Polity · 1947 CE – present
Republic of India
ভারত · ভারত · भारत
Also recorded as India
- Peak recorded area
- 3,182,400 km²
- 1987 CE
- Rulers on record
- 32
- from 1947 CE
- Data series
- 556
- 1947 CE–2025 CE
Overview
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area; the most populous country since 2023; and, since its independence in 1947, the world's most populous democracy. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east.
Lead section from Wikipedia, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article.
Territory
10 dated territorial extents on record from Cliopatria. Areas are measured off the recorded polygons; the line steps because each extent holds until the next one is recorded — nothing is interpolated. CShapes 2.0 holds 2 further extents, measured on a different basis and deliberately not merged into this series.
The record
The best-attested series in each category; where several projects publish the same quantity, the one with the most observations is shown. Each row is the most recent value the record holds at or before the last complete year, shown with the year that value belongs to. Some statistical series also publish forward projections — the year column is the honest guide. Nothing on this page is interpolated or estimated by us.
People
6 of 91 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Population219 obs · 1947 CE–2025 CE | 1.5Bpersons2025 CE · UN World Population Prospects 2024 |
| Life Expectancy165 obs · 1950 CE–2025 CE | 72.48years2025 CE · UN World Population Prospects 2024 |
| Net Migration141 obs · 1950 CE–2025 CE | -495.8Kpersons2025 CE · UN World Population Prospects 2024 |
| Population Growth141 obs · 1950 CE–2025 CE | 0.879% annual2025 CE · UN World Population Prospects 2024 |
| Life Expectancy Female140 obs · 1950 CE–2025 CE | 74.13years2025 CE · UN World Population Prospects 2024 |
| Life Expectancy Male140 obs · 1950 CE–2025 CE | 70.95years2025 CE · UN World Population Prospects 2024 |
Economy
6 of 172 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| GDP Current Usd112 obs · 1960 CE–2025 CE | 4.0Tcurrent US$2025 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators |
| GDP per capita76 obs · 1947 CE–2022 CE | 7,765.592011 int'l $2022 CE · Maddison Project Database 2023 |
| GDP per capita PPP73 obs · 1947 CE–2019 CE | 6,973int'l $ (inflation adj.)2019 CE · Gapminder |
| Total Exports68 obs · 1947 CE–2014 CE | 317.7Kmillion USD (current)2014 CE · CoW Bilateral Trade v4.0 |
| Total Imports68 obs · 1947 CE–2014 CE | 460.5Kmillion USD (current)2014 CE · CoW Bilateral Trade v4.0 |
| Trade Balance68 obs · 1947 CE–2014 CE | -142.8Kmillion USD (current)2014 CE · CoW Bilateral Trade v4.0 |
Military
6 of 79 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Nuclear Warhead Stockpile77 obs · 1948 CE–2024 CE | 172count2024 CE · FAS Nuclear Notebook (via OWID) |
| CINC Score70 obs · 1947 CE–2016 CE | 0.0868CINC (share of world capability)2016 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
| Energy Consumption70 obs · 1947 CE–2016 CE | 1.6Bcoal-ton equivalents2016 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
| Iron Steel Production70 obs · 1947 CE–2016 CE | 95.5Mtons2016 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
| Military Expenditure70 obs · 1947 CE–2016 CE | 51.1Bcurrent USD2016 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
| Military Personnel70 obs · 1947 CE–2016 CE | 1.3Mpersons2016 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
Territory & resources
6 of 122 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Arable Land %126 obs · 1961 CE–2023 CE | 51.75% of land area2023 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators |
| Coal Production78 obs · 1947 CE–2024 CE | 5,015.15TWh2024 CE · Our World in Data Energy |
| Gas Production78 obs · 1947 CE–2024 CE | 323.54TWh2024 CE · Our World in Data Energy |
| Oil Production78 obs · 1947 CE–2024 CE | 382.47TWh2024 CE · Our World in Data Energy |
| Forest Area %68 obs · 1990 CE–2023 CE | 24.54% of land area2023 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators |
| Agricultural Land %63 obs · 1961 CE–2023 CE | 60.06%2023 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators |
Governance
6 of 29 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Electoral Democracy Index78 obs · 1947 CE–2024 CE | 0.398index (0-1)2024 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Liberal Democracy Index78 obs · 1947 CE–2024 CE | 0.291index (0-1)2024 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Participatory Democracy Index78 obs · 1947 CE–2024 CE | 0.248index (0-1)2024 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Regime Type78 obs · 1947 CE–2024 CE | 1RoW index (0-3)2024 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Rule Of Law Index78 obs · 1947 CE–2024 CE | 0.401index (0-1)2024 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Polity263 obs · 1950 CE–2012 CE | 9index (-10 to 10)2012 CE · Clio-Infra |
Development
6 of 63 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Freedom Of Expression Index78 obs · 1947 CE–2024 CE | 0.493index (0-1)2024 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Tech Electricity Production55 obs · 1947 CE–2001 CE | 577BGWh2001 CE · CHAT (Comin-Hobijn) |
| Tech Passenger Cars54 obs · 1947 CE–2000 CE | 6.2Mcount2000 CE · CHAT (Comin-Hobijn) |
| Tech Newspaper Circulation53 obs · 1947 CE–1999 CE | 69Mcirculation1999 CE · CHAT (Comin-Hobijn) |
| Tech Radios53 obs · 1947 CE–1999 CE | 121.2Kcount1999 CE · CHAT (Comin-Hobijn) |
| Mobile Subscriptions Per 10052 obs · 1960 CE–2023 CE | 80.56per_1002023 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators |
Rulers
32 on record with dated reigns. Reign years follow the house convention: BCE years are negative.
- Jawaharlal NehruHead of Government1947 CE – 1964 CE
- Rajendra PrasadHead of State1950 CE – 1962 CE
- Sarvepalli RadhakrishnanHead of State1962 CE – 1967 CE
- Gulzarilal NandaHead of Government1964 CE
- Lal Bahadur ShastriHead of Government1964 CE – 1966 CE
- Indira GandhiHead of Government1966 CE – 1977 CE
- Zakir HusainHead of State1967 CE – 1969 CE
- Mohammad HidayatullahHead of State1969 CE
- V. V. GiriHead of State1969 CE
- Fakhruddin Ali AhmedHead of State1974 CE – 1977 CE
- Basappa Danappa JattiHead of State1977 CE
- Morarji DesaiHead of Government1977 CE – 1979 CE
- Neelam Sanjiva ReddyHead of State1977 CE – 1982 CE
- Charan SinghHead of Government1979 CE – 1980 CE
- Zail SinghHead of State1982 CE – 1987 CE
- Rajiv GandhiHead of Government1984 CE – 1989 CE
- R. VenkataramanHead of State1987 CE – 1992 CE
- V. P. SinghHead of Government1989 CE – 1990 CE
- Chandra ShekharHead of Government1990 CE – 1991 CE
- P. V. Narasimha RaoHead of Government1991 CE – 1996 CE
- Shankar Dayal SharmaHead of State1992 CE – 1997 CE
- Atal Bihari VajpayeeHead of Government1996 CE
- H. D. Deve GowdaHead of Government1996 CE – 1997 CE
- Inder Kumar GujralHead of Government1997 CE – 1998 CE
- K. R. NarayananHead of State1997 CE – 2002 CE
- A. P. J. Abdul KalamHead of State2002 CE – 2007 CE
- Manmohan SinghHead of Government2004 CE – 2014 CE
- Pratibha PatilHead of State2007 CE – 2012 CE
- Pranab MukherjeeHead of State2012 CE – 2017 CE
- Narendra ModiHead of Government2014 CE –
- Ram Nath KovindHead of State2017 CE – 2022 CE
- Droupadi MurmuHead of State2022 CE –
Country profile
From the CIA World Factbook 2024. Long entries are trimmed at a sentence boundary.
- Location
- Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan
- Government type
- federal parliamentary republic
- Executive branch
- chief of state: President Droupadi MURMU (since 25 July 2022); head of government: Prime Minister Narendra MODI (since 26 May 2014); cabinet: Union Council of Ministers recommended by the prime minister, appointed by the president;
- Ethnic groups
- Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, and other 3% (2000)
- Natural resources
- coal (fourth-largest reserves in the world), antimony, iron ore, lead, manganese, mica, bauxite, rare earth elements, titanium ore, chromite, natural gas, diamonds, petroleum, limestone, arable land
- Economy
- largest South Asian economy; strong, sustained GDP growth led by technology and service sectors, foreign investment, and improved regulatory framework; high poverty rate and income inequality; initiatives on infrastructure development, digitization, manufacturing, and financial access
Language & currency
- Official & national languages
- English is the subsidiary official language but is the most important one for national, Hindi
- Currency
- Indian rupees (INR)
Memberships
- League of NationsLoNInternational organisation · founding member1920 CE – 1946 CE
- Allied Powers (WWII)Historical alliance · member1939 CE – 1945 CE
- United NationsUNInternational organisation · founding member1945 CE –
- Commonwealth of NationsCWInternational organisation · member1947 CE –
- Non-Aligned MovementNAMInternational organisation · founding member1961 CE –
- 13-member Non-Aggression Pact (1962)Historical alliance · member1962 CE – 1964 CE
- Russia–India Non-Aggression Pact (1971)Historical alliance · member1971 CE – 1991 CE
- India–Bangladesh Non-Aggression Pact (1972)Historical alliance · member1972 CE – 1997 CE
- India–Pakistan Non-Aggression Pact (1972)Historical alliance · member1972 CE –
- G20G20Political union · founding member1999 CE –
- Quadrilateral Security DialogueQUADMilitary alliance · founding member2007 CE –
- BRICSBRICSEconomic bloc · founding member2009 CE –
Sources
Every figure above comes from one of these. Nothing on this page is estimated, interpolated or model-generated.
CHAT (Comin-Hobijn)2009 (FinalCHAT_72909)
Comin, D. & Hobijn, B. (2009). The CHAT Dataset. NBER Working Paper 15319.
NBER research data, freely downloadable
CIA World Factbook 2024
Clio-Infra2017 datasets
Clio-Infra project (2017). Reconstructions of global inequality and well-being. International Institute of Social History.
Academic use, attribution
Seshat Global History Databank. Cliopatria: a historical basemap of polity borders (cliopatria.geojson).
Correlates of War NMC v6.0v6.0
Singer, J.D. (1987). National Material Capabilities Data (NMC), v6.0. Correlates of War Project.
Free academic use, citation
Barbieri, K. & Keshk, O. (2016). Correlates of War Project Trade Data Set, v4.0.
Free academic use, citation
FAS Nuclear Notebook (via OWID)2024
Kristensen, H.M. et al., Federation of American Scientists Nuclear Notebook, via Our World in Data (2024).
CC BY 4.0 (OWID); underlying FAS data
Gapminderv14 / systema globalis
Gapminder Foundation. Gapminder systema globalis dataset.
CC BY 4.0
Maddison Project Database 20232023
Bolt, J. & van Zanden, J.L. (2024). Maddison Project Database 2023. University of Groningen GGDC.
CC BY 4.0
Our World in Data (2024). Energy dataset. Based on Energy Institute & Ember.
CC BY 4.0
UN World Population Prospects 20242024
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2024). World Population Prospects 2024.
CC BY 3.0 IGO
V-Dem v15v15
Coppedge, M. et al. (2025). V-Dem Country-Year Dataset v15. Varieties of Democracy Project.
Free academic/non-commercial use, attribution
Wikipedia contributors. Article lead sections, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0.
CC BY-SA 4.0
World Bank World Development Indicators2024 release
World Bank (2024). World Development Indicators. Washington, DC.
CC BY 4.0
Republic of India is one of the polities with a sourced record deep enough to publish.