According to the 1931 Census of India, the Purums numbered 145 men and 158 women, all practising their ancestral tribal religion; in 1936 they numbered 303 individuals but in the 1951 census they numbered only 43 individuals.
The Purums are divided into five sibs, namely, Marrim, Makan, Kheyang, Thao and Parpa . There is no indigenous centralized government.