Geographical Location

India is crowned by the great Himalayas in the northern end and surrounded by huge oceans on
the other three sides. While the Arabian Sea borders the south west side, the south east is lulled by
the Bay of Bengal and the southern tip, and Kanya Kumari (Cape Cameron) is washed by the
waves of the Indian Ocean. However such natural barriers like mountains and the sea never
presented any encumberance in India's interaction with the rest of the world.

India lies to the north of the equator between 8.4 and 37.6 degrees north latitude and 68.7 and
97.25 degrees east longitude. This also means that India's standard time is 5.30 Hrs ahead of the
Greenwitch mean time. India measures 3214 kms from north to south and 2933 kms from east to
west. It has a land frontier of 15,200 kms and a coastline of 7516.5 kms.

India shares its political borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan on the west, Bangladesh and
Burma in the east, Nepal, China, Tibet and Bhutan in the north.

As we are talking about the India’s variety of terrain, it is unmatched by any single country in this
world and can be only compared with the unpredictable weather here. Starting from the high-
altitude plains of Ladakh to the sweltering heat at the sand dunes of the Thar, the Great Indian
Desert, where camels plod in these widest of wide open spaces. We have the Andaman’s tropical
rain forests which are so dense, so impregnable that you couldn’t even be able to see the front of
your nose!.

And we have the clear blue coral lagoons in the beautiful seas of Lakshdweep. India proudly boasts
of having the world’s highest mountain range, the Himalayas and the ideal places to laze on the
golden beaches stretched along the 7,516.5 km coastline. On the east side, we have cruises through
the bayous and creeks hemmed in by silent mangrove swamps where the Royal Bengal Tiger
prowls. Then there are the jade-green backwaters of the South and the coffee covered slopes of the
Shevaroy mountains

Population
The current population of India is 1,362,895,976 as of Thursday, February 7, 2019, based on the
latest United Nations estimates. India population is equivalent to 17.74% of the total world
population.

India ranks number 2 in the list of countries (and dependencies) by population. The population
density in India is 460 per Km2 (1,192 people per mi2). The total land area is 2,973,190 Km2
(1,147,955 sq. miles)

33.6 % of the population is urban (460,249,853 people in 2019) The median age in India is 27.0
year
Year Population Yearly Median Fertility Density Urban Country's India
% Age Rate (P/Km²) Pop Share of Global
Change % World Rank
Pop
2019 1,368,737,513 1.08 % 27.0 2.41 460 33.6 17.74 % 2
%
2018 1,354,051,854 1.11 % 27.0 2.41 455 33.2 17.74 % 2
%
2017 1,339,180,127 1.13 % 27.0 2.41 450 32.8 17.74 % 2
%
2016 1,324,171,354 1.15 % 27.0 2.41 445 32.5 17.73 % 2
%
2015 1,309,053,980 1.24 % 26.7 2.44 440 32.1 17.73 % 2
%
2010 1,230,980,691 1.47 % 25.1 2.80 414 30.3 17.69 % 2
%
2005 1,144,118,674 1.67 % 23.8 3.14 385 28.8 17.49 % 2
%
2000 1,053,050,912 1.86 % 22.7 3.48 354 27.4 17.14 % 2
%
1995 960,482,795 2.00 % 21.8 3.83 323 26.5 16.70 % 2
%
1990 870,133,480 2.17 % 21.1 4.27 293 25.5 16.32 % 2
%
1985 781,666,671 2.33 % 20.6 4.68 263 24.4 16.04 % 2
%
1980 696,783,517 2.32 % 20.2 4.97 234 23.2 15.63 % 2
%
1975 621,301,720 2.34 % 19.8 5.41 209 21.4 15.23 % 2
%
1970 553,578,513 2.15 % 19.4 5.72 186 19.8 14.96 % 2
%
1965 497,702,365 2.06 % 20.8 5.90 167 18.8 14.90 % 2
%
1960 449,480,608 1.89 % 20.3 5.90 151 17.9 14.82 % 2
%
1955 409,269,055 1.69 % 20.8 5.90 138 17.6 14.76 % 2
%
http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/india-population/

Major religion followed

The most dominant religion in India today is Hinduism. About 80% of Indians are Hindus.
Hinduism is a colorful religion with a vast gallery of Gods and Goddesses. Hinduism is one of the
ancient religions in the world. It is supposed to have developed about 5000 years ago. Later on in
ancient period other religions developed in India.

Around 500 BC two other religions developed in India, namely, Buddhism and Jainism. Today
only about 0.5% of Indians are Jains and about 0.7% are Buddhist. In ancient times Jainism and
specially Buddhism were very popular in India. Indians who accepted Buddhist philosophy spread
it not only within the Indian sub-continent but also to kingdoms east and south of India.

These three ancient religions, Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, are seen as the molders of the
India philosophy. In 'modern' period new religions were also established in India.

One comparatively new religion in India is Sikhism and it was established in the 15th century.
About 2% of Indians are Sikhs. There were other attempts to create new religions in India but they
did not always succeed. For example, a Moghul emperor, Akbar, who reigned between 1556 -
1605, tried to establish a new religion, Din- E- Elahi, but it did not survive. There are other
religious philosophies whose believers see themselves as a separate religion, but they do not
always get this recognition. For example Lingayat of south India see themselves as a different
religion, while others see them as a sect of Hinduism. There are also some tribal communities who
demand to be recognized as separate religion from Hinduism. In the 19th century some Hindu
reformers tried to remodel Hinduism to adjust it to modern period.

Along with the religions that developed in India, there are followers of non- Indian religions. The
largest non-Indian religion is Islam. They are about 12% of India's population. Christians are more
then 2% of India's population. There are also Zoroastrians who even though make less then 0.01%
of India's population, are known around India. There are also a few thousand Jews in India.
Judaism and Christianity might have arrived in India before they arrived in Europe.