district in the west, Kannada (and its dialect Baaga) and Malayalam are stronger. English is spoken as a subsidiary language.

The main religions in the state are Hinduism, Christianity, Islam and Jainism. Hindus constitute an overwhelming majority of the population. The largest concentration of Christians is in Tirunelveli and Kanniyakumari districts. Jains are confined to North and South Arcot and Chennai city. The growth of atheism is a recent development, possibly as a protest against Brahmin ritualism.

Although Tamil Nadu is one of the most urbanised states of India, it is still primarily rural. Most of the people live in more than 64,000 nucleated villages. In Tamil Nadu, as in the rest of the country, the caste system is still strong, even though discrimination has been banned by the constitution of India. The poorest low-caste villagers live in segregated areas called ceri. The Chennai metropolitan covering industrial areas, townships and villages surrounding Chennai city, has the largest population but there are other conurbations, of which those around Madurai, Coimbatore, and Tiruchchirappalli are the most important.