From (almost) the world’s most populous country to the world’s biggest film industry, these are the most interesting facts about India.
Fast facts
Official name: Republic of India
Population: 1.4 billion
Area: 3,287,263 sq km
Capital city: New Delhi
Major languages: Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati, Urdu, Kannada, Odia, Malayalam, Punjabi, English
Major religions: Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism
Time zone: UTC+5.5 (Indian Standard Time)
Interesting facts about India
1. India is a country located in South Asia bordering Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, China, Nepal and Pakistan.
2. India is the world’s second-most populous nation after China and is one of only two countries with more than 1 billion people.
3. Modern humans have been in India for around 55,000 years but Hominid activity stretches back over 250,000 years.
4. India is the home of some of the world’s oldest and most influential civilizations, including the Mohenjo-daro and Harappan.
5. India is the world’s seventh-largest country by area after Russia, Canada, the USA, China, Brazil and Australia.
6. The British arrived in India during the 1600s setting up trading posts under The British East India Company. In 1858, India – along with much of the subcontinent – came under direct British control.
7. On August 15, 1947, India finally gained independence from Britain after decades of struggle.
8. India’s flag consists of three horizontal stripes of orange, white, and green with a 24-spoked blue chakra (wheel) in the center. The colors represent courage and sacrifice (orange), peace and truth (white), and faith and chivalry (green). The spoked wheel is the Dharma Chakra or “Wheel of the Law”.
9. India’s only female prime minister, Indira Gandhi, was assassinated. Gandhi was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India. She was assassinated in 1984 during her second term as prime minister,
10. India initially included Pakistan and Bangladesh. However, in 1947, India split into two nations: Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority dual-states of East and West Pakistan. In 1971, India and Pakistan went to war over East Pakistan, which led to the creation of Bangladesh.
11. The partition of India caused the largest mass migration in human history – approximately 10 million people. As many as one million people died during the resulting riots and violence. India still suffers from a negative net migration rate today.
12. The 1979 Nobel Prize for Peace winner, Mother Teresa, spent much of her life in India. Mother Teresa was canonized as Saint Teresa of Calcutta in 2016.
13. As of 2024, India has 200 billionaires, amassing a combined USD $954 billion.
14. India’s Bollywood film industry (AKA Bombay cinema) is the world’s largest producer of films. In 2013, Bollywood released 1,724 films while the USA’s Hollywood made only 738.
15. It is believed that board game chess originated in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India around the 6th century AD.
16. Nearly 80% of India’s population is Hindu – over 1 billion people – meaning it has the largest Hindu population of any country. In fact, 94% of all the world’s Hindus live in India.
17. In Hinduism, cows are considered sacred and are worshipped and decorated during festivals. As such, most Indian states forbid cow slaughter and beef consumption.
18. India has 42 UNESCO World Heritage Sites – only Italy, China, Germany, France and Spain have more.
19. India is the world’s fifth-largest economy, with a GDP of $3.94 thousand billion USD in 2024.
20. India’s and the subcontinent’s most famous site is the Taj Mahal. Completed in 1648, the Taj Mahal is a mausoleum to Mumtaz Mahal who was the chief consort of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. She died in childbirth in 1631 and the heartbroken emperor devoted years and substantial funds to building a tomb for her.
21. North Sentinel Island, India, home to one of the world’s most isolated tribes, is located in India. The ‘Sentinelis’ have attacked nearly every outsider who has visited the dangerous island, including an American missionary in 2018.
22. Meghalaya in India is believed to be the wettest place on Earth. The village of Mawsynram in Meghalaya receives 11,862mm (467in) of rain per year.
23. Kangchenjunga, the world’s third-highest mountain and one of the eight-thousanders – the only mountain in the world over 8,000m (26,247ft) – is part-located in India. It sits on the border between India and Nepal.
24. India is the world’s least meat-consuming country and has the most vegetarians in the world. Around 39% of Indians are vegetarian according to 2021 data. Indians of many faiths observe these dietary restrictions. The country as a whole consumes 15.59 grams of meat per person per day.
25. What is thought to be the world’s largest family is from India. Ziona Chana, who died in 2021, had 39 wives, 94 children and 33 grandchildren – 167 members.
26. The Golden Temple in India is the holiest site in Sikhism. Located in Amritsar, every Sikh tries to make at least one pilgrimage here during their lifetime.
27. The Karni Mata Temple in India is known as the “Temple of Rats”. The Hindu temple has around 25,000 rats living there. The rats are considered sacred and believed to be their ancestors by the priests who reside there and, therefore, treated with the utmost care.
28. In Ladakh in India, there is a “magnetic hill” – a downhill road that gives the optical illusion of a hill sloping upwards so that when in neutral, a car appears to roll uphill.
29. The endangered Panthera tigris (or Bengal tiger) is the national animal of India. The populations of tigers in India are currently on the rise thanks to conservation efforts. The national bird is the Indian peacock and the national flower is the Lotus.
30. India’s English name comes from the Indus River, while the Indian name “Bharat” comes from the Bharatas tribe, an early tribe that inhabited the region during the second millennium BC.
31. Mumbai is famed for its Dabbawalas, workers who deliver hundreds of thousands of meals on foot and by bike. The network of delivers officially started in 1890.
32. The region of Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region in northern India, is also claimed by Pakistan. The dispute has been running since partition in 1947 and has caused decades of violence, including wars in 1947, 1965 and 1971.
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Caitriona Maria is an education writer and owner of The Facts Institute. A teacher for seven years, she has been committed to providing students with the best learning opportunities possible, both domestically and abroad. Dedicated to unlocking students' potential, Caitriona has taught English in several countries and continues to explore new cultures through her travels.