Map of India | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024 | 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 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.


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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: Asia

Area
Total: 3,287,263 km²
Land: 2,973,193 km²
Water: 314,070 km²
Comparative: slightly more than one-third the size of the US

Land boundaries
Total: 13,888 km
Border countries: (6) Bangladesh 4,142 km; Bhutan 659 km; Burma 1,468 km; China 2,659 km; Nepal 1,770 km; Pakistan 3,190 km

Coastline: 7,000 km

Maritime claims
Territorial sea: 12 nm
Contiguous zone: 24 nm
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin

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
Highest point: Kanchenjunga 8,586 m
Lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
Mean elevation: 160 m

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

Land use
Agricultural land: 60.5% (2018 est.)
Agricultural land arable land: 52.8% (2018 est.)
Agricultural land permanent crops: 4.2% (2018 est.)
Agricultural land permanent pasture: 3.5% (2018 est.)
Forest: 23.1% (2018 est.)
Other: 16.4% (2018 est.)

Irrigated land: 715,539 km² (2020)

Major rivers
By length in km:

Major watersheds area km²: Indian Ocean drainage: Brahmaputra (651,335 km²), Ganges (1,016,124 km²), Indus (1,081,718 km²), Irrawaddy (413,710 km²)

Total water withdrawal
Municipal: 56 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)
Industrial: 17 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)
Agricultural: 688 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

Total renewable water resources: 1.91 trillion cubic meters (2019 est.)

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
Distribution: with the notable exception of the deserts in the northwest, including the Thar Desert, and the mountain fringe in the north, a very high population density exists throughout most of the country; the core of the population is in the north along the banks of the Ganges, with other river valleys and southern coastal areas also having large population concentrations: 1,399,179,585 (2023 est.)
Growth rate: 0.7% (2023 est.)
Below poverty line: 21.9% (2011 est.)

Nationality
Noun: Indian(s)
Adjective: Indian

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

Languages: Hindi 43.6%, Bengali 8%, Marathi 6.9%, Telugu 6.7%, Tamil 5.7%, Gujarati 4.6%, Urdu 4.2%, Kannada 3.6%, Odia 3.1%, Malayalam 2.9%, Punjabi 2.7%, Assamese 1.3%, Maithili 1.1%, other 5.6%; note - English enjoys the status of subsidiary official language but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication; there are 22 other officially recognized languages: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu; Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language (2011 est.)
Major-language samples: विश्व फ़ैक्टबुक, आधारभूत जानकारी का एक अनिवार्य स्रोत (Hindi)

Religions: Hindu 79.8%, Muslim 14.2%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.7%, other and unspecified 2% (2011 est.)

Demographic profile

Age structure
0-14 years: 24.77% (male 182,143,540/female 164,492,120)
15-64 years: 68.42% (male 494,814,550/female 462,533,456)
65 years and over: 6.8% (2023 est.) (male 43,860,101/female 51,335,818)

Dependency ratios
Total dependency ratio: 48.1
Youth dependency ratio: 38.1
Elderly dependency ratio: 10.1
Potential support ratio: 9.9 (2021 est.)

Median age
Total: 29.5 years (2023 est.)
Male: 28.8 years
Female: 30.2 years

Population growth rate: 0.7% (2023 est.)

Birth rate: 16.5 births/1,000 population (2023 est.)

Death rate: 9.7 deaths/1,000 population (2023 est.)

Net migration rate: 0.1 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2023 est.)

Population distribution: with the notable exception of the deserts in the northwest, including the Thar Desert, and the mountain fringe in the north, a very high population density exists throughout most of the country; the core of the population is in the north along the banks of the Ganges, with other river valleys and southern coastal areas also having large population concentrations

Urbanization
Urban population: 36.4% of total population (2023)
Rate of urbanization: 2.33% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Major urban areas
Population: 32.941 million NEW DELHI (capital), 21.297 million Mumbai, 15.333 million Kolkata, 13.608 million Bangalore, 11.776 million Chennai, 10.801 million Hyderabad (2023)

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; preservation and quality of forests; biodiversity loss
International agreements party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protection, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands, Whaling
International agreements signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Air pollutants
Particulate matter emissions: 50.17 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)
Carbon dioxide emissions: 2,407.67 megatons (2016 est.)
Methane emissions: 559.11 megatons (2020 est.)

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.1 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.11 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.07 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.85 male(s)/female
Total population: 1.06 male(s)/female (2023 est.)

Mothers mean age at first birth: 21.2 years (2019/21)
Note: data represents median age at first birth among women 25-49

Maternal mortality ratio: 103 deaths/100,000 live births (2020 est.)

Infant mortality rate
Total: 30.4 deaths/1,000 live births (2023 est.)
Male: 30 deaths/1,000 live births
Female: 30.8 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 67.7 years (2023 est.)
Male: 66 years
Female: 69.6 years

Total fertility rate: 2.07 children born/woman (2023 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate: 66.7% (2019/20)

Drinking water source
Improved urban: 96.9% of population
Improved rural: 94.7% of population
Improved total: 95.5% of population
Unimproved urban: 3.1% of population
Unimproved rural: 5.3% of population
Unimproved total: 4.5% of population (2020 est.)

Current health expenditure: 3% of GDP (2020)

Physicians density: 0.74 physicians/1,000 population (2020)

Hospital bed density: 0.5 beds/1,000 population (2017)

Sanitation facility access
Improved urban:
Unimproved urban:

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases
Degree of risk: very high (2023)
Food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever
Vectorborne diseases: dengue fever, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, Japanese encephalitis, and malaria
Water contact diseases: leptospirosis
Animal contact diseases: rabies

Obesity adult prevalence rate: 3.9% (2016)

Alcohol consumption
Per capita total: 3.09 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
Per capita beer: 0.23 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
Per capita wine: 0 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
Per capita spirits: 2.85 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
Per capita other alcohols: 0 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)

Tobacco use
Total: 27.2% (2020 est.)
Male: 41.3% (2020 est.)
Female: 13% (2020 est.)

Children under the age of 5 years underweight: 31.5% (2019/21)

Education expenditures: 4.5% of GDP (2020 est.)

Literacy
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
Total population: 74.4%
Male: 82.4%
Female: 65.8% (2018)

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education
Total: 12 years
Male: 12 years
Female: 12 years (2020)

Youth unemployment
Rate ages 15 24 total: 28.3% (2021 est.)
Rate ages 15 24 male: 28.6%
Rate ages 15 24 female: 26.7%


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Country name
Conventional long form: Republic of India
Conventional short form: India
Local long form: Republic of India (English)/ Bharatiya Ganarajya (Hindi)
Local short form: India (English)/ Bharat (Hindi)
Etymology: the English name derives from the Indus River; the Indian name "Bharat" may derive from the "Bharatas" tribe mentioned in the Vedas of the second millennium B.C.; the name is also associated with Emperor Bharata, the legendary conqueror of all of India

Government type: federal parliamentary republic

Capital
Name: New Delhi
Geographic coordinates: 28 36 N, 77 12 E
Time difference: UTC+5.5 (10.5 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
Etymology: the city's name is associated with various myths and legends; the original name for the city may have been Dhilli or Dhillika; alternatively, the name could be a corruption of the Hindustani words "dehleez" or "dehali" - both terms meaning "threshold" or "gateway" - and indicative of the city as a gateway to the Gangetic Plain; after the British decided to move the capital of their Indian Empire from Calcutta to Delhi in 1911, they created a new governmental district south of the latter designated as New Delhi; the new capital was not formally inaugurated until 1931

Administrative divisions: 28 states and 8 union territories*; Andaman and Nicobar Islands*, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh*, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu*, Delhi*, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir*, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Ladakh*, Lakshadweep*, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Puducherry*, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal
Note: although its status is that of a union territory, the official name of Delhi is National Capital Territory of Delhi

Dependent areas

Independence: 15 August 1947 (from the UK)

National holiday: Republic Day, 26 January (1950)

Constitution
History: previous 1935 (preindependence); latest draft completed 4 November 1949, adopted 26 November 1949, effective 26 January 1950
Amendments: proposed by either the Council of States or the House of the People; passage requires majority participation of the total membership in each house and at least two-thirds majority of voting members of each house, followed by assent of the president of India; proposed amendments to the constitutional amendment procedures also must be ratified by at least one half of the India state legislatures before presidential assent; amended many times, last in 2020

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
Citizenship by birth: no
Citizenship by descent only: at least one parent must be a citizen of India
Dual citizenship recognized: no
Residency requirement for naturalization: 5 years

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch
Chief of state: President Droupadi MURMU (since 25 July 2022); Vice President Jagdeep DHANKHAR (since 11 August 2022)
Head of government: Prime Minister Narendra MODI (since 26 May 2014)
Cabinet: Union Council of Ministers recommended by the prime minister, appointed by the president
Elections/appointments: president indirectly elected by an electoral college consisting of elected members of both houses of Parliament for a 5-year term (no term limits); election last held on 18 July 2022 (next to be held in July 2,027); vice president indirectly elected by an electoral college consisting of elected members of both houses of Parliament for a 5-year term (no term limits); election last held on 5 August 2022 (next to be held in August 2,027); following legislative elections, the prime minister is elected by Lok Sabha members of the majority party
Election results:

Legislative branch
Description:
Elections:
Election results:
Note: in late September 2023, both the Council of States and the House of the People passed a bill that reserves one-third of the House seats for women; implementation could begin for the House election in 2,029

Judicial branch
Highest courts: Supreme Court (consists of 28 judges, including the chief justice)
Judge selection and term of office: justices appointed by the president to serve until age 65
Subordinate courts: High Courts; District Courts; Labour Court
Note: in mid-2011, India’s Cabinet approved the "National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reform" to eliminate judicial corruption and reduce the backlog of cases

Political parties and leaders:
Note: India has dozens of national and regional political parties

International organization participation: ADB, AfDB (nonregional member), Arctic Council (observer), ARF, ASEAN (dialogue partner), BIMSTEC, BIS, BRICS, C, CD, CERN (observer), CICA, CP, EAS, FAO, FATF, G-15, G-20, G-24, G-5, 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, MINURSO, MONUSCO, NAM, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, Pacific Alliance (observer), PCA, PIF (partner), Quad, SAARC, SACEP, SCO (observer), UN, UNCTAD, UNDOF, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNHRC, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNISFA, UNITAR, UNMISS, UNOCI, UNSOM, UNWTO, UPU, Wassenaar Arrangement, WCO, WFTU (NGOs), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador [link]

$9.279 trillion (2021 est.)
$8.538 trillion (2020 est.)
$9.14 trillion (2019 est.)

8.68% (2021 est.)
-6.6% (2020 est.)
3.74% (2019 est.)

$6,600 (2021 est.)
$6,100 (2020 est.)
$6,600 (2019 est.)

5.98% (2021 est.)
8% (2020 est.)
5.27% (2019 est.)

46.52% of GDP (2018 est.)
47.58% of GDP (2017 est.)
47.63% of GDP (2016 est.)

5.13% (2021 est.)
6.62% (2020 est.)
3.73% (2019 est.)

-$33.422 billion (2021 est.)
$32.73 billion (2020 est.)
-$29.763 billion (2019 est.)

$643.08 billion (2021 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
$484.691 billion (2020 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
$546.033 billion (2019 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

$717.119 billion (2021 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
$493.033 billion (2020 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
$619.485 billion (2019 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

$638.485 billion (31 December 2021 est.)
$590.227 billion (31 December 2020 est.)
$463.47 billion (31 December 2019 est.)

$555.388 billion (2019 est.)
$518.34 billion (2018 est.)

Indian rupees (INR) per US dollar - 73.918 (2021 est.)
74.1 (2020 est.)
70.42 (2019 est.)
68.389 (2018 est.)
65.122 (2017 est.)

2% of GDP (2023 est.)
2.1% of GDP (2022 est.)
2.2% of GDP (2021 est.)
2.5% of GDP (2020 est.)
2.4% of GDP (2019 est.)

Indian Armed Forces: Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard; Defense Security Corps

Ministry of Home Affairs: Central Armed Police Forces (includes Assam Rifles, Border Security Force, Central Industrial Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, National Security Guards, Sashastra Seema Bal) (2023)