Ladakh Population 2024

March 8, 2024 by Babji

Ladakh population in 2024 is estimated to be 303 Thousand (3.03 Lakhs), By Aug 2023, Ladakh population is projected to be 3.01 Lakhs as per Unique Identification Aadhar India, updated 31, May 2023. As per NFHS 2019-2021 report, Total Fertility Rate of Ladakh is 1.3 children per women. The area of Ladakh is 59,146 sq km which is greater than the area of Himachal Pradesh(55,673 sq km) or Punjab(50,362 sq km). According to Science, The mountain ranges were formed over 45 million years ago thrusting the Indian plate into the more stationary Eurasian plate. Current borders of Ladakh include Himachal Pradesh to the south, Jammu and Kashmir to the west and Tibet Autonomous Region to the east. The eastern part of Ladakh is Aksai Chin plains, uninhabited which is under China control since 1962. On 5th August 2019 the Parliament of India passed a bill that contained provisions to reconstitute Ladakh as a union territory within India. Ladakh is to be administered as a union territory without a legislative assembly. The head of government will be a Lieutenant Governor appointed by the President of India. Ladakh is in the north west of India and Ladakh means "land of high passes". The Indus River is the backbone of Ladakh. It contains two districts, Kargil and Leh. The largest town in Ladakh is Leh, followed by Kargil. There are 40,247 households in the Ladakh region.

Source Image: Ladakh people celebrating the formation of Union Territory

Ladakh Buddhist Association organised a "thanksgiving" after scrapping of Article 370. Celebrations are organised in Leh on Ladakh Joining the Union Territory of India on Aug 09, 2019 16:27 IST. Ladakh people gathered in different ranks of religius leaders, monks, sarpanchs attended the function with tri-color flag.

For Ladakh, the Losar festival marks the beginning of the New year and is considered to be one of the most important festival of the Ladakh region. During this season most of the Ladakhi Buddhists make religious offering before their deities in the shrines.
Galwan Valley
According to the book Forsaking Paradise and as per the thefederal news, Ghulam Rasool Galwan or Ghulam Rassul Galwan had arrived in Leh in 1895, the river valley is named after a native explorer of Kashmiri descent Ghulam Rassul Galwan, whose forefathers belonged to the famed Galwan (the Galawan) tribe of Kashmir.

Ladakh Population by Religion

Ladakh's earliest inhabitants consisted of a mixed Indo-Aryan population of Mons and Dards, Ladakh was a part of the Kushan Empire in first century. Ladakh is the one of the oldest and ancient Buddhist region with historic ties to Tibet as Buddhism spread into western Ladakh from Kashmir in the 2nd century, Many of the immigrants of Tibet, Skardo and nearby parts like Purang, Guge settled in Ladakh. Buddhism is dominated in Leh district and Muslim is dominent regligion in Kargil district. As per the census 2011 Ladakh population religion wise and demographics for the two districts Leh and Kargil, Islam is followed by 46%, Budhism with around 40% population and 12% by Hindus, and other religions are less than 1%. The muslim population of Ladakh is the largest with 127,296 people followed by Buddhists with 108,761 and Hindus with 33,223.

Religion	Persons	Percentage	Males	Females
Hindu	33,223	12.11	31,942	1,280
Muslim	127,296	46.41	66,255	61,041
Christian	1,262	0.46	1,001	261
Sikh	2,263	0.83	2,119	144
Buddhist	108,761	39.65	54,207	54,554
Jain	131	0.05	65	66
Others	58	0.02	32	26
Not Stated	1,295	0.47	1,134	161

Source: Details of Religion In Main Table C-1- 2011 (India & States/UTs)

Ethnic groups of Ladakh

Ladakh lies in the north-east region of India, eastern side of Jammu and is surrounded by the Himalayan mountain ranges popularly called Great Himalayas.Ladakh experiences extreme type of climate where the temperature ranges from minus 35 degree Celsius in winter to 33 degree Celsius in summer. Ladakh was an independent province since the middle of the 10th century. The ancient inhabitants of Ladakh were Dards, an Indo-Aryan race. Immigrants of Tibet, Skardo and nearby parts like Purang, Guge settled in Ladakh, whose racial characters and cultures were in consonance with early settlers. The early religion of Ladakh wasthe people who worshipped many gods, the people also worshiped correlated with the water, earth, fire and mountains. Buddhism traveled from central India to Tibet via Ladakh leaving its imprint in Ladakh. Islamic missionaries also made a penetration of Islam in the early 16th century.

Languages spoken in Ladakh

The main language of Ladakh is Ladakhi, a Tibetan language, other dialects are Changpa and Purigpa. Bauti is spoken by majority, Hindi, Balti and Purkhi in Leh district. Kashmiri, Balti, Ladakhi, Shina and Hindi is spoken in the Kargil district. Source: 2011 Census: Language and Mother Tongue

Income Distribution

The district is bounded by Himalayas and it is the coldest and most elevated inhabited region in the country with altitude ranging from 2300 meters to 5000 meters. The main occupation engaged the workforce is agriculture and live stock. Agriculture is the backbone of the district economy as it engage over 70% of the working force mostly as cultivators, agricultural laborers, livestock and Tourism has won a wide recognition as an important industry in the district in view of its potential for creation of employment opportunities and generation of income on a large scale. Leh has registered an increasing number of tourists both from India and Foreign countries which attracted towards it because of its landscape, culture, tradition and environment. Ladakh population in 2022 is estimated to be 300 Thousand (3 Lakhs), population in 2021 is estimated to be 289 Thousand (2.8 Lakhs), and population in 2023 is estimated to be 302 Thousand.

District wise population in Ladakh

In 1979, the Ladakh District was divided into Leh District and Kargil District. Leh is one of the largest district in India with an area of 45,110 sq km. Leh district has a estimated population of 149,505 as on 2019. Kargil has an area of 14,036 sq km, estimated population to 157,698 in 2019. Leh district is divided into 6 Sub Divisions, 8 tehsils, 16 blocks and 113 village. Kargil district is divided into 4 Sub Divisions, 7 tehsils and 12 blocks. Kargil District is located at a distance of 205 Kms from Srinagar which is capital of Jammu Kashmir and 230 Kms from Leh which is capital of Ladakh. It is connected to Srinagar and Leh through National Highway.

After hoisting the Indian Tri-color flag, Ladakh people are celebrating the formation of Union Territory with two districts Leh and Kargil. Below is the Ladakh district wise population as per Census 2011 and 2020 projection.