use:
arable land: 56%
permanent crops: 1%
permanent pastures: 4%
forests and woodland: 23%
other: 16% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 480,000 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: droughts, flash floods, severe thunderstorms common;
earthquakes

Environment - current issues: deforestation; soil erosion;
overgrazing; desertification; air pollution from industrial effluents
and vehicle emissions; water pollution from raw sewage and runoff of
agricultural pesticides; tap water is not potable throughout the
country; huge and growing population is overstraining natural
resources

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty,
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species,
Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear
Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83,
Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note: dominates South Asian subcontinent; near important
Indian Ocean trade routes

@India:People

Population: 1,014,003,817 (July 2000 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 34% (male 175,228,164; female 165,190,951)
15-64 years: 62% (male 324,699,562; female 301,821,383)
65 years and over: 4% (male 23,925,371; female 23,138,386) (2000 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.58% (2000 est.)

Birth rate: 24.79 births/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Death rate: 8.88 deaths/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Net migration rate: -0.08 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.08 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 1.03 male(s)/female
total population: 1.07 male(s)/female (2000 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 64.9 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 62.5 years
male: 61.89 years
female: 63.13 years (2000 est.)

Total fertility rate: 3.11 children born/woman (2000 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Indian(s)
adjective: Indian

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

Religions: Hindu 80%, Muslim 14%, Christian 2.4%, Sikh 2%, Buddhist
0.7%, Jains 0.5%, other 0.4%

Languages: English enjoys associate status but is the most important
language for national, political, and commercial communication, Hindi
the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people, Bengali
(official),