The 2019 Surat directory shows an aging,
declining yet vibrant community
Farrokh Jijina
The number of community members in Surat shrank by five percent from 3,696 in 2014 to 3,510 in 2019 (till July) according to statistics published in the sixth Directory of the Zoroastrian Residents of Surat 2019 published by the 26-year-old Zoroastrian Women’s Assembly of Surat (ZWAS). The population was equally divided between male and female members in both 2014 and 2019. While the percentage of those aged 60 and above increased from 27% to 31% between the two years, children and young adults (till age 19) fell from 17% to about 14%.
The directory includes the names of family members,......