Demographics of Ladakh include the population of about 260,000 that is the admixture of different races and religions, predominantly the Tibetans, Mons and the Dards. Primarily three religious communities constitute the Ladakh population: the Christians, Buddhists and Muslims. The Christians form a tiny minority, almost all of them in and around Leh. Buddhists and Muslims are found in more or less equal numbers, with preponderance of Buddhists in the north and east, and Muslims to the south and west. Kargil town, Dras, the Suru valley as far as Parkachik, Pashkyum and Shagkar-Chigtan are almost exclusively Muslim; Mulbekh and Bodh Kharbu have mixed populations, with a distinct Buddhist majority. Zanskar is basically a Buddhist area. The Indus valley from Khaltse upstream and downstream on the right bank is almost uniformly Buddhist, and so are Chang-thang and Nubra. The exceptions are a small but influential Muslim population in Leh itself and a few of the surrounding villages, and a few Muslims in the remote villages of Turtuk and Bogdang, away down the Shayok River to the north-west.

For centuries Ladakhi life and ways of thought have been determined by Buddhism and the tokens of Buddhist influences are evidenced throughout this place. Its external expressions are everywhere. The Muslim community of the Leh area is descended either from immigrants, or from marriages contracted by local women with Muslim merchants from Kashmir and Yarkand settled in Leh. This mixed community, the Arghons, Sunnis by persuasion, have an influence in the town out of all proportion to their fairly small numbers. The most important of the immigrant-descended groups is the Balti community who inhabit in the large village of Chushot, across the Indus. This is located about fifteen kilometres upriver from Leh. As per the history, they have come from Baltistan as much as 350 years ago, in the reign of Sengge Namgyal. They retain to this day the consciousness that they are Balds and categorised themselves separate and distinct from the Ladakhis. Like the Kargil Muslims, the Chushot Baltis too are Shias, and many of them follow injunctions of their faith with uncompromising strictness. The Christian community in Leh and a few of the surrounding villages are not much in number. Apart from these, the people of Dard descent predominate in Dras and Dha-Hanu areas. The Brokpa communities, who are the inhabitants of Dha-Hanu, are followers of Tibetan Buddhism. They have and have maintained their original Dardic traditions and customs since long time. The Dards around Dras, however, have converted to Islam and have been strongly influenced by their Kashmiri neighbours. Even most Ladakhis in Leh District as well as Zangskar Valley of Kargil District are Tibetan Buddhist and the rest of the people of Kargil District are the followers of Shia Muslims.

There are sizeable minorities of Buddhists in Kargil District and of Shia Muslims in Leh District. Apart from the followers of Buddhism, Muslims and Christians, there are small numbers of followers of Hinduism, Sikhism, and the Bon religion among descendants of immigrants. Most Buddhists follow the tantric form of Buddhism known as Vajrayana Buddhism. Buddhism in Tibet had to contend with the pantheistic and shamanistic Bon religion. This religion was characterized by a highly developed cosmic system with a multiplicity of gods and demons. As Buddhism as it spread made no attempt to suppress this ancient cult altogether, but rather absorbed as many of its beliefs and practices, many of the Bon deities appear in the Buddhist pantheon. The Shias are mostly found among the Balti and Burig people. The Changpa nomads who are the inhabitants of Rupshu plateau are more closely related to Tibetans. Since the early 1960s nomad numbers have increased as Chang Thang nomads from across the border flee Chinese-ruled Tibet. There are about 3,500 Tibetan refugees from all parts of Tibet in Leh District. The Muslim Arghons, descendants of Kashmiri or Central Asian merchants and Ladakhi women, reside in Leh and Kargil towns. Similar to the other Ladakhis, the Baltis of Kargil, Nubra, Suru Valley and Baltistan exhibit strong Tibetan links in their appearance and language, and were Buddhists.

The language spoken in the entire region of Ladakh is Ladakhi, which is a Tibetan dialect. Some of the people of Ladakh are also well conversant in Hindi, Urdu and often English. The dialects of the region differs one community from the other as the language of the Chang-pa people may differ markedly from that of the Purig-pa in Kargil, or the Zangskaris though these languages are reciprocally comprehensible. The language as well as the racial composition of Leh is enriched with foreign influences. The Balti language, which is spoken mainly in Kargil, Nubra and Central Ladakh closely resembles with Ladakhi. Traditionally, Ladakhi had no separate written language from classical Tibetan. Lately some of the Ladakhi authors have started using the Tibetan script to enrich their writings with the indigenous taste. The administrative work and education are carried out in English. Another language which was once hugely in use but now decreasing is Urdu since the 1980s.

Though the land of Ladakh fosters different religions, the people of each community, harbours respect to the people of other religion, without any sense of violence towards any religion. The people devoid of secular outlook benevolently enjoy the religious occasions of the other religion.