Government type

Federal Republic

Geography

• Location South Asia bordering the Arabian Sea to the west and the Bay of Bengal to the east. India shares land boundaries with Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, China, Nepal, and Pakistan
• Area 3,287,590 sq km

Population

Total - 1,129,866,154 (July 2007)
Urban population (% of total) - 28.4

Age structure:

• 0-14 years: 34% (male 189,487,322; female 174,123,490)
• 15-59 years:56.9% (male 303,400,561; female 282,238,162)
• 60 years and over: 7.5% (male 37,768,327; female 38,853,994) (2001 census)

Population growth rate: 1.60% (2007 est.)

Birth rate: 22.69 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)

Death rate: 6.58 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 34.61 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:

• total population: 68.59 years (2007)
• male: 66 years (2007)
• female: 71 years (2007 est.)

Ethnic groups: Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, Mongoloid and other 3%

Religions

Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 2%, Buddhist 0.8%, Jains 0.4%, other 0.6%

Languages

English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication. The major official language of the Indian Union is Hindi, which is the primary tongue of 30% of the people. Besides Hindi, other official languages include: Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Sanskrit, and Hindustani (a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India). 700 dialects are also spoken. English has become a sort of "lingua franca" and is the accepted language for business and government.

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 64.8%
male: 75.3%
female: 53.7% (2001census)

Administrative divisions

28 states and 7 union territories*; Andaman and Nicobar Islands*, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh*, Chattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli*, Daman and Diu*, Delhi*, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep*, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Pondicherry*, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Uttaranchal. 

Independence

15 August 1947 (from U.K.)

Legal system

based on English common law; limited judicial review of legislative acts;

Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal

Work week

Monday to Friday. Many offices work half day on Saturday. Government offices are closed on Saturday.

Financial Year

April 1 to March 31

Entry/Exit requirements

A passport and visa are required for entry into India for tourism or business. All visitors must obtain visas at an Indian Embassy or Consulate abroad prior to entering the country. There are no provisions for visas upon arrival, and those arriving in India without visas bearing the correct validity dates and number of entries are subject to deportation.

ECONOMY 2007-08

• GDP (U.S. $ trillion) - 1.16 
• GDP growth rate (percent)- 8.7
• Per capita PPP (U.S. $)- 4,139
• Foreign Exchange Reserves (U.S. $ billion) - 306.49
• Inflation (%) - 5.5
• Unemployment (%) - 7.2
• Average rupee exchange rate to a U.S. $ - 41.487 (2007)
• Agriculture (% of GDP) - 16
• Industry (% of GDP) - 28
• Services, etc., (% of GDP)- 56