People-India

Population:
1,147,995,898 (July 2008 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 31.5% (male 189,238,487/female 172,168,306) 15-64 years: 63.3% (male 374,157,581/female 352,868,003) 65 years and over: 5.2% (male 28,285,796/female 31,277,725) (2008 est.)
Median age:
Total: 25.1 years male: 24.7 years female: 25.5 years (2008 est.)
Population growth rate:
1.578% (2008 est.)
Birth rate:
22.22 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Death rate:
6.4 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Net migration rate:
-0.05 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Sex ratio:
At birth: 1.12 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.1 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.06 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.9 male(s)/female total population: 1.06 male(s)/female (2008 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
Total: 32.31 deaths/1,000 live births male: 36.94 deaths/1,000 live births female: 27.12 deaths/1,000 live births (2008 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
Total population: 69.25 years male: 66.87 years female: 71.9 years (2008 est.)
Total fertility rate:
2.76 children born/woman (2008 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.)
Major infectious diseases:
Degree of risk:

High food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever vectorborne diseases: chikungunya, dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis, and malaria animal contact disease: rabies note: highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza has been identified in this country; it poses a negligible risk with extremely rare cases possible among US citizens who have close contact with birds (2008)
Nationality:
noun: Indian(s) adjective: Indian
Ethnic groups:
Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, Mongoloid and other 3% (2000)
Religions:
Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% (2001 census)
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% note: 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 41% 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 (2001 census)
Literacy:
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 61% male: 73.4% female: 47.8% (2001 census)
School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education):
Total: 10 years male: 11 years female: 9 years (2005)
Education expenditures - percent of GDP:
3.2% (2005)

Geography of India

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 references:
Asia
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
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 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: 48.83% permanent crops: 2.8% other: 48.37% (2005)
Irrigated land:
558,080 sq km (2003)
Total renewable water resources:
1,907.8 cu km (1999)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):
total: 645.84 cu km/yr (8%/5%/86%) per capita: 585 cu m/yr (2000)
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
Environment - international agreements:

Party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
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