Population: 866,351,738 (July 1991), growth rate 1.9% (1991)

Birth rate: 29 births/1,000 population (1991)

Death rate: 10 deaths/1,000 population (1991)

Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1991)

Infant mortality rate: 87 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)

Life expectancy at birth: 57 years male, 59 years female (1991)

Total fertility rate: 3.7 children born/woman (1991)

Nationality: noun--Indian(s); adjective--Indian

Ethnic divisions: Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, Mongoloid and other 3%

Religion: Hindu 82.6%, Muslim 11.4%, Christian 2.4%, Sikh 2.0%, Buddhist 0.7%, Jains 0.5%, other 0.4%

Language: Hindi, English, and 14 other official languages--Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit; 24 languages spoken by a million or more persons each; numerous other languages and dialects, for the most part mutually unintelligible; Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people; English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication; Hindustani, a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu, is spoken widely throughout northern India

Literacy: 48% (male 62%, female 34%) age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)

Labor force: 284,400,000; 67% agriculture (FY85)

Organized labor: less than 5% of the labor force

NOTE: The information regarding India on this page is re-published from the 1991 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of India People 1991 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about India People 1991 should be addressed to the CIA.