Estimates for the population of Jains differ from just over four million to twelve million due to difficulties of Jain identity, with Jains in some areas counted as a Hindu sect. Many Jains do not return Jainism as their religion on census forms for various reasons such as certain Jain castes considering themselves both Hindu and Jain. The 1981 Census of India returned 3.19 million Jains. This was estimated at the time to be at least half the true number. There are an estimated 25,000 – 30,000 Jains in Europe (mostly in Britain), 20,000 in Africa, 45,000 plus in North America (from Dundas, Paul. The Jains. Routledge, 2002. ISBN 0-415-26606-8, 9780415266062. с. 354.) and 5000 in the rest of Asia.
