Map of India | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide1989199019911992199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 | More stats

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Background: The Indus Valley civilization one of the world's oldest flourished during the 3rd and 2nd millennia B.C. and extended into northwestern India. Aryan tribes from the northwest infiltrated onto the Indian subcontinent about 1500 B.C.; their merger with the earlier Dravidian inhabitants created the classical Indian culture. The Maurya Empire of the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. - which reached its zenith under ASHOKA - united much of South Asia. The Golden Age ushered in by the Gupta dynasty (4th to 6th centuries A.D.) saw a flowering of Indian science art and culture. Islam spread across the subcontinent over a period of 700 years. In the 10th and 11th centuries Turks and Afghans invaded India and established the Delhi Sultanate. In the early 16th century the Emperor BABUR established the Mughal Dynasty which ruled India for more than three centuries. European explorers began establishing footholds in India during the 16th century. By the 19th century Great Britain had become the dominant political power on the subcontinent. The British Indian Army played a vital role in both World Wars. Nonviolent resistance to British rule led by Mohandas GANDHI and Jawaharlal NEHRU eventually brought about independence in 1947. Communal violence led to the subcontinent's bloody partition which resulted in the creation of two separate states India and Pakistan. The two countries have fought three wars since independence the last of which in 1971 resulted in East Pakistan becoming the separate nation of Bangladesh. India's nuclear weapons tests in 1998 caused Pakistan to conduct its own tests that same year. In November 2008 terrorists originating from Pakistan conducted a series of coordinated attacks in Mumbai India's financial capital. In January 2011 India assumed a nonpermanent seat in the UN Security Council for the 2011-12 term. Despite pressing problems such as significant overpopulation environmental degradation extensive poverty and widespread corruption rapid economic development is fueling India's rise on the world stage.


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Location: Southern Asia bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal between Burma and Pakistan

Geographic coordinates: 20 00 N 77 00 E

Map reference

Area
Rank: 7
Comparative: slightly more than one-third the size of the US

Land boundaries

Coastline: 7,000 km

Maritime claims

Climate: varies from tropical monsoon in south to temperate in north

Terrain: upland plain (Deccan Plateau) in south flat to rolling plain along the Ganges deserts in west Himalayas in north

Elevation

Natural resources: coal (fourth-largest reserves in the world) iron ore manganese mica bauxite rare earth elements titanium ore chromite natural gas diamonds petroleum limestone arable land

Land use

Irrigated land: 622,860 km² (2003)

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources: 1907.8 km³ (1999)

Natural hazards: droughts; flash floods as well as widespread and destructive flooding from monsoonal rains; severe thunderstorms; earthquakes

Geography
Note: dominates South Asian subcontinent; near important Indian Ocean trade routes; Kanchenjunga third tallest mountain in the world lies on the border with Nepal


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Population: 1,205,073,612 (July 2012 est.)
Rank: 2
Growth rate: 1.312% (2012 est.)
Growth rate rank: 89
Below poverty line: 29.8% (2010 est.)

Nationality

Ethnic groups: Indo-Aryan 72% Dravidian 25% Mongoloid and other 3% (2000)

Languages: Hindi 41% Bengali 8.1% Telugu 7.2% Marathi 7% Tamil 5.9% Urdu 5% Gujarati 4.5% Kannada 3.7% Malayalam 3.2% Oriya 3.2% Punjabi 2.8% Assamese 1.3% Maithili 1.2% other 5.9%

Religions: Hindu 80.5% Muslim 13.4% Christian 2.3% Sikh 1.9% other 1.8% unspecified 0.1% (2001 census)

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate: 1.312% (2012 est.)
Rank: 89

Birth rate: 20.6 births/1000 population (2012 est.)
Rank: 86

Death rate: 7.43 deaths/1000 population (July 2012 est.)
Rank: 116

Net migration rate: -0.05 migrant(s)/1000 population (2012 est.)
Rank: 117

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: deforestation; soil erosion; overgrazing; desertification; air pollution from industrial effluents and vehicle emissions; water pollution from raw sewage and runoff of agricultural pesticides; tap water is not potable throughout the country; huge and growing population is overstraining natural resources

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate
Rank: 49

Life expectancy at birth
Rank: 161

Total fertility rate: 2.58 children born/woman (2012 est.)
Rank: 81

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density: 0.599 physicians/1000 population (2005)

Hospital bed density: 0.9 beds/1000 population (2005)

Sanitation facility access:
Unimproved:

Hiv/Aids
Adult prevalence rate: 0.3% (2009 est.)
Adult prevalence rate rank: 84
People living with hivaids: 2.4 million (2009 est.)
People living with hivaids rank: 3
Deaths: 170,000 (2009 est.)
Deaths rank: 3

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight: 43.5% (2006)
Rank: 1

Education expenditures: 3.1% of GDP (2006)
Rank: 129

Literacy

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name

Government type: federal republic

Capital

Administrative divisions: 28 states and 7 union territories*; Andaman and Nicobar Islands* Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam Bihar Chandigarh* Chhattisgarh Dadra and Nagar Haveli* Daman and Diu* Delhi* Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu and Kashmir Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Lakshadweep* Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Odisha Puducherry* Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Tripura Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand West Bengal

Dependent areas

Independence: 15 August 1947 (from the UK)

National holiday: Republic Day 26 January (1950)

Constitution: 26 January 1950; amended many times

Legal system: common law system based on the English model; separate personal law codes apply to Muslims Christians and Hindus; judicial review of legislative acts

International law organization participation: accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; non-party state to the ICCt

Citizenship

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch

Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament or Sansad consists of the Council of States or Rajya Sabha (a body consisting of 245 seats up to 12 of which are appointed by the president the remainder are chosen by the elected members of the state and territorial assemblies; members serve six-year terms) and the People's Assembly or Lok Sabha (545 seats; 543 members elected by popular vote 2 appointed by the president; members serve five-year terms)

Judicial branch: Supreme Court (one chief justice and 25 associate justices are appointed by the president and remain in office until they reach the age of 65 or are removed for 'proved misbehavior')

Political parties and leaders: Aam Aadmi Party or AAP [Arvind KEJRIWAL]; All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or AIADMK [J. JAYALALITHAA]; All India Trinamool Congress or AITC [Mamata BANERJEE]; Bahujan Samaj Party or BSP [MAYAWATI]; Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP [Nitin GADKARI]; Biju Janata Dal or BJD [Naveen PATNAIK]; Communist Party of India or CPI [A.B. BARDHAN]; Communist Party of India-Marxist or CPI-M [Prakash KARAT]; Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or DMK [M.KARUNANIDHI]; Indian National Congress or INC [Sonia GANDHI]; Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) [Sharad YADAV]; Nationalist Congress Party or NCP [Sharad PAWAR]; Rashtriya Janata Dal or RJD [Lalu Prasad YADAV]; Rashtriya Lok Dal or RLD [Ajit SINGH]; Samajwadi Party or SP [Mulayam Singh YADAV]; Shiromani Akali Dal or SAD [Parkash Singh BADAL]; Shiv Sena or SS [Bal THACKERAY]; Telugu Desam Party or TDP [Chandrababu NAIDU]; note - India has dozens of national and regional political parties; only parties with four or more seats in the People's Assembly are listed

International organization participation: ABEDA ADB AfDB (nonregional member) ARF ASEAN (dialogue partner) BIMSTEC BIS BRICS C CD CERN (observer) CICA CP EAS FAO FATF G-15 G-20 G-24 G-77 IAEA IBRD ICAO ICC (national committees) ICRM IDA IFAD IFC IFRCS IHO ILO IMF IMO IMSO Interpol IOC IOM IPU ISO ITSO ITU ITUC (NGOs) LAS (observer) MIGA MONUSCO NAM OAS (observer) OECD OPCW PCA PIF (partner) SAARC SACEP SCO (observer) UN UNCTAD UNDOF UNESCO UNHCR UNIDO UNIFIL UNISFA UNITAR UNMISS UNOCI UNSC (temporary) UNWTO UPU WCO WFTU (NGOs) WHO WIPO WMO WTO

Diplomatic representation

Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of saffron (subdued orange) (top) white and green with a blue chakra (24-spoked wheel) centered in the white band; saffron represents courage sacrifice and the spirit of renunciation; white signifies purity and truth; green stands for faith and fertility; the blue chakra symbolizes the wheel of life in movement and death in stagnation

National symbols: Bengal tiger

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview: India is developing into an open-market economy yet traces of its past autarkic policies remain. Economic liberalization including industrial deregulation privatization of state-owned enterprises and reduced controls on foreign trade and investment began in the early 1990s and has served to accelerate the country's growth which has averaged more than 7% per year since 1997. India's diverse economy encompasses traditional village farming modern agriculture handicrafts a wide range of modern industries and a multitude of services. Slightly more than half of the work force is in agriculture but services are the major source of economic growth accounting for nearly two-thirds of India's output with less than one-third of its labor force. India has capitalized on its large educated English-speaking population to become a major exporter of information technology services and software workers. In 2010 the Indian economy rebounded robustly from the global financial crisis - in large part because of strong domestic demand - and growth exceeded 8% year-on-year in real terms. However India's economic growth began slowing in 2011 because of a tight monetary policy intended to address persistent inflation and a decline in investment caused by investor pessimism about domestic economic reforms and about the global situation. High international crude prices have exacerbated the government's fuel subsidy expenditures contributing to a higher fiscal deficit and a worsening current account deficit. In late 2012 the Indian Government announced reforms and deficit reduction measures to reverse India's slowdown. The outlook India's medium-term growth is positive due to a young population and corresponding low dependency ratio healthy savings and investment rates and increasing integration into the global economy. India has many long-term challenges that it has not yet fully addressed including poverty inadequate physical and social infrastructure limited non-agricultural employment opportunities inadequate availability of quality basic and higher education and accommodating rural-to-urban migration.

Real gdp purchasing power parity:
Rank: 4

Real gdp growth rate:
Rank: 50

Real gdp per capita:
Rank: 164

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: rice wheat oilseed cotton jute tea sugarcane lentils onions potatoes; dairy products sheep goats poultry; fish

Industries

Industrial production growth rate: 4.8% (2011 est.)
Rank: 68

Labor force: 498.4 million (2012 est.)
Rank: 2

Unemployment rate: 9.8% (2011 est.)
Rank: 108

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line: 29.8% (2010 est.)

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index: 37.8 (1997)
Rank: 76

Budget
Surplus or deficit: -5.6% of GDP (2012 est.)
Surplus or deficit rank: 166

Taxes and other revenues: 8.8% of GDP (2012 est.)
Rank: 209

Public debt: 50.5% of GDP (2011 est.)
Rank: 60

Revenue

Fiscal year: 1 April - 31 March

Inflation rate consumer prices: 8.9% (2011 est.)
Rank: 195

Central bank discount rate: 6% (31 December 2009 est.)
Rank: 62

Commercial bank prime lending rate: 10.19% (31 December 2011 est.)
Rank: 90

Stock of narrow money: $305.7 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
Rank: 16

Stock of broad money: $1.293 trillion (31 December 2011 est.)
Rank: 15

Stock of domestic credit: $1.249 trillion (31 December 2011 est.)
Rank: 14

Market value of publicly traded shares:
Rank: 9

Current account balance: -$46.91 billion (2011 est.)
Rank: 192

Exports: $305 billion (2011 est.)
Rank: 18
Commodities: petroleum products precious stones machinery iron and steel chemicals vehicles apparel
Partners: UAE 12.7% US 10.8% China 6.2% Singapore 5.3% Hong Kong 4.1% (2011)

Imports: $490 billion (2011 est.)
Rank: 9
Commodities: crude oil precious stones machinery fertilizer iron and steel chemicals
Partners: China 11.9% UAE 7.7% Switzerland 6.8% Saudi Arabia 6.1% US 4.9% (2011)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $297.9 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
Rank: 10

Debt external: $287.5 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
Rank: 30

Stock of direct foreign investment at home: $232.7 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
Rank: 21

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad: $106.3 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
Rank: 28

Exchange rates:


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Electricity
Production: 880 billion kWh (2010 est.)
Production rank: 7
Consumption: 637.6 billion kWh (2009 est.)
Consumption rank: 7
Exports: 519 million kWh (2009 est.)
Exports rank: 62
Imports: 10.53 billion kWh (2009 est.)
Imports rank: 23
Installed generating capacity: 189.3 million kW (2009 est.)
Installed generating capacity rank: 6
Generation sources fossil fuels: 69.9% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)
Generation sources fossil fuels rank: 108
Generation sources nuclear: 2.2% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)
Generation sources nuclear rank: 29
Generation sources hydroelectricity: 20.9% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)
Generation sources hydroelectricity rank: 91
Generation sources other renewable sources: 7% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)
Generation sources other renewable sources rank: 28

Coal

Petroleum
Petroleum total petroleum production: 897,300 bbl/day (2011 est.)
Petroleum total petroleum production rank: 24
Crude oil exports: 0 bbl/day (2009 est.)
Crude oil exports rank: 130
Crude oil imports: 2.768 million bbl/day (2009 est.)
Crude oil imports rank: 5
Crude oil proven reserves: 8.935 billion bbl (1 January 2012 est.)
Crude oil proven reserves rank: 20

Crude oil

Refined petroleum
Products production: 3.226 million bbl/day (2008 est.)
Products production rank: 7
Products consumption: 3.292 million bbl/day (2011 est.)
Products consumption rank: 6
Products exports: 812,100 bbl/day (2008 est.)
Products exports rank: 9
Products imports: 380,900 bbl/day (2008 est.)
Products imports rank: 16

Natural gas
Production: 46.1 billion m³ (2011 est.)
Production rank: 21
Consumption: 61.1 billion m³ (2011 est.)
Consumption rank: 13
Exports: 0 m³ (2011 est.)
Exports rank: 88
Imports: 12.15 billion m³ (2011 est.)
Imports rank: 24
Proven reserves: 1.154 trillion m³ (1 January 2012 est.)
Proven reserves rank: 25

Carbon dioxide emissions
From consumption of energy: 1.696 billion Mt (2010 est.)
From consumption of energy rank: 4

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones
Main lines in use: 32.685 million (2011)
Main lines in use rank: 10
Mobile cellular: 893.862 million (2011)
Mobile cellular rank: 2

Telephone system

Broadcast media: Doordarshan India's public TV network operates about 20 national regional and local services; a large and increasing number of privately-owned TV stations are distributed by cable and satellite service providers; by 2011 more than 100 million homes had access to cable and satellite TV offering more than 700 TV channels; government controls AM radio with All India Radio operating domestic and external networks; news broadcasts via radio are limited to the All India Radio Network; since 2000 privately-owned FM stations have been permitted and their numbers have increased rapidly (2007)

Internet
Country code: .in
Hosts: 6.746 million (2012)
Hosts rank: 17
Users: 61.338 million (2009)
Users rank: 6

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures: 2.5% of GDP (2006)
Rank: 61

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation: 18 years of age for voluntary military service; no conscription; women may join as officers but for noncombat roles only (2011)

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 352 (2012)
Rank: 22

Heliports: 41 (2012)

Pipelines: condensate/gas 2 km; gas 9,596 km; liquid petroleum gas 2,152 km; oil 7,448 km; refined products 10,486 km (2010)

Railways
Rank: 4

Roadways
Rank: 3

Waterways: 14,500 km (5,200 km on major rivers and 485 km on canals suitable for mechanized vessels) (2012)
Rank: 9

Merchant marine
Rank: 29

Ports and terminals: Chennai Jawaharal Nehru Port Kandla Kolkata (Calcutta) Mumbai (Bombay) Sikka Vishakhapatnam


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Disputes international: since China and India launched a security and foreign policy dialogue in 2005 consolidated discussions related to the dispute over most of their rugged militarized boundary regional nuclear proliferation Indian claims that China transferred missiles to Pakistan and other matters continue; Kashmir remains the site of the world's largest and most militarized territorial dispute with portions under the de facto administration of China (Aksai Chin) India (Jammu and Kashmir) and Pakistan (Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas); India and Pakistan resumed bilateral dialogue in February 2011 after a two-year hiatus have maintained the 2003 cease-fire in Kashmir and continue to have disputes over water sharing of the Indus River and its tributaries; UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan has maintained a small group of peacekeepers since 1949; India does not recognize Pakistan's ceding historic Kashmir lands to China in 1964; to defuse tensions and prepare for discussions on a maritime boundary India and Pakistan seek technical resolution of the disputed boundary in Sir Creek estuary at the mouth of the Rann of Kutch in the Arabian Sea; Pakistani maps continue to show its Junagadh claim in Indian Gujarat State; Prime Minister Singh's September 2011 visit to Bangladesh resulted in the signing of a Protocol to the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement between India and Bangladesh which had called for the settlement of longstanding boundary disputes over undemarcated areas and the exchange of territorial enclaves but which had never been implemented; Bangladesh referred its maritime boundary claims with Burma and India to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea; Joint Border Committee with Nepal continues to examine contested boundary sections including the 400 square kilometer dispute over the source of the Kalapani River; India maintains a strict border regime to keep out Maoist insurgents and control illegal cross-border activities from Nepal

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs: world's largest producer of licit opium for the pharmaceutical trade but an undetermined quantity of opium is diverted to illicit international drug markets; transit point for illicit narcotics produced in neighboring countries and throughout Southwest Asia; illicit producer of methaqualone; vulnerable to narcotics money laundering through the hawala system; licit ketamine and precursor production