India Country Overview
Where is India located? The state of India is located in South Asia and is made up of 28 states. With its 1.2 billion inhabitants, it is seen as one of the most populous countries in the world. The world time zone map divides countries into world time zones. The time difference between the respective country and the official world time (also called UTC) determines which time zone a country is assigned to. India is in a zone that is 5:30 hours off the world clock. So it is 5:30 hours later on Indian clocks. There is a difference of 4:30 hours to Central European Time.
Bordering Countries of India
According to abbreviationfinder, India is located in South Asia, bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Indian Ocean to its south. It is also flanked by six countries: Pakistan to the northwest; China, Nepal and Bhutan to its north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar (Burma) to its east. India has a total land boundary of 15,106 km which includes 7,616 km with Pakistan, 3,380 km with China (including Aksai Chin), 1,596 km with Nepal, 605 km with Bhutan, 4,096 km with Bangladesh and 1,463 km with Myanmar.
India shares a long maritime border with Sri Lanka in its southernmost point which is formed by a line drawn between India’s Pamban Island and Sri Lanka’s Mannar Island. The two countries have had a close relationship since ancient times when traders from both sides exchanged goods in coastal areas. India has since provided Sri Lanka with economic aid as well as military support in times of need.
To India’s east lies Bangladesh which borders it on three sides; these borders are formed by rivers such as the Brahmaputra River in Assam state and the Padma River further south. The two countries share a long history that dates back centuries when they were part of British India during colonial rule. They also share strong economic ties today through trade agreements such as those related to energy resources like gas pipelines.
India also shares borders with Afghanistan on its extreme northwest corner; this border is formed by a line drawn between Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor and Kashmir state in India. Despite having rocky relations at times due to territorial disputes over Kashmir state, both countries have been working together for decades now on issues such as counter-terrorism operations and improving cross-border trade links through the opening of new land ports like Attari-Wagah Border Crossing near Amritsar city in Punjab state.
Population Distribution
As of 2023, the latest population of India is 1,326,093,247, based on our calculation of the current data from UN (United Nations).
| Total population | 1,326,093,247 |
| Population growth rate | 1.10% |
| Birth rate | 19.00 births per 1,000 people |
| Life expectancy | |
| Overall life expectancy | 67.48 years |
| Men life expectancy | 66.38 years |
| Women life expectancy | 68.70 years |
| Age structure | |
| 0-14 years | 26.98% |
| 15-64 years | 66.63% |
| 65 years and above | 6.39% |
| Median age | 27.30 years |
| Gender ratio (Male to Female) | 1.08 |
| Population density | 403.40 residents per km² |
| Urbanization | 28.30% |
| Ethnicities | |
| almost exclusively Indians; Minorities of Tibetans, Chinese, Europeans | |
| Religions | |
| Hindus 81.3%; Muslims 12%; Christians 2.3%; Sikhs 1.9%, others including Buddhists, Jain; Parsi 2.5% | |
| Human Development Index (HDI) | 0.647 |
| HDI ranking | 129th out of 194 |
People in India
The greatest democracy in the world
After China, India is home to the most people on earth and the population is growing steadily. The latest estimates are 1.4 billion, so we don’t know for sure. India is also one of the largest countries in the world. Since so many people live here and India is also a democracy, it can be said that India is also the largest democratic state on earth. The politicians in India are democratically elected in elections. But a democracy does not guarantee wealth and so many more poor people live in India than in Germany or Europe. About half of the Indians have less than one euro a day and they somehow have to live on it.
Multi-ethnic state
India is a multiethnic state, a state that has developed from two indigenous peoples. Two thirds of the population are the so-called Indo – Aryans who immigrated to India a long time ago. A quarter of the Indians belong to the Dravids who live in the south and speak their own language. The Tamils also belong to this ethnic group.
People of India
So in India you can also find people with different skin colors. So there are different types of people, depending on where they came from at some point. In the south, the Indians are much darker-skinned than in the north. Here you can also find blond and fair-skinned people.
Huge poverty
In India there are huge differences between rich and poor people. While a very small part is very rich, most of the people live in very great poverty.
Languages in India
There are 120 languages in India and even if you were to learn one of these languages, it would only be spoken in the area where that same language is the main language. One village further, nobody understands you anymore and you would have to learn a new language. And even if you tried sign language, you can quickly get astray. Because our nod of the head means “no” in India and shaking our head means “yes”. You can imagine that there can be some misunderstandings between locals and visitors from another cultural area. In the big cities, however, many people also speak English.
Religions in India
Most of the Indians are Hindus, over 80 percent. This is followed by Muslims with 13.4 percent, Christians with 2.3 percent and 1.9 percent Sikhs, 0.8 percent Buddhists and 0.4 percent Jainists. Hinduism is more than a religion. The term means “unity in diversity”.
Hinduism is not a religion like Islam or Christianity, but there are many different religions within Hinduism. Hindus do not want to convince other people of their faith, as the Christians or the Muslims often try. Hinduism is a much more tolerant religion.
An important gesture of greeting is to put your hands together over your heart and bow your head slightly. One says Namasté, which means something like “I respect and respect you”. This is also a basic rule of this religion, to which most of the Indians belong.
Non-violence also characterizes the religion of Jainism, which spread in India in the 6th century AD. That was about the same time as Buddhism. A century later, Islam came to India, a religion that was of great importance to India for many centuries. In the 15th century the Sikh religion spread in India and a little later also Christianity. To this day Christians can live freely in India. But the Jews also found a friendly welcome in India. India is a very tolerant and open-minded country towards its various religions.