | 69,131 (2016) |
| Languages | |
| Urdu | |
| Religion | |
| Islam, small minority Christianity and Judaism | |
Native speakers of Urdu are spread across South Asia. The vast majority of them are Muslims of the Hindi–Urdu Belt of northern India, followed by the Deccani people of the Deccan plateau in south-central India (who speak Deccani Urdu), and most of the Muhajir people of Pakistan. The historical centres of Urdu speakers include Delhi and Lucknow. Another defunct variety of the language was historically spoken in Lahore for centuries before the name "Urdu" first began to appear. However, little is known about this defunct Lahori variety as it has not been spoken for centuries.
The term "Urdu-speakers" does not encompass culturally non-native speakers who may use Urdu as a first or second language, which would additionally account for a much larger number of total speakers in South Asia.