Malayali

Malayali people

Total population
c. 39 Million[1]
Regions with significant populations
India	34,838,819[2]
United Arab Emirates	1,014,000[3]
United States	644,097[source?]
Kuwait	634,728[4]
Saudi Arabia	595,000[3]
Qatar	445,000[4]
Malaysia	344,000[5]
Oman	195,300[4]
Bahrain	101,556[4]
Australia	53,206[6][7]
Israel	46,600[source?]
United Kingdom	45,264[8]
Canada	28,000[9]
Singapore	26,000[10]
Myanmar	23,000
New Zealand	6,000[source?]
Pakistan	6,000[11]
Germany	5,867[12]
Indonesia	4,000[source?]
Austria	3,784[13]
Maldives	800
Japan	500[14]
Finland	474[15]
Fiji	134
Languages
Malayalam
Religion
Hinduism – 54.73%[16] Islam – 26.56%[16] Christianity – 18.38%[16] Buddhism, Judaism, Atheism and others – 0.33%[16]
Related ethnic groups
Tamils Tuluvas Kodava Kannadigas

The Malayali people (also spelled Malayalee people) are the native speakers of the Malayalam language. They originate from the south of the current Indian state of Kerala. Sometimes they are called Keralites. There are about 39 million people who speak Malayalam as their first language. 34 million of these live in India, about 1 million in the United Arab Emirates. About 55% are Hindus, about 27% are Muslims, and about 19% are Christian.

The Malayali language is part of the Dravidian language group. The Malayali have their own cooking styles, movies, and form of martial arts, Kalaripayattu.^[17]

The United Nations declared a Malayali dance called Kathakali Intangible Cultural Heritage.^[17]

1. ↑ Mikael Parkvall, "Världens 100 största språk 2007" (The World's 100 Largest Languages in 2007), in Nationalencyklopedin. Asterisks mark the 2010 estimates for the top dozen languages.
2. ↑ "Census of India". Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 May 2010. Retrieved 2008-01-07.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} "Kerala Migration Survey - 2014". The Indian Express.( This is the number of approximate emigrants from Kerala, which is closely related to, but different from the actual number of Malayalis.). No. 17 September 2014. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3} Zachariah, K. C. & Rajan, S. Irudaya (2011), Kerala Migration Survey 2011 Archived 2020-01-10 at the Wayback Machine (PDF), Department of Non-resident Keralite Affairs, Government of Kerala, p. 29. This is the number of emigrants from Kerala, which is closely related to but different from the actual number of Malayalis.
5. ↑ "Malayali, Malayalam in Malaysia".
6. ↑ "In the Australia, 18% of people spoke a language other than English at home in 2011". abs.gov.au/. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Archived from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
7. ↑ "India-born Malayalam-speaking community in Australia: Some interesting trends". The Times of India. No. 16 July 2014. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
8. ↑ "Survey finds only 16.25 lakh NoRKs". The Hindu. 31 October 2013.
9. ↑ "Census Profile, 2016 Census - Canada [Country] and Canada [Country]". 8 February 2017.
10. ↑ "Singapore Malayalee Association 100th Anniversary". 27 December 2018.
11. ↑ "Where Malayalees once held sway". DNA India. 5 October 2005. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
12. ↑ Swamy, M. R. Narayan (5 October 2005). "Where Malayalees once held sway". DNA India.
13. ↑ "Vienna Malayalee Association". Archived from the original on 2021-06-14. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
14. ↑ "Welcome to Nionkairali.com - Indian Malayalees in Japan- Japan malayalees, Malayali, Keralite, Tokyo". nihonkairali.com.
15. ↑ "Väestö 31.12. Muuttujina Maakunta, Kieli, Ikä, Sukupuoli, Vuosi ja Tiedot". Archived from the original on 2021-04-07. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
16. ↑ ^{16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3} "Population by religious community - 2011". 2011 Census of India. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner. Archived from the original on 25 August 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
17. ↑ ^{17.0 17.1} Charishma Thankappan (March 3, 2018). "10 Things You Should Know About Malayali Culture". The Culture Trip. Retrieved February 11, 2021.