Vanniyar History Rudolph noted that, although "necessarily tentative" because of being based on figures from the 1931 census, the Vanniyars in the 1980s constituted around 10% of the population of Tamil Nadu, being particularly prevalent in the northernmost districts of Chingelput, North Arcot, South Arcot and Salem, where they formed around 25% of the population.[9] Vanniyar/Palli constituted 30% of the population of Pondicherry in the nineteenth century. Country Tamil Population Year United States 341,396 2021 estimates South Africa ...