Demographics & population — India
Population size, age structure, migration, ethnicity, language, education, and health indicators.
Profile updated 2026-06-02
⚡ Demographics & population at a glance
Population size, age structure, migration, ethnicity, language, education, and health indicators. Key figure for India: 1,409,128,296
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Population overview
- Population
1,409,128,296
- Population Growth Rate
0.72%
- Population Distribution
with the notable exception of the deserts in the northwest, including the Thar Desert, and the mountain fringe in the north, a very high population density exists throughout most of the country; the core of the population is in the north along the banks of the Ganges, with other river valleys and southern coastal areas also having large population concentrations
- Urban Population
- urban population: 36.4%
- of total population rate of urbanization: 2.33% annual rate of change
- Population in Major Urban Areas
32.941 million NEW DELHI (capital), 21.297 million Mumbai, 15.333 million Kolkata, 13.608 million Bangalore, 11.776 million Chennai, 10.801 million Hyderabad
- Population: Male/Female
- male: 725,784,825
- female: 683,343,471
Age & family
- Age Structure
- years: 24.5% (male 181,115,052/female 163,647,028) 15-64
- years: 68.7% (male 500,568,593/female 467,593,781) 65
- years and over: 6.8% (male 44,101,180/female 52,102,662)
- Median Age
- total: 29.8
- years male: 29.1
- years female: 30.5 years
- Birth Rate - births/1,000 population
16
- Death Rate - deaths/1,000 population
9.1
- Total Fertility Rate - children born/woman
2.03
- Gross reproduction rate
1
- Child Marriage
- women married by age 15: 4.8%
- women married by age 18: 23.3%
- men married by age 18: 2.6%
- Contraceptive Prevalance Rate - female 12-49
66.7%
- Contraceptive Prevalence Rate - female 12-49
66.7%
- Currently married women (ages 15-49)
72.6%
- Mean Age for Mother's First Birth (age 25-49)
21.2
- Mother's mean age at first birth
21.2
- Sex Ratio at Birth - male/female
- at birth: 1.1
- male(s)/female 0-14 years: 1.11
- male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.07
- male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.85
- male(s)/female total population: 1.06 male(s)/female
Migration
- Net Migration Rate - migrant(s)/1,000 population
.1
Ethnicity & language
- Ethnic Groups
Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, and other 3%
- Language Note
- Hindi 43.6%, Bengali 8%, Marathi 6.9%, Telugu 6.7%, Tamil 5.7%, Gujarati 4.6%, Urdu 4.2%, Kannada 3.6%, Odia 3.1%, Malayalam 2.9%, Punjabi 2.7%, Assamese 1.3%, Maithili 1.1%, other 5.6%
- note - English enjoys the status of subsidiary official language but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication
- there are 22 other officially recognized languages: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu
- Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language
- Nationality Noun
- Indian(s) adjective: Indian
Education
- Literacy - total population
74.4%
- Literacy - male
82.4%
- Literacy - female
65.8%
- Literacy Definition
age 15 and over can read and write
- Education Expenditures - percent of GDP
4.5%
- Total School Life Expectancy - (primary to tertiary)
- total: 12
- years male: 12
- years female: 12 years
Health & living conditions
- Life Expectancy at Birth
- total population: 68.2
- years male: 66.5
- years female: 70.1 years
- Infant Mortality Rate
- total: 30.4 deaths/1,000
- live births male: 30 deaths/1,000
- live births female: 30.8 deaths/1,000 live births
- Infant Mortality Rate - total deaths/1,000 live births
- total: 30.4 deaths/1,000
- live births male: 30 deaths/1,000
- live births female: 30.8 deaths/1,000 live births
- Maternal Mortality Rate - deaths/100,000 live births
103
- Physicians Density - physicians/1,000 population
.74
- Hospital Bed Density - beds/1,000 population
.5
- Health Expenditures - percent of GDP
3%
- Major Infectious Diseases - degree of risk
- very high food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A and E,
- and typhoid fever vectorborne diseases: dengue fever, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, Japanese encephalitis,
- leptospirosis animal contact diseases: rabies
- Obesity - adult prevalence rate
3.9%
- Tobacco Use
- total: 27.2%
- male: 41.3%
- female: 13%
- Alcohol consumption per capita
- total: 3.09
- liters of pure alcohol beer: 0.23
- liters of pure alcohol wine: 0
- liters of pure alcohol spirits: 2.85
- liters of pure alcohol other alcohols: 0 liters of pure alcohol
- Drinking Water Source - percent of urban population improved
- urban: 96.9%
- of population rural: 94.7%
- of population total: 95.5%
- urban: 3.1%
- of population rural: 5.3%
- of population total: 4.5% of population
- Sanitation Facility Access - percent of urban population improved
- urban: 98.6%
- of population rural: 75.2%
- of population total: 83.4%
- urban: 1.4%
- of population rural: 24.8%
- of population total: 16.6% of population
- Underweight - percent of children under five years
31.5%