_#_Terrain: upland plain (Deccan Plateau) in south, flat to rolling
plain along the Ganges, deserts in west, Himalayas in north

_#_Natural resources: coal (fourth-largest reserves in the world),
iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite, titanium ore, chromite, natural gas,
diamonds, crude oil, limestone

_#_Land use: arable land 55%; permanent crops 1%; meadows and pastures
4%; forest and woodland 23%; other 17%; includes irrigated 13%

_#_Environment: droughts, flash floods, severe thunderstorms common;
deforestation; soil erosion; overgrazing; air and water pollution;
desertification

_#_Note: dominates South Asian subcontinent; near important
Indian Ocean trade routes

_*_People
_#_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

_*_Government
_#_Long-form name: Republic of India

_#_Type: federal republic

_#_Capital: New Delhi

_#_Administrative divisions: 25 states and 7 union territories*;
Andaman and Nicobar Islands*, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh,
Assam, Bihar, Chandi