^Joshua Project estimates 7,000, with about 400 living across the Chinese border. SIL Ethnologue estimates 5,000 speakers of Puroik as of 2007. Some Puroik use Nishi as their primary language. Population estimates were somewhat higher in the 1990s, with 10,000 to 12,000 reported in the 1991 Indian census. Chaudhuri, Sarit Kumar; Chaudhuri, Sucheta Sen (2005). Primitive Tribes in Contemporary India: Concept, Ethnography and Demography. Mittal Publications. pp. 367–368. ISBN 978-81-8324-026-0. Retrieved 12 April 2012.