India

The Republic of India is a country in South Asia which comprises most of the Indian subcontinent. India has a coastline which stretches over seven thousand kilometres,{{inote|see Indian embassy|i-1}} and shares its borders with Pakistan to the west, the People's Republic of China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, and Bangladesh and Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) on the east. On the Indian Ocean, it is adjacent to the island nations of the Maldives on the southwest, Sri Lanka on the south, and Indonesia on the southeast. India also claims a border with Afghanistan to the northwest.{{mn|afgh|1}}

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of India

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India is the second most populous country in the world, with only China having a larger population. Language, religion, and caste are major determinants of social and political organisation within the highly diverse Indian population today. Its biggest metropolitan agglomerations are Mumbai (formerly Bombay), Delhi, Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) and Chennai (formerly Madras).

Related Topics:
Caste - Metropolitan - Mumbai - Delhi - Kolkata - Chennai

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India's literacy rate is 64.8 % with 53.7 % of females and 75.3 % of males being literate. The sex ratio is 933 females for every 1000 males.{{inote|literacy}} Work Participation Rate (WPR) (the percentage of workers to total population) stands at 39.1 % with male WPR at 51.7 % and female WPR at 25.6 % inote|eu}} India's median age is 24.66 and has a growth rate of 22.32 births per 1,000.{{inote|demostats}}

Related Topics:
Literacy rate - Work Participation Rate

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Although 80.5 % of the people are Hindus, India is also home to the third largest population of Muslims in the world (13.4 % see Islam in India) after Indonesia and Pakistan. Other smaller religious minorities include Christians (2.33 % see Christianity in India), Sikhs (1.84 %), Buddhists (0.76 %), Jains (0.40 %), Ayyavazhi (0.12 %), Jews (see Jews in India), Parsis, Ahmadi, and Bahá'ís.{{inote|religion}}

Related Topics:
Hindus - Third largest - Muslim - Islam in India - Indonesia - Pakistan - Christians - Christianity in India - Sikhs - Buddhists - Jains - Ayyavazhi - Jew - Jews in India - Parsis - Ahmadi - Bahá'ís

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India is home to two major linguistic families, those of the Indo-Aryan and Dravidian-derived languages. The Indian constitution recognises 23 official languages{{ref|languages}}. Hindi along with English are the languages used by the Central Government for official purposes. Two classical languages native to the land are Sanskrit and Tamil. The number of mother tongues in India is as high as 1,652.{{inote|tongues}}

Related Topics:
Linguistic families - Indo-Aryan - Dravidian - Hindi - English - Central Government - Sanskrit - Tamil - Mother tongues

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