It's often hard to pin down statistics about India and other South Asian countries. Contradictory, inaccurate numbers abound and regularly make their way into the press. I thought I'd post some stats sources I use for India and ask you all for your suggestions for India and the rest of the subcontinent.
- NationMaster.com India section (2,000+ stats)
- CIA World Factbook India section
- Government of India Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation
- Official census site
- UNICEF: At a Glance: India
- InternetWorldStats: India
[There's also IndiaHealthStat.com, which seems to have a lot of useful information, but charges almost $300 and doesn't seem to have a free trial.]
Please add your suggestions to the comments section below.
Meanwhile, on the back cover of Mira Kamdar's new book, "Planet India: How the Fastest Growing Democracy is Transforming America and the World," (see SAJAforum Q&A) is a set of dramatic stats about India. See the full list below. What do you think? Post your thoughts in the comments below.
From the back cover of "Planet India: How the Fastest Growing Democracy is Transforming America and the World"
Did You Know?
- India is the world's fourth-largest economy.
- By 2034, India will be the most populous country on Earth, with 1.6 billion people.
- India's middle class is already larger than the entire population of the United States.
- One out of three of the world's malnourished children live in India.
- India is home to the biggest youth population on earth: 600 million people are under the age of 25.
- 72,000,000 cell phones will be sold in India in 2007.
- India just edged past the United States to become the second-most-preferred destination for foreign direct investment after China.
- In 1991, Indians purchased 150,000 automobiles; in 2007, they are expected to purchase 10 million.
- By 2008, India's total pool of qualified graduates will be more than twice as large as China's.
- By 2015, an estimated 3.5 million white-collar U.S. jobs will be offshored.
- India is the largest arms importer in the developing world.
- American corporations expect to earn $20 to $40 billion from the civilian nuclear agreement with India.
- In 2007, there are 2.2 million Indian Americans, a number expected to double every decade.
- Twenty-nine percent of India's population speaks English - that's 350 million people.
