Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II Prime minister: Portia Simpson-Miller
Population
1,205,073,612
2,889,187
Life Expectancy
67.140 years
73.430 years
Capital City
New Delhi
Kingston
Largest city
Mumbai (population: 12,691,800)
Kingston (population: 937,700)
Human Development Index
0.609
0.771
GDP per capita
$3,700 US
$9,100 US
Literacy Rate
61%
87.9%
Corruption Perception Index
3.4
3.1
Percentage of Women in Parliament
9.2%
13.6%
Wealthiest Citizens
Mukesh Ambani ($19.5bn US)
NA
Unemployment Rate
9.800%
12.700%
Death Penalty
Legal
Legal
Political System
federal republic
constitutional parliamentary democracy
Independence date
15 August 1947 (from UK)
6 August 1962 (from UK)
Religions
Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% (2001 census)
Protestant 62.5% (Seventh-Day Adventist 10.8%, Pentecostal 9.5%, Other Church of God 8.3%, Baptist 7.2%, New Testament Church of God 6.3%, Church of God in Jamaica 4.8%, Church of God of Prophecy 4.3%, Anglican 3.6%, other Christian 7.7%), Roman Catholic 2.6%, other or unspecified 14.2%, none 20.9%, (2001 census)
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)
