India Resource Page

India - Basic Facts

photo courtesy of Doug Mann at Photo Mann

Geography

People

Government

Economy

Geography

Area:

total: 3,287,590 sq km
land: 2,973,190 sq km
water: 314,400 sq km

Area - comparative: slightly more than one-third the size of the US
Land boundaries: total: 14,103 km
border countries: Bangladesh 4,053 km, Bhutan 605 km, Burma 1,463 km, China 3,380 km, Nepal 1,690 km, Pakistan 2,912 km
Coastline: 7,000 km
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 extremes:

lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: Kanchenjunga 8,598 m

Natural resources:

coal (fourth-largest reserves in the world),
iron ore,
manganese,
mica,
bauxite,
titanium ore,
chromite,
natural gas,
diamonds,
petroleum,
limestone,
arable land

Land use:

arable land: 54%
permanent crops: 3%
other: 43% (1998 est.)

Irrigated land: 590,000 sq km (1998 est.)

People

Population: 1,045,845,226 (July 2002 est.)
Age structure:

0-14 years: 32.7% (male 175,858,386; female 165,724,901)
15-64 years: 62.6% (male 338,957,463; female 316,063,497)
65 years and over: 4.7% (male 24,975,465; female 24,265,514) (2002 est.)
Population growth rate: 1.51% (2002 est.)

Birth rate: 23.79 births/1,000 population (2002 est.)
Death rate: 8.62 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.)
Net migration rate: -0.07 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.)
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
total population: 1.07 male(s)/female (2002 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 61.47 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.)
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 63.23 years

female: 63.93 years (2002 est.)
male: 62.55 years

Nationality: noun: Indian(s) adjective: Indian
Ethnic groups:

Indo-Aryan 72%,
Dravidian 25%,
Mongoloid and other 3% (2000)

Religions:

Hindu 81.3%,
Muslim 12%,
Christian 2.3%,
Sikh 1.9%,
other groups including Buddhist, Jain, Parsi 2.5% (2000)

Languages:

English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication;
Hindu is the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people;

Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language

there are 14 other official languages:

Bengali,
Telugu,
Marathi,
Tamil,
Urdu,
Gujarati,
Malayalam,
Kannada,
Oriya,
Punjabi,
Assamese,
Kashmiri,
Sindhi,
Sanskrit;

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 52%
male: 65.5%
female: 37.7% (1995 est.)

Government

Type: federal republic
Capital: New Delhi
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, Orissa, Pondicherry*, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal
Independence: 15 August 1947 (from UK)
National holiday: Republic Day, 26 January (1950)
Constitution: 26 January 1950
Legal system: based on English common law; limited judicial review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch: chief of state: President Abdul KALAM (since 26 July 2002); Vice President (vacant)

elections: president elected by an electoral college consisting of elected members of both houses of Parliament and the legislatures of the states for a five-year term; election last held NA July 2002 (next to be held NA July 2007);

vice president elected by both houses of Parliament for a five-year term; election last held 16 August 1997 (next to be held NA August 2002); prime minister elected by parliamentary members of the majority party following legislative elections; election last held NA October 1999 (next to be held NA October 2004)

head of government: Prime Minister Atal Bihari VAJPAYEE (since 19 March 1998)

cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister

Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament or Sansad consists of the Council of States or Rajya Sabha (a body consisting of not more than 250 members, 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 elected by popular vote, 2 appointed by the president; members serve five-year terms)

Judicial branch:

Supreme Court (judges are appointed by the president and remain in office until they reach the age of 65)

Political parties and leaders:

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or AIADMK [C. Jayalalitha JAYARAM];
All India Forward Bloc or AIFB, [D. BISWAS (general secretary)];
Asom Gana Parishad [Brindaban GOSWAMI];
Bahujan Samaj Party or BSP [MAYAWATI];
Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP [Jana KRISNAMURTHY];
Biju Janata Dal or BJD [Naveen PATNAIK]; Communist Party of India or CPI [Ardhendu Bhushan BARDHAN];
Communist Party of India/Marxist-Leninist or CPI/ML [Dipankar BHATTACHARYA];
Congress (I) Party [Sonia GANDHI]; Dravida Munnetra Kazagham or DMK (a regional party in Tamil Nadu) [M. KARUNANIDHI];
Indian National League [Suliaman SAITH];
Janata Dal (Secular) [H. D. Deve GOWDA];
Janata Dal (United) or JDU [Sharad YADAV];
Kerala Congress (Mani faction) [K. M. MANI];
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or MDMK [VAIKO];
Muslim League [G. M. BANATWALA];
Nationalist Congress Party or NCP [Sharad PAWAR];
Rashtriya Janata Dal or RJD [Laloo Prasad YADAV];
Revolutionary Socialist Party or RSP [Abani ROY];
Samajwadi Party or SP [Mulayam Singh YADAV];
Shiromani Akali Dal [G. S. TOHRA];
Shiv Sena [Bal THACKERAY];
Tamil Maanila Congress [G. K. VASAN];
Telugu Desam Party or TDP [Chandrababu NAIDU];
Trinamool Congress [Mamata BANERJEE]

Economy

Overview:

India's economy encompasses traditional village farming, modern agriculture, handicrafts, a wide range of modern industries, and a multitude of support services. About a quarter of the population is too poor to be able to afford an adequate diet. India's international payments position remained strong in 2001 with adequate foreign exchange reserves, and moderately depreciating nominal exchange rates. Growth in manufacturing output has slowed, and electricity shortages continue in many regions. India has large numbers of well-educated people skilled in English language; India is a major exporter of software services and software workers.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $2.5 trillion (2001 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 5% (2001 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $2,500 (2001 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:

agriculture: 25%
industry: 26%
services: 49% (2001)

Population below poverty line: 25% (2001 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:

lowest 10%: 3.5%
highest 10%: 33.5% (1997)
Distribution of family income - Gini index: 37.8 (1997)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 3.5% (2000 est.)
Labor force: 406 million (1999)

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 60%, services 23%, industry 17% (1999)

Unemployment rate: 4.4% (1999)

Industries: textiles, chemicals, food processing, steel, transportation equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery, software
Agriculture - products: rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, potatoes; cattle, water buffalo, sheep, goats, poultry; fish
Exports: $44.5 billion (f.o.b., 2001)
Exports - commodities: textile goods, gems and jewelry, engineering goods, chemicals, leather manufactures
Exports - partners: US 22.8%, Hong Kong 5.8%, Japan 5.3%, UK 5.3%, Germany 4.6% (2000)
Imports: $53.8 billion (f.o.b., 2001)
Imports - commodities: crude oil, machinery, gems, fertilizer, chemicals
Currency: Indian rupee (INR)
Exchange rates: Indian rupees per US dollar - 48.336 (January 2002)
Fiscal year: 1 April - 31 March

information from the CIA Worldfact Book online at http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/in.html