About India

India is an extremely large and diverse country with many cultures and traditions. To give you a better idea of the country we have provided some general information here. Please be advised that the data contained on this page is for reference purposes only and is liable to change. Please consult a professional for current information.

Official Name: The Republic of India, or simply India ; also known as Bharatiya Ganarajya in Hindi.

Capital: The capital of India is New Delhi.

Location: India is located in Southern Asia and is officially a subcontinent. The country borders Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bangladesh, Burma, and is located directly north of, and in close proximity to Sri Lanka. India is located between the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.

Size: Occupying a total area of 3,287,590 Sq Km (although some of this area lies in disputed border regions), India is approximately one third the size of the USA.

Climate: As India is such a large country the climate is extremely diverse. Typically the climate ranges from tropical monsoon in the south to temperate in the north. The center of the nation can be extremely hot and wet during the summer months and there is a likelihood of flooding year round depending on which areas you expect to visit.

Population: India has a total population of approximately 1.1 billion people, making it the second most populated place on the planet.

Life expectancy at birth: The population of India has an average life expectancy of 68.59 years at birth. This places India at position number 144 on the list of worldwide life expectancies. The reason that the life expectancy in India is so low is primarily due to the fact that a large percentage of the total population of India lives in extreme poverty.

Prevalence of HIV/AIDS: Approximately 0.9% of the total Indian population is living with HIV/Aids. This is equal to almost 5.1 million people, making HIV/Aids a serious problem throughout the country.

Major illnesses: There is a high risk of disease throughout the subcontinent. Major disease risks include; bacterial diarrhea, Hepatitis A and E, Typhoid fever, Dengue Fever, Malaria, Japanese Encephalitis, Rabies, and Bird Flu (H5N1) has been identified in the local avian population.

Ethnic Groups: There are three primary ethnic groups in India including Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, and Mongoloid or Miscellaneous 3%.

Languages: Hindi is the official language of India, however English plays a major role in politics, business, and education. Approximately 30% of the total Indian population speaks Hindi as a native tongue while there are 14 other officially recognized languages. The 14 other official languages of India are; Bengali, Tamil, Marathi, Telugu, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit. Hindustani, a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu, is spoken widely throughout the country but is not recognized as an official language.

Religion: The Indian population predominantly practices 4 major religions. These are Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, and Sikh 1.9%. 1.8% of the population practices another (miscellaneous) religion while 0.1% has not specified their religious preference.

Government: India is a federal republic. This essentially means that India is a federation of states within one central republic (or country). This is very similar to the type of government that can be found in the USA, and essentially guarantees each individual state the right to govern itself without federal intervention.

Head of State: President Pratibha PATIL

Head of Government: Prime Minister Manmohan SINGH

Military: India has one of the largest militaries in the world and spends approximately 2.5% of the total GDP on military infrastructure and development. India is a key participant in many UN peacekeeping forces and as a nuclear power plays a vital role in the development of Asia as a whole.

Economy: As a rapidly developing nation the Indian economy is quickly gaining ground on both China and the USA. With traditional enterprises encompassing fishing, farming and handicrafts; India is fast moving away from its roots and is expanding into rapidly evolving high tech and manufacturing industries. With many western and multinational corporations choosing to outsource their service departments to Indian cities the service industry accounts for more than half of the nations total GDP while containing less than a fifth of the entire workforce. With government initiatives to reduce import tariffs and reform foreign trade and investment legislation, India is continuing to prove itself as an emerging force in the worlds markets. Combined with China, the South Asian region is gaining more and more momentum as the changes there continue to affect the rest of the world, both politically and economically, resulting in a shift away from the traditional Euro-American dominance of the international stage. A massive population that lives under the poverty line is proving to be, however, troublesome for India. With a need to reform social and environmental policies to address the wealth gap many foreign corporations are starting to slow the pace of investment until an equilibrium has been restored, despite the extensive growth of a highly influential and financially stable middle class. All in all, India has the potential to bypass the USA, Europe, and China and become the worlds driving economy, but currently strong growth rates combined with easy consumer credit are raising concerns that rapid inflation could be potential problems. If these problems can be successfully resolved then India’s potential is virtually unlimited.

GDP: India has a purchasing power parity of US$4.156 trillion and an official GDP of US$804 making it one of the strongest economies in the world.

For more information about the India international health insurance plans that we can provide, or to receive a free quote, please contact one of our expert advisers today.

 

For more information about India expat insurance, the international health insurance plans that we can offer in India, or to receive a free quote, please contact one of our expert advisers today.

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