By Sudha Ramachandran

BANGALORE - The clock is ticking for one of India’s most prosperous communities, the Parsis. Always small, the Parsi population is diminishing at an alarming rate, prompting fears that the community may not survive the century.

According to the 2001 census, India has less than 70,000 Parsis, a 40% drop from 1941, when their population peaked at nearly 114,900. Since 1941, the Parsi population has decreased by about 10% per decade, compared to 21% growth for India’s population as a whole.

More worrying figures have emerged since the 2001 census. A survey indicates that only 99 Parsis were born in the year to August 2007, compared with 223 in 2001, 206 in 2002, and 174 in 2006. If the present trend continues there may be no more than 23,000 Parsis by the year 2020.
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