KEY FACTS
Joined Commonwealth: 1947
Population: 1,236,687,000 (2012)
GDP p.c. growth: 4.7% p.a. 1990–2012
UN HDI 2012: world ranking 136
Official languages: Hindi, English
Time: GMT plus 5.5hr
Currency: Rupee (Rs)
Geography
Area: 3,287,263 sq km
Coastline: 7,520 km
Capital: New Delhi
The Republic of India, which lies across the Tropic of Cancer, comprises most of the Indian subcontinent. It also includes the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal and the Lakshadweep Islands in the Arabian Sea. Its neighbours are Pakistan, Afghanistan and China to the north, then Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar (formerly Burma). In the south, the Palk Strait separates it from Sri Lanka. India comprises 29 states and seven union territories (including the National Capital Territory of Delhi). Telangana became the 29th state on 2 June 2014.
Main towns:
New Delhi/Delhi (capital, pop. 12.57m in 2010), Mumbai (formerly Bombay, in Maharashtra State, 13.83m), Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore, in Karnataka, 5.44m), Kolkata (formerly Calcutta, in West Bengal, 5.14m), Chennai (formerly Madras, in Tamil Nadu, 4.62m), Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh, 4.07m), Ahmadabad (Gujarat, 3.96m), Pune (Maharashtra, 3.45m), Surat (Gujarat, 3.34m), Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh, 3.22m), Jaipur (Rajasthan, 3.21m), Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh, 2.75m), Nagpur (Maharashtra, 2.45m), Patna (Bihar, 1.88m), Indore (Madhya Pradesh, 1.85m), Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh, 1.79m), Ludhiana (Punjab, 1.74m), Faridabad (Haryana, 1.52m) and Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir, 1.08m).
Society
KEY FACTS 2012
Population per sq km: 376
Life expectancy: 66 years
Net primary enrolment: 93% (2011)
Population:
1,236,687,000 (2012); world’s second-largest, after China; 32 per cent of people live in urban areas and 13 per cent in urban agglomerations of more than one million people; some 56 per cent of all Commonwealth people, and 18 per cent of all people live in India; growth 1.6 per cent p.a. 1990–2012; birth rate 21 per 1,000 people (38 in 1970); life expectancy 66 years (29 in 1947 and 49 in 1970). By the late 1990s, 48 per cent of married women were using contraceptive methods. The population of India is extremely diverse, comprising almost entirely peoples who have migrated from other parts of the world over previous millennia. Dravidian peoples, who came to India from the Mediterranean region some 5,000 years ago, now constitute about 25 per cent of the population and live predominantly in the southern states of India. Indo-Aryans, who account for more than 70 per cent of the population, came from Northern Europe 3,500–4,000 years ago. Later migrations included peoples from Central Asia and China.
Language:
The main official languages are Hindi (spoken by 30 per cent of the population), and English (as laid down in the Constitution and Official Languages Act of 1963), but there are also 17 official regional languages, and many other languages. Language has been a major constitutional issue; the states have now been demarcated according to the main language of their populations. Other widely used languages include Urdu (spoken by most Muslims) and (in the north) Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Oriya, Punjabi; (in the south) Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam.
Education:
Public spending on education was three per cent of GDP in 2011. There are nine years of compulsory education starting at the age of six. Primary school comprises five years and secondary seven, with cycles of three and four years. The school year starts in April. There are some 44 ‘central’ universities, under the Department of Higher Education of the Ministry of Human Resource Development; 285 state universities, under the state governments, the three oldest of which – the Universities of Calcutta, Madras and Mumbai – date back to 1857; more than 130 higher education institutions recognised and granted autonomous status by the Department of Higher Education; and 112 private universities (2012). The female–male ratio for gross enrolment in tertiary education is 0.70:1 (2010). Literacy among people aged 15–24 is 81 per cent (2006). India hosted the Second Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers in 1962. Commonwealth Education Ministers meet every three years to discuss issues of mutual concern and interest.
