7,640 (2011 census), decreasing. 0 monolinguals. Ethnic population: 12,000.
Sagarmatha Zone, north Khotang district, Makpa, Jalapa, Baksila, Sapteshwor, and Kharmi VDCs.
7 (Shifting). Language of recognized indigenous nationality: Rai.
SVO; postpositions; noun head final; no noun classes or genders; content q-word in situ; 1 prefix, unknown number of suffixes; verbal affixation marks person and number; ergativity; nontonal; 25 consonant and 14 vowel phonemes.
Pressure to shift to Nepali [npi] in education and communication with outsiders is strong. Few parents teach Dumi to their children or encourage their children to use their language. Home, religion. Mixed use: Friends, work. Young adults and older. Some use among children and adolescents. Most are bilingual in neighboring local languages, then in Nepali [npi].
Devanagari script [Deva].
Efforts have been made by some to preserve the language by creating written materials. Traditional religion, Christian, Hindu.