Sultan, prime minister, foreign minister: Qaboos Bin Said Al Said
Population
1,205,073,612
3,090,150
Life Expectancy
67.140 years
74.470 years
Capital City
New Delhi
Muscat
Largest city
Mumbai (population: 12,691,800)
Muscat (population: 797,000)
Human Development Index
0.609
0.839
GDP per capita
$3,700 US
$26,900 US
Literacy Rate
61%
81.4%
Corruption Perception Index
3.4
5.5
Percentage of Women in Parliament
9.2%
9.1%
Wealthiest Citizens
Mukesh Ambani ($19.5bn US)
NA
Unemployment Rate
9.800%
15.000%
Death Penalty
Legal
Legal
Political System
federal republic
monarchy
Independence date
15 August 1947 (from UK)
1650 (expulsion of the Portuguese)
Religions
Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% (2001 census)
Ibadhi Muslim 75%, other (includes Sunni Muslim, Shi'a Muslim, Hindu) 25%
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)
Arabic (official), English, Baluchi, Urdu, Indian dialects
