President: Tony Tan Prime minister: Lee Hsien Loong
Population
1,205,073,612
5,353,494
Life Expectancy
67.140 years
83.750 years
Capital City
New Delhi
Singapore
Largest city
Mumbai (population: 12,691,800)
Singapore (population: 3,547,810)
Human Development Index
0.609
0.918
GDP per capita
$3,700 US
$60,500 US
Literacy Rate
61%
92.5%
Corruption Perception Index
3.4
9.2
Percentage of Women in Parliament
9.2%
24.5%
Wealthiest Citizens
Mukesh Ambani ($19.5bn US)
Ng Teng Fong & family ($5.5bn US)
Unemployment Rate
9.800%
2.000%
Death Penalty
Legal
Legal
Political System
federal republic
parliamentary republic
Independence date
15 August 1947 (from UK)
9 August 1965 (from Malaysian Federation)
Religions
Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% (2001 census)
Buddhist 42.5%, Muslim 14.9%, Taoist 8.5%, Hindu 4%, Catholic 4.8%, other Christian 9.8%, other 0.7%, none 14.8% (2000 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)
Mandarin 35%, English 23%, Malay 14.1%, Hokkien 11.4%, Cantonese 5.7%, Teochew 4.9%, Tamil 3.2%, other Chinese dialects 1.8%, other 0.9% (2000 census)
machinery and equipment (including electronics), consumer goods, pharmaceuticals and other chemicals, mineral fuels
External Debt
$289,700,000,000 $
$23,580,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
Indian rupees (INR) per US dollar - 43.319 (2008 est.), 41.487 (2007), 45.3 (2006), 44.101 (2005), 45.317 (2004)
Singapore dollars (SGD) per US dollar - 1.415 (2008 est.), 1.507 (2007), 1.5889 (2006), 1.6644 (2005), 1.6902 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
2.500%
4.900%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
3
1
Location
Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan
Southeastern Asia, islands between Malaysia and Indonesia
Area
3,287,263 km sq
697 km sq
Coastline
7,000 km
193 km
Climate
varies from tropical monsoon in south to temperate in north
tropical; hot, humid, rainy; two distinct monsoon seasons - Northeastern monsoon (December to March) and Southwestern monsoon (June to September); inter-monsoon - frequent afternoon and early evening thunderstorms
