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India: The Nation At a Glance


India launches a powerful GSLV rocket toward space.
India launches a powerful GSLV rocket toward space
What today is known as the Republic of India is an ancient nation. In fact, civilization in the Indus Valley dates back more than 5,000 years. Contemporary India has 28 states and 7 union territories.

Over recent decades, India has made great economic gains, but still suffers under massive overpopulation, environmental degradation, extensive poverty, and ethnic strife. India also suffers natural hazards including droughts, flash floods, severe thunderstorms and earthquakes.

Location: In southern Asia, India is between Burma and Pakistan and is bordered the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal.

The nations bordering India are Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, China, Nepal and Pakistan.

India's land mass is slightly more than one-third the size of the United States, yet its population is more than four times as great as the U.S.

The land ranges from deserts in the west, upland plain in the south, flat rolling plains along the Ganges Riverand Himalaya Mountains in north.

Climate: The weather in India varies from tropical monsoons in the south to a temperate climate in the north.

Highest and lowest: The lowest point in India is sea level at the Indian Ocean and the highest point is the Kanchenjunga Mountain at 28,209 feet.

Natural resources: In addition to arable land, India has the fourth-largest reserves of coal in the world, as well as bauxite, chromite, diamonds, iron ore, limestone, manganese, mica, natural gas, petroleum, titanium ore.

Population: In 2001, the population was estimated to be 1,029,991,145. Life expectancy at birth is 62.86 years.

The nation has 24 languages each spoken by a million or more persons. There also are numerous other mutually unintelligible languages and dialects.

The national language, Hindi, is spoken by about 30 percent of the people. Other languages include Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindustani, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.

Some of the religions are Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jain, Muslim, Parsi and Sikh.

India's ethnic groups include Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Mongoloid and others.

India in Space     Indian Space History     Indian Rockets     Indian Satellites     Indian Moon Flights     Indian Astronomy     The Nation at a Glance

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