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India

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1. Official name: Republic of India
2. Region: South Asia
3. Area rank: Seventh-largest country by area
4. Population: 1.46 billion (World Bank, 2025)
5. Population growth: 0.9% annually (World Bank, 2025)
6. GDP growth: 7.6% annually (World Bank, 2025)
7. Life expectancy: 72 years at birth (World Bank, 2024)
8. Government: Federal parliamentary republic (since 1950)
9. India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country in the world by land area and the largest by population, which the World Bank put at 1.46 billion in 2025.
10. Geography
11. The Indian Ocean bounds India to the south, with the Arabian Sea to the southwest and the Bay of Bengal to the southeast. India borders Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. Sri Lanka and the Maldives lie nearby in the Indian Ocean.
12. India is classified as megadiverse, with four biodiversity hotspots and wildlife supported in protected habitats. According to the World Bank, forests covered 24.5% of its land area in 2023, and annual freshwater withdrawals equaled 45% of internal resources in 2022.
13. History
14. Humans had reached the Indian subcontinent from Africa by roughly 55,000 years ago. Permanent settlement on the western edge of the Indus basin began around 9,000 years ago and grew into the Indus Valley Civilization in the third millennium BCE.
15. By 1200 BCE an early form of Sanskrit had reached India from the northwest, and its hymns mark the beginnings of Hinduism. Caste-based social stratification had become firmly rooted in Hinduism by 400 BCE, and around the same time Buddhism and Jainism appeared, offering social frameworks independent of birth.
16. The Maurya and Gupta Empires flourished in India and produced extensive cultural and scientific achievement. In the first millennium CE, the Dravidian-speaking middle kingdoms of South India carried their scripts and cultural practices into Southeast Asia, and before the millennium ended, Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Zoroastrianism had all taken root on India's southern and western coasts.
17. Early in the second millennium, invaders from Central Asia repeatedly swept across northern India and eventually founded the Delhi Sultanate. In the south, a durable composite South Indian culture took shape under the Vijayanagara Empire, and in the Punjab, Guru Nanak founded Sikhism. Under the Mughals, India enjoyed roughly two hundred years of growth and stability.
18. The British Crown took direct control of India in 1858. A nationalist movement then developed, the first of its kind in the non-European British Empire, and from 1920 it became identified with nonviolent struggle. In 1947 the British Indian Empire was divided into two self-governing states: a predominantly Hindu India and a predominantly Muslim Pakistan.
19. What Does 'Civilization' Mean? Segment defining the term civilization in the context of the Indus Valley.
20. Characteristics of a Civilization Segment describing the characteristics used to classify ancient civilizations.
21. The Indus Valley Civilization Segment surveying the geography, cities and material culture of the Indus Valley.
22. An Open Letter to Historians Closing segment addressing historians' interpretations of the Indus Valley.
23. Politics and government
24. India has been a federal republic with a democratic parliamentary system since 1950. It has nuclear weapons and is one of the higher military spenders. It still has disputes with Pakistan and China over Kashmir that date to the mid-twentieth century. According to the World Bank, women held 14% of the seats in the national parliament in 2025.
25. Economy and society
26. India's population rose from 361 million in 1951 to more than 1.4 billion in 2023, and the World Bank put it at 1.46 billion in 2025, growing by 0.9% a year. Its rapidly expanding economy is an information technology center with a growing middle class.
27. According to the World Bank, India's GDP grew 7.6% in 2025, unemployment was 4.2% of the labor force, and consumer prices rose 2.4%. Net inflows of foreign direct investment equaled 1.0% of GDP and personal remittances received 3.8% of GDP in 2025, while central government debt stood at 46.5% of GDP in 2018.
28. Life expectancy at birth was 72 years in 2024, and 5.3% of the population lived on less than $3.00 per day (2021 PPP) in 2022. India has reduced poverty even as economic inequality has grown, and gender disparity, childhood undernutrition and worsening air quality remain concerns.
29. In 2024, 99.9% of the population had access to electricity and 63% used safely managed sanitation services; in 2025, 70% used the Internet.
30. Per-capita CO2 emissions, excluding LULUCF, were 2.2 t CO2e in 2024, and renewable sources other than hydroelectric power produced 9.2% of total electricity in 2021. Net migration was negative 495,753 in 2025, and the intentional homicide rate was 3 per 100,000 people in 2022.
31. Media
32. Geography Segment surveying India's physical geography and borders.
33. India Segment covering Indian history, culture and demographics.
34. Statistics Segment presenting statistical data about India.
35. Diplomacy Closing segment on India's foreign relations.
36. c. 55,000 years ago: According to Wikipedia contributors, modern humans arrive on the Indian subcontinent from Africa.
37. c. 3000 BCE: According to Wikipedia contributors, the Indus Valley Civilization emerges in the third millennium BCE.
38. 1200 BCE: According to Wikipedia contributors, an archaic form of Sanskrit diffuses into India from the northwest.
39. 400 BCE: According to Wikipedia contributors, social differentiation by caste consolidates within Hinduism; Buddhism and Jainism arise.
40. 1000: According to Wikipedia contributors, Middle kingdoms of South India transmit Dravidian language scripts and cultures to Southeast Asia.
41. 1858: British Crown rule over India begins.
42. 1947: The British Indian Empire is partitioned into India and Pakistan.
43. 1950: India becomes a federal parliamentary republic.
44. 2023: India's population exceeds 1.4 billion.
45. 2025: World Bank records India's population at 1.46 billion and annual GDP growth at 7.6%.

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