Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% (2001 census)
Muslim 50%, indigenous beliefs 40%, Christian (mainly Roman Catholic) 10%
Languages
Hindi 41%, Bengali 8.1%, Telugu 7.2%, Marathi 7%, Tamil 5.9%, Urdu 5%, Gujarati 4.5%, Kannada 3.7%, Malayalam 3.2%, Oriya 3.2%, Punjabi 2.8%, Assamese 1.3%, Maithili 1.2%, other 5.9% note: English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication; Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of 41% of the people; there are 14 other official languages: Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit; Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language (2001 census)
French (official), native African languages belonging to Sudanic family spoken by 90% of the population
Indian rupees (INR) per US dollar - 43.319 (2008 est.), 41.487 (2007), 45.3 (2006), 44.101 (2005), 45.317 (2004)
Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar 438.77 (2008 est.), 493.51 (2007), 522.59 (2006), 527.47 (2005), 528.29 (2004) note: since 1 January 1999, the XOF franc has been pegged to the euro at a rate of 655.957 XOF francs per euro
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
2.500%
1.200%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
3
0
Location
Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan
Western Africa, north of Ghana
Area
3,287,263 km sq
274,200 km sq
Coastline
7,000 km
0 km
Climate
varies from tropical monsoon in south to temperate in north
