Population, GDP, natural resources, leaders and history of India: the Magna Factbook country file, with its Magna grade (MBA, ranked #14 of 195).
India — in Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan. Political status: federal parliamentary republic. The country's capital is New Delhi; it covers 3,287,263 sq km. Independence: 15 August 1947 (from the UK). Terrain: upland plain (Deccan Plateau) in south, flat to rolling plain along the Ganges, deserts in west, Himalayas in north. Climate: varies from tropical monsoon in south to temperate in north. Population: 1.42 billion (2025 estimate). Population growth: +0.72% per year. Median age: 30.1 years. Life expectancy: 68.2 years (2024 est.). Languages: Hindi 43.6%, Bengali 8%, Marathi 6.9%, Telugu 6.7%, Tamil 5.7%, Gujarati 4.6%, Urdu 4.2%,…
| Capital | New Delhi |
|---|---|
| Population | 1,419,316,933 (2025 est.) |
| GDP (PPP) | $14.244 trillion (2024 est.) |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | $9,800 (2024 est.) |
| Real GDP growth | 6.5% (2024 est.) |
| Inflation | 5.0% |
| Unemployment | 4.3% |
| Public debt | 46.5% of GDP (2018 est.) |
| Exports | $822.046 billion (2024 est.) |
| Imports | $923.081 billion (2024 est.) |
| Life expectancy | 68.2 years (2024 est.) |
| Median age | 30.1 |
| Urbanization | 36.4% of total population (2023) |
| Government | federal parliamentary republic |
| Independence | 15 August 1947 (from the UK) |
| Languages | 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%; English is the subsidiary official language but is the most important one for national, political, and commercial communication (2011 est.) |
MBA · 70/100 — The Magna grade is our 0–100 composite of structural national power — five dimensions, 100+ indicators. It is the Bureau's own assessment, not a mirror of World Bank or CIA figures.
Momentum +8 — Quarterly momentum: the Bureau's read on the country's trajectory over the last quarter, from −10 (deteriorating fast) to +10 (accelerating).
Hosting the BRICS summit was the quarter's headline: Modi held some fifteen bilaterals and used the chair to warn against the weaponisation of technology and critical minerals.
The Modi–Putin bilateral locked the $100B trade target by 2030. India's multi-alignment play ran at full throttle — Quad, Russia, Global South — and this quarter proved it.
Antimony, Iron ore, Lead, Manganese, Mica, Bauxite, Rare earths, Titanium, Natural gas, Diamonds, Oil.
Narendra Modi — Prime Minister. President Droupadi MURMU (since 25 July 2022)
India maintains 142 embassies and 50 consulates abroad, hosts 165 foreign diplomatic missions, holds permanent missions to ASEAN Jakarta, UN Geneva, UN New York, UNESCO Paris. The breadth of a diplomatic network is a direct measure of diplomatic power — it shows how far a country’s influence, alliances and interests reach.
| Embassies abroad | 142 |
|---|---|
| Consulates abroad | 50 |
| Foreign missions hosted | 165 |
| Multilateral missions | ASEAN Jakarta, UN Geneva, UN New York, UNESCO Paris |
Source: Outbound: Lowy Institute Global Diplomacy Index 2024 (via Wikipedia 'List of countries by number of diplomatic missions'). Hosted: Wikipedia 'List of diplomatic missions in India' (165 embassies/high commissions in New Delhi). Multilateral: Wikipedia 'List of diplomatic missions of India' (crawled 2026-10-02).
Transport networks are economic power made physical — ports, runways, railways and pipelines decide what a country can move, sell and defend.
| Sea access | Coastal — 7000 km of coastline. |
|---|---|
| Airports (total) | 315 + 289 heliports (registration prefix VT) |
| Major seaports | Calcutta, Chennai (Madras), Jawaharlal Nehru Port (Nhava Shiva), Kattupalli Port, Kochi (Cochin), Mumbai (Bombay), New Mangalore, Vishakhapatnam |
| Railways | 65554 km |
Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport (Vizag) (VTZ) — Visakhapatnam; Bagdogra Airport (IXB) — Siliguri; Biju Patnaik International Airport (BBI) — Bhubaneswar; Bir Tikendrajit International Airport (IMF) — Imphal; Calicut International Airport (CCJ) — Calicut; Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport (LKO) — Lucknow; Chennai International Airport (MAA) — Chennai; Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM) — Mumbai; Cochin International Airport (COK) — Kochi; Coimbatore International Airport (CJB) — Coimbatore.
Showing 10 of 15 major airports.
Sources: OurAirports public-domain extract (2026-10-02); per-entry Wikipedia links included; CIA World Factbook via cia_factbook snapshot (2026-09-28)
| Political system | federal parliamentary republic |
|---|---|
| Last election | 2024 — general; 2024-06-04; winner: Narendra Modi (BJP); BJP 240 seats; NDA coalition 293; 3rd term sworn in 2024-06-09 Wikipedia |
| Next election | 2029 — general (scheduled) |
Source: constitutional schedule / public election calendar
MBA · 70 Ranked #14 of 195 countries in the Magna Country Rankings. Full ranking breakdown for India.
