| India |
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| Background: The Indus Valley civilization, one of the oldest in the world, dates back at least 5,000 years. Aryan tribes from the northwest infiltrated onto Indian lands about 1500 B.C.; their merger with the earlier Dravidian inhabitants created the classical Indian culture. Arab incursions starting in the 8th century and Turkish in the 12th were followed by those of European traders, beginning in the late 15th century. By the 19th century, Britain had assumed political control of virtually all Indian lands. Indian armed forces in the British army played a vital role in both World Wars. Nonviolent resistance to British colonialism led by Mohandas GANDHI and Jawaharlal NEHRU brought independence in 1947. The subcontinent was divided into the secular state of India and the smaller Muslim state of Pakistan. A third war between the two countries in 1971 resulted in East Pakistan becoming the separate nation of Bangladesh. Despite impressive gains in economic investment and output, India faces pressing problems such as the ongoing dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir, significant overpopulation, environmental degradation, extensive poverty, and ethnic and religious strife. |
| Geography and Environmental |
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) |
| Area Total: 3,287,590 sq km |
| Area Land: 2,973,190 sq km |
| Area Water: 314,400 sq km |
| Area Comparative: slightly more than one-third the size of the US |
| 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 |
| Elevation Extremes 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: 48.83% |
| Land Use Permanent Crops: 2.8% |
| Land Use Other: 48.37% (2005) |
| Irrigated Land: 558,080 sq km (2003) |
| Natural Hazards: droughts; flash floods, as well as widespread and destructive flooding from monsoonal rains; severe thunderstorms; earthquakes |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Population |
| Population: 1,129,866,154 (July 2007 est.) |
| Age Structure 0 to 14 Years: 31.8% (male 188,208,196/female 171,356,024) |
| Age Structure 15 to 64 Years: 63.1% (male 366,977,821/female 346,034,565) |
| Age Structure 65 Years And Over: 5.1% (male 27,258,259/female 30,031,289) (2007 est.) |
| Median Age Total: 24.8 years |
| Median Age Male: 24.5 years |
| Median Age Female: 25.2 years (2007 est.) |
| Population Growth Rate: 1.606% (2007 est.) |
| Birth Rate: 22.69 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
| Death Rate: 6.58 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
| Sex Ratio At Birth: 1.12 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio Under 15 Years: 1.098 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio 15 to 64 Years: 1.061 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio 65 Years And Over: 0.908 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio Total Population: 1.064 male(s)/female (2007 est.) |
| Infant Mortality Rate Total: 34.61 deaths/1,000 live births |
| Infant Mortality Rate Male: 39.42 deaths/1,000 live births |
| Infant Mortality Rate Female: 29.23 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.) |
| Life Expectancy At BirthTotalPopulation: 68.59 years |
| Life Expectancy At Birth Male: 66.28 years |
| Life Expectancy At Birth Female: 71.17 years (2007 est.) |
| Total Fertility Rate: 2.81 children born/woman (2007 est.) |
| HIV AIDS Adult Prevalence Rate: 0.9% (2001 est.) |
| HIV AIDS People Living With HIV AIDS: 5.1 million (2001 est.) |
| HIV AIDS Deaths: 310,000 (2001 est.) |
| Religions: Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% (2001 census) |
| Languages: English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication; Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people; there are 14 other official languages: Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit; Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language |
| Literacy Definition: age 15 and over can read and write |
| Literacy Total Population: 59.5% |
| Literacy Male: 70.2% |
| Literacy Female: 48.3% (2003 est.) |
| 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, Puducherry*, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal |
| Legal System: based on English common law; judicial review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations; separate personal law codes apply to Muslims, Christians, and Hindus |
| Economy |
| Overview: India's diverse economy encompasses traditional village farming, modern agriculture, handicrafts, a wide range of modern industries, and a multitude of services. Services are the major source of economic growth, accounting for more than half of India's output with less than one third of its labor force. About three-fifths of the work force is in agriculture, leading the UPA government to articulate an economic reform program that includes developing basic infrastructure to improve the lives of the rural poor and boost economic performance. The government has reduced controls on foreign trade and investment. Tariffs averaged 12.5% on non-agricultural items in 2006. Higher limits on foreign direct investment were permitted in a few key sectors, such as telecommunications. However, tariff spikes in sensitive categories, including agriculture, and incremental progress on economic reforms still hinder foreign access to India's vast and growing market. Privatization of government-owned industries remained stalled in 2006, and continues to generate political debate; populist pressure from within the UPA government and from its Left Front allies continues to restrain needed initiatives. The economy has posted an average growth rate of more than 7% in the decade since 1996, reducing poverty by about 10 percentage points. India achieved 8.5% GDP growth in 2006, significantly expanding manufacturing. India is capitalizing on its large numbers of well-educated people skilled in the English language to become a major exporter of software services and software workers. Economic expansion has helped New Delhi continue to make progress in reducing its federal fiscal deficit. However, strong growth - more than 8 percent growth in each of the last three years - combined with easy consumer credit and a real estate boom is fueling inflation concerns. The huge and growing population is the fundamental social, economic, and environmental problem. |
| GDP Purchasing Power Parity: $4.042 trillion (2006 est.) |
| GDP Real Growth Rate: 8.5% (2006 est.) |
| GDP Composition By Sector Agriculture: 19.9% |
| GDP Composition By Sector Industry: 19.3% |
| GDP Composition By Sector Services: 60.7% (2005 est.) |
| Labor Force: 509.3 million (2006 est.) |
Labor Force By Occupation: agriculture: 60%
industry: 12%
services: 28% (2003) |
| Unemployment Rate: 7.8% (2006 est.) |
Household Income Or Consumption By Percentage Share: lowest 10%: 3.5%
highest 10%: 33.5% (1997) |
| Inflation Rate Consumer Prices: 5.3% (2006 est.) |
| Industries: textiles, chemicals, food processing, steel, transportation equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery, software |
| Industrial Production Growth Rate: 7.5% (2006 est.) |
| Energy |
| Electricity Production: 630.6 billion kWh (2004) |
| Electricity Production By Source Fossil Fuel: 81.7% |
| Electricity Production By Source Hydro: 14.5% |
| Electricity Production By Source Nuclear: 3.4% |
| Electricity Production By Source Other: 0.3% (2001) |
| Electricity Consumption: 587.9 billion kWh (2004) |
| Electricity Exports: 60 million kWh (2004) |
| Electricity Imports: 1.5 billion kWh (2004) |
| Oil Production: 785,000 bbl/day (2005 est.) |
| Oil Consumption: 2.45 million bbl/day (2004 est.) |
| Oil Proved Reserves: 5.6 billion bbl (2006 est.) |
| Natural Gas Production: 28.2 billion cu m (2004 est.) |
| Natural Gas Consumption: 30.83 billion cu m (2004 est.) |
| Natural Gas Exports: 0 cu m (2004 est.) |
| Natural Gas Imports: 2.63 billion cu m (2004 est.) |
| Natural Gas Proved Reserves: 853.5 billion cu m (1 January 2005 est.) |
| Exports: $112 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
| Exports Commodities: textile goods, gems and jewelry, engineering goods, chemicals, leather manufactures |
| Exports Partners: US 16.7%, UAE 8.5%, China 6.6%, Singapore 5.3%, UK 4.9%, Hong Kong 4.4% (2005) |
| Imports: $187.9 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
| Imports Commodities: crude oil, machinery, gems, fertilizer, chemicals |
| Imports Partners: China 7.3%, US 5.6%, Switzerland 4.7% (2005) |
| Debt External: $132.1 billion (30 June 2006 est.) |
| Economic Aid Recipient: $2.9 billion (FY98/99) |
| Communications |
| Telephones Main Lines In Use: 49.75 million (2005) |
| TelephonesMobileCellular: 69.193 million (2006) |
| Telephone System General Assessment: recent deregulation and liberalization of telecommunications laws and policies have prompted rapid growth; local and long distance service provided throughout all regions of the country, with services primarily concentrated in the urban areas; steady improvement is taking place with the recent admission of private and private-public investors, but telephone density remains low at about 10 for each 100 persons nationwide and only 1 per 100 persons in rural areas; there remains a national waiting list of over 1.7 million; fastest growth is in cellular service with modest growth in fixed lines |
| Telephone System Domestic: expansion of domestic service, although still weak in rural areas, resulted from increased competition and dramatic reductions in price led in large part by wireless service; mobile cellular service (both CDMA and GSM) introduced in 1994 and organized nationwide into four metropolitan cities and 19 telecom circles each with about three private service providers and one state-owned service provider; in recent years significant trunk capacity added in the form of fiber-optic cable and one of the world's largest domestic satellite systems, the Indian National Satellite system (INSAT), with 6 satellites supporting 33,000 very small aperture terminals (VSAT) |
| Telephone System International: country code - 91; satellite earth stations - 8 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) and 1 Inmarsat (Indian Ocean region); 9 gateway exchanges operating from Mumbai (Bombay), New Delhi, Kolkata (Calcutta), Chennai (Madras), Jalandhar, Kanpur, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, and Ernakulam; 6 submarine cables, including Sea-Me-We-3 with landing sites at Cochin and Mumbai (Bombay), Sea-Me-We-4 with landing site at Chennai, Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG) with landing site at Mumbai (Bombay), South Africa - Far East (SAFE) with landing site at Cochin, i2icn linking to Singapore with landing sites at Mumbai (Bombay) and Chennai (Madras), and Tata Indicom linking Singapore and Chennai (Madras), provide a significant increase in the bandwidth available for both voice and data traffic (2006) |
| Radio Broadcast Stations: AM 153, FM 91, shortwave 68 (1998) |
| Radios: 116 million (1997) |
| Television Broadcast Stations: 562 (1997) |
| Televisions: 63 million (1997) |
| Internet Service Providers-ISPs: 43 (2000) |
| Internet Users: 60 million (2005) |
| Transportation |
| Railways Total: 63,230 km |
| Railways Broad Gauge: 45,718 km 1.676-m gauge (16,528 km electrified) |
| Railways Narrow Gauge: 14,406 km 1.000-m gauge (165 km electrified); 3,106 km 0.762-m gauge and 0.610-m gauge (2005) |
Waterways: 14,500 km
note: 5,200 km on major rivers and 485 km on canals suitable for mechanized vessels (2005) |
| Airports: 341 (2006) |
| Military Expenditures Percent Of GDP: 2.5% (2006) |
| 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; various talks and confidence-building measures have cautiously begun to defuse tensions over Kashmir, particularly since the October 2005 earthquake in the region; Kashmir nevertheless 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 have maintained the 2004 cease fire in Kashmir and initiated discussions on defusing the armed stand-off in the Siachen glacier region; Pakistan protests India's fencing the highly militarized Line of Control and construction of the Baglihar Dam on the Chenab River in Jammu and Kashmir, which is part of the larger dispute on water sharing of the Indus River and its tributaries; UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) 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; discussions with Bangladesh remain stalled to delimit a small section of river boundary, to exchange territory for 51 Bangladeshi exclaves in India and 111 Indian exclaves in Bangladesh, to allocate divided villages, and to stop illegal cross-border trade, migration, violence, and transit of terrorists through the porous border; Bangladesh protests India's attempts to fence off high-traffic sections of the border; dispute with Bangladesh over New Moore/South Talpatty/Purbasha Island in the Bay of Bengal deters maritime boundary delimitation; India seeks cooperation from Bhutan and Burma to keep Indian Nagaland and Assam separatists from hiding in remote areas along the borders; 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: refugees (country of origin): 77,200 (Tibet/China), 50,730 (Sri Lanka), 9,700 (Afghanistan)
IDPs: at least 600,000 (about half are Kashmiri Pandits from Jammu and Kashmir) (2006) |
| IllicitDrugs: 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; illicit producer of methaqualone; vulnerable to narcotics money laundering through the hawala system; licit ketamine and precursor production |