India:

Region: South-Central Asia

Capital: New Delhi

Official Language/s: Hindi, English

Population: 1147995000

Currency: Rupee

Government: Federal Republic

Economy: For the past two decades the Indian economy has been among the fastest growing in the world with an average annual GDP growth of 5.7%. India has the world’s second largest labour force consisting of 516.3 million people the majority of whom are employed in agriculture and related industries. Other major industries include information technology, business process outsourcing, telecommunications and pharmaceuticals.. Along with India’s fast economic growth comes its growing demand for energy.

Demographics: With an estimated population of 1.5 billion, India is the world’s second most populous country. 70% of Indians reside in rural areas, although in recent decades migration to larger cities has led to a dramatic increase in the country’s urban population. India is extremely diverse and is comprised of more than two thousand ethnic groups with every major religion are four major families of languages being represented.

Religion: With the origins of Hinduism and Buddhism being in India, religion is considered to be extremely important. More than 800 million people or 80.5% of the population are Hindu. Other major religious groups in the country include Muslims and Christians comprising 13.4% and 2.3% of the population respectively. Religious majorities vary greatly according to state with some being and others of Christian majority.

Education: India’s education has a long history dating back to institutions such as Nalanda. The government is dedicated to ensuring universal elementary education for all children between 6 and 14 years of age. However, being a developing nation India struggles with challenges in its primary education. Whilst the literacy rate has increased from around 3% in 1880 to around 65% in 2001 the Indian population still faces many issues. For example it is reported that 50% of 10-year-old rural children can’t read at the basic and less than 40 percent of adolescents in India attend secondary schools.