Civil Date 

Civil Data
Total Population       : 39,57,071

Number of percentage of inhabitants according to race and language:
a) Hindus                  :30,89,563 (78%)
b) Muslims                :  3,50,042 (9%)
c) Jains                     :     40,387 (1%)
d) Christians             :     60,434 (1.5%) (C.S.I.)
e) Catholics              :  3,60,000 (9.5%)

Brief outline of the civil administration:
The Diocese of Mangalore comprises the whole civil District of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi Districts of Karnataka State and a small part of Kasargod District of Kerala State. In all, the Diocese has 9 Taluks, i.e. 8 of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi and one of Kasargod. And the total area of the Diocese is 9,425,.01 Sq.KM. Or 3639 Sq. miles. 115 miles in length & about 12 miles in breadth at the narrowest and 15 miles at its widest part.

The people of the Diocese speak Kannada, Tulu, Urdu, Malayalam, Konkani and English, according to the creed they profess and their social standing. The Catholics, almost all have Konkani as their mother tongue; only the recent converts have Tulu language  as their mother tongue.

Religious Data:

The total number of Catholics: Males and females together number 3,60,000.  These are of the Latin Rite. Those of the Oriental Rite are taken care of by their proper Ordinary Most Rev. Lawrence Mukkuzhy, the Bishop of Belthangady.

Non Catholic Christians:  There are just a few Christian denominations in our Diocese.  Even taken together their number is very small.  The biggest denomination is the church of South India (CSI).  Its components are Basel Mission Protestant church and the  Anglican church.  This denomination numbers about 60,434 and are spread all over the District.  They have a Theological College of their own and they run a hospital and a few Technical schools.  The relationship between this church and the Catholic church is cordial, specially due to Ecumenism. We meet sometimes during the year and freely exchange views on common subjects.  To promote this fellowship we have formed what is called ‘Mangalore Christian Council” with members from both the churches.

Next notable church is Syrian Orthodox church.  They are well known in the northern part of the Diocese because of their educational Institutions. They number  about 5,800. For the most part they were separated from the Catholic church towards the end of the 19^th century during the Propaganda and Padrovado jurisdiction controversy.  These Syrians and the local Catholics mix with each other freely and hence intermarriages are frequent, because of the identity in language and culture.

Since some years a good number of Oriental Catholics of Syro-Malabar Rite have migrated into our Diocese.  Mostly they are settled in the Eastern part of our Diocese.  They are under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Belthangady. Their own priests serve them, but where their priests are not available, they are taken care of, by the Latin Rite priests. There is a peaceful co-existence between the priests and people of both the Rites. Belthangady is a town in the Eastern part of this Diocese.

A few sects existing in the Diocese are: Jehovah’s witnesses, Pentacostals, Seventh day Adventists, Fellowship and New Life groups.