Country · Asia
India
Republic of India
India is a country in Southern Asia. Its capital city is New Delhi. About 1.4 billion people live there, in an area of 3 287 590 square kilometres.
Picture credit: This Photo (CC BY-SA 4.0) · UnpetitproleX (CC BY-SA 4.0) · UnpetitproleX (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Navonildutta4 (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Bahnfrend (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is India?
India lies in Southern Asia, on the continent of Asia.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 2 226 km from the equator.
Its coastline is about 7 000 km long.
It shares a border with 6 countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, China, Nepal and Pakistan.
How big is India?
India covers 3 287 590 square kilometres.
That is about 9.2 times the size of Germany.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 7th largest.
Spread out evenly, that is roughly 411.4 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in India?
About 1.4 billion people live in India.
That is the 2nd biggest population in the world.
People here speak English, Hindi and Tamil.
They pay with the Indian rupee (₹).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 63 years.
The land of India
The land in India sits on average 160 metres above sea level, which makes it one of the flatter countries on Earth.
Its coast runs for about 7 000 km. Walking it end to end, at twenty kilometres a day, would take roughly 350 days.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes India different?
A dish the country is known for: No officially announced national dish.
Websites from here often end in .in.
India and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 179 live in India.
It takes up about 2.5 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Asia it is the 2nd largest of 46 countries, and the 2nd most populated.
That is busier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
India and its neighbours
China, its largest neighbour, is about 3 times bigger.
China has more people: 1.4 billion against 1.4 billion.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, 10 live wild in India: Tiger, Leopard, Snow leopard, Eurasian otter, Yak and Greater flamingo and more. The highest mountain we cover here is Kangchenjunga, at 8 586 metres. The longest river is the Indus, running 3 180 km from source to mouth. And one of the wonders of the world stands here: Taj Mahal.
Tiger
Leopard
Snow leopard
Eurasian otter
Yak
Greater flamingo
Indian peafowl
Common kingfisher
Saltwater crocodile
King cobra
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons under free licences — every credit is on the page itself and in the picture credits.
Where this country lands in the record lists
Questions children ask
What is the capital of India?
The capital of India is New Delhi. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in India?
About 1.4 billion people live in India, which makes it the 2nd most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border India?
India borders Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, China, Nepal and Pakistan — 6 neighbours in total.
How big is India?
India covers 3 287 590 square kilometres, making it the 7th largest country in the world. That is about 9.2 times the size of Germany.
Which continent is India in?
India is in Asia, in the part called Southern Asia.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
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