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Map References : Asia Area: total area: 3,287,590 km2 land area: 2,973,190 km2 comparative area: slightly more than one-third the size of the US Land boundaries : total 14,103 km, 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 territorial sea: 12 nm International disputes: boundaries with Bangladesh and China; status ofKashmir with Pakistan; water-sharing problems with downstream riparians, Bangladesh over theGanges and Pakistan over the Indus Climate: varies from tropical monsoon in south to temperate in north Terrain: upland plain (DeccanPlateau) in south, flat to rolling plain along the Ganges, deserts in west, Himalayas in north Naturalresources: coal (fourth-largest reserves in the world), iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite, titaniumore, chromite, natural gas, diamonds, petroleum, limestone Land use : arable land: 55% permanent crops: 1% meadows and pastures: 4% forest and woodland: 23% other: 17% Irrigated land: 430,390 sq km (1989) Environment: current issues: deforestation; soilerosion; overgrazing; esertification; air pollution from industrial effluents and vehicle emissions;water pollution from raw sewage and runoff of agricultural pesticides; tap water is not potablethroughout the country; huge and rapidly growing population is overstraining natural resources natural hazards: droughts, flash floods, severe thunderstorms common; earthquakes internationalagreements: party to - Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered pecies,Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, ShipPollution, Tropical Timber, Wetlands, Whaling; signed, but not ratified - Antarctic-EnvironmentalProtocol, Desertification, Law of the Sea Note : dominates South Asian subcontinent; near important Indian Ocean trade routes Population : 936,545,814 (July 1995 est.) Age structure: 0-14 years: 35% (female 159,921,309; male 168,812,255) 15-64 years: 61% (female 274,105,407; male 296,145,798) 65 years and over: 4% (female 18,870,762; male 18,690,283) (July 1995 est.) Population growth rate: 1.77% (1995 est.) Birth rate:27.78 births/1,000 population (1995 est.) Death rate: 10.07 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.) Netmigration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.) Infant mortality rate: 76.3 deaths/1,000 livebirths (1995 est.) Life expectancy at birth: total population: 59.04 years male: 58.5 years female:59.61 years (1995 est.) Total fertility rate: 3.4 children born/woman (1995 est.) Nationality : noun:Indian(s) adjective: Indian Ethnic divisions: Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, Mongoloid and other3% Religions: Hindu 80%, Muslim 14%, Christian 2.4%, Sikh 2%, Buddhist 0.7%, Jains 0.5%,other 0.4% Languages : English enjoys associate status but is the most important language fornational, political, and commercial communication, Hindi the national language and primary tongueof 30% of the people, Bengali (official), Telugu (official), Marathi (official), Tamil (official), Urdu(official), Gujarati (official), Malayalam (official), Kannada (official), Oriya (official), Punjabi(official), Assamese (official), Kashmiri (official), Sindhi (official), Sanskrit (official), Hindustani apopular variant of Hindu/Urdu, is spoken widely throughout northern India note: 24 languages eachspoken by a million or more persons; numerous other languages and dialects, for the most partmutually unintelligible Literacy: age 7 and over can read and write (1991) total population: 52%male: 64% female: 39% Labor force: 314.751 million (1990) by occupation: agriculture 65% (1993est.)
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