India and China are the two most populous countries in the world, but they differ significantly in terms of population density. Population refers to the total number of people living in a country, while population density measures how crowded a place is by calculating the number of people per square kilometer of land. As of 2024, India’s population is estimated to be around 1.44 billion, surpassing China, which has around 1.41 billion people. Despite having similar total populations, their land areas are vastly different, which greatly affects their density and distribution.
India has a land area of 3.28 million km², making its population density approximately 464 people per km², one of the highest in the world for a large country. In contrast, China’s land area is much larger at 9.6 million km², resulting in a much lower population density of about 147 people per km². The reason for this stark difference lies in the geographical and environmental characteristics of the two nations. While most of India’s land is habitable and fertile, much of China’s land, particularly the western region, consists of deserts like the Gobi Desert and mountainous areas like the Tibetan Plateau, which are unsuitable for human settlement. As a result, a significant portion of China’s population is concentrated in the eastern and southern regions, while India’s population is more evenly spread across the country.
Broadly India can be divided into North and South India. The origins of the people of India cannot be exactly be known, but its known that the modern population is made up of two distinct heterogeneous, genetically divergent people that mixed about 4,000 to 5000 years ago. These two distinct groups are the Ancestral North Indians and Ancestral South Indians.
North India
North India includes the States of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and the Union Territory known of Chandigarh. Indo-Aryan Language is dominant in the North.
The North is predominantly Indo Aryan with ethnic groups such as Brahmins, Ahirs, Jats, Rajputs, Gurjars, Kolis, Khatris, Kambojs, Banias and Dalits.
The dominant religion is Hinduism, with an overwhelming population practising in the states of Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh. Various ethnic groups either practice Islam, Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism. Islam has a huge following in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir. The Sikh has a majority following in Punjab.
South India
The states that make up South India Include; Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu including the union territories of Puducherry and Lakshadweep archipelago.
The dominant ethnic groups in South India include the Tamils, Telugus, Kannadas and Malayalis. Hinduism has majority of followers in South India with about 80% of the 252 million population in the South. Islam ranks second with 11% of the population and Christianity a distant third at 8% has the second largest followers in the region, with 11%, while 8% follow Christianity. The state of Kerala is home to the highest number of Christians in the whole of Indian Union. There are 4 languages in the south namely the Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam with Gondi and other minor dialects which are all Dravidian along with the Austro-Asiatic Munda Languages. In South India, the most dominant language is the Dravidian divided in 1956 by the States reorganisation act separating states along linguistic lines.
People of India
Commonly known as Indians, they are citizens of the Republic of India. India forms a significant geographical part of Southern Asia, with the Indian people forming about 17% of the world’s population. The people of India consist of a diverse with many etho-linguistic small groups who represent a rich but complex Indian history.
Anthropologists have classified the people of India being composed of one of 6 major ethno-racial groups that frequently overlap with one another due to progressive racial mix-up.
Indian population consists of many diverse ethnic groups but there are 6 major ones namely:
Negroids
Negritos are the earliest of the races to arrive in India from Africa. Currently, they are mostly located in their original ancestral habitat in Andaman and the Nicobar Islands. Tribes include the Onges, Sentinelese, Jarawas and Andamanese. Located in south of the mainland India are the Kodars, Kurumbas, Paniyans and Irulas tribes.
Australoids or Austrics
After the Negroids, the Australoids were the next group to arrive in India. They are an ethnic group composed of people characterised by brown bodies covered in wavy hair, long heads, low foreheads, thick jaws with small chins. The Indian Austrics have medium height with a dark skin complexion and flat shaped noses. Interactions with Negroids earlier on might explain their dark complexion and the shape of the nose. They are mostly located in Myanmar and islands South East of Asia with their native language used in East and Central of India.
Mongoloids
This ethnic group is found the states of Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Assam, Meghalay, Mizoram and Tripura that form North East of India. Some are also located in the Northern parts which include Sikkim, Bengal and Ladakh. They are characterised by a yellow complexion, high cheek bones with medium height.
Western Brachycephals
Tribes include the Dinarics, Alpinoids, Armenoids, Parsis and Kodavas. Found West of India in the Ganga Valley, Kashmir, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, The Western Bracycephals are characterised by their broad heads.
Dravidians
The Dravadians are believed to have arrived earlier than the Aryans. The Dravidians can be located south of India. Most South Indians belong to this ethnic group. They share the same ancestors with the Asia Minor, Crete and pre-Hellenic people of Greece. They have greatly contributed to Indian civilisation and have association to the Indus valley.
Nordic Aryans
The last of the six to arrive in India between 2000 to 1500 B.C. Mostly located North and Central parts of the Country.
A lot of people think the United States is the world’s leader of multiculturalism. The truth is that India has been the leader of multiculturalism for much longer. Over the thousands of years that India has been inhabited, people from other nations have settled in this subcontinent and brought their own culture with them. Today, there are more than 500 languages spoken throughout India. The majority of these languages are only known to tribes and indigenous people who exist in different regions of the country.
There is a total of 29 states in India and each one of them has their own official language. As for the nation itself, India has recognized two official languages for its country; Hindi and English. It is certainly unusual for a country to have two official languages, but that is how diverse India has become over the centuries. The English language allows India to become part of the global economy, attracting English speaking tourists from all around the world.
In each of the 29 states which have their own official languages, they have incorporated English as a primary unofficial language too. All the government records of the country are written in both the English and Hindi languages. States will write their government records in English and whatever their official language is. To give you some examples of state languages, here is a list of the most popular ones:
The State of West Bengal speaks the language: Bengali
The State of Jammu and Kashmir speaks the language: Dogri and Urdu
The State of Maharashtra speaks the language: Marathi
The State of Karnataka speaks the language: Kannada
The states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh speak Hindi.
Dialects
To increase the diversity, even more, there are also different dialects of the same language used in each region of India. For example, Kannada is the official language of the Indian state of Karnataka. However, Kannada is not spoken in the same way by everybody throughout the state. The dialect of the language is different between the northern region and southern region of the state.
If there are towns and cities close to the border of other Indian states, those states will influence the dialects spoken in these locations. In some cases, it may even cause these towns and cities to speak entirely new languages which are different than what is spoken in their own state. The state of Karnataka shares a border with the state of Maharashtra. Note that the former’s official state language is Kannada and the latter’s official state language is Marathi. However, near the border of these two states, there is a unique language spoken known as Konkani.
Most people think of languages as just a way to communicate with someone else. Indians take their unique languages more very personally than this. All these unique dialects, intonations, and sounds associated with these regional languages are a way for native people to recognize each other. For instance, if someone from the border of Karnataka were to travel somewhere far away and happen to meet someone else from Karnataka, they will both recognize their native origins immediately after they hear each other speak. This is how meaningful their spoken language is to them.
When you meet somebody from India, chances are they will speak more than one language. The school system in India will usually teach children at least two or three languages. English is typically the primary language that is taught to children. After that, they have a choice to learn two out of three other languages. Their choices are Hindi, their own state’s official language, or an ancient Indian language like Sanskrit or Tamil.
Indians in Singapore have come to form a large part of the population compared to the number of original Singaporeans. Interestingly, the large population of Indian expatriates and those born in Singapore has greatly impacted positively to the overall growth of the Singaporean economy; and most importantly the population. The original influx of Indians to Singapore was largely triggered by civil unrest in Indian itself. This forced a number of people to flee their homes for the safety of nearby Singapore. Some of the major reasons for the influx of the Indian population in Singapore include:
Skilled Workers
India has a large economy and well-developed industries that produce well-trained experts and skilled workers. Therefore, due to high unemployment rates and a huge population, Indians have come to Singapore to look for work and escape poverty. Singapore, on the other hand, is a developing country with a less skilled populace that has to import expertise from outside their borders to stimulate the economy. This explains the huge population of Indians in Singapore
Population
Indians in Singapore form part of the majority of the population which is not entirely Singaporean. It is a mixture of different groups including Mulay and Banglar. Singapore has no strong ancestral ties and thus the influx of other nationalities has formed a huge multi-national population. More Indians have established homes and permanent residences in Singapore due to its close proximity and unrestricted free entry into Singapore.
Multinationals and Foreign Recruiters
India has many large industries and multinational companies that have established subsidiaries in Singapore. These multinationals recruit workers (mostly Indians) from home before deploying them to Singapore. This has also largely contributed to the influx of Indian workers and expatriates (One Visa), in the various industries and companies within Singapore. Indians form a big percentage of workers, both skilled and non-skilled, in the factories and manufacturing plants.
Visa Restriction
Being a neighboring country to Singapore, Indians have been accorded less restricted visa entry requirements. Sudden surges of immigrants into Singapore have been witnessed over the years for various reasons. However, the non-restricted visa entry requirements have greatly encouraged a rise in migration of Indians into Singapore for work-related engagements. Apart from Visa entry points within Singapore, porous borders have also enabled more Indians to come to Singapore.
Negative publicity
Despite the hard work and various engagement by the Indian population in Singapore, Singapore nationals have raised concerns about the influx of Indians into the country. Indians have been accused of taking up jobs meant for Singaporeans. In almost all sectors, you will not be able to miss Indians, and more so in businesses. Indians send huge sums of money home for development and family support. This has caused tension and animosity between the nationals and foreign Indians.
Conclusion
Indians form a large part of the overall Singapore population and it will be impossible to kill their interests or even stop them from expanding. The best idea is to embrace them and co-exist with them.
It’s an annoying habit of some Indian men. I have seen some Indian men scratching their testacies in public and it really gives me the cringe. As a traveller to India, you will notice this as well and may find it objectionable. But some things in India are non-negotiable; you just have to deal with it.
Source: Flickr – amiableguyforyou
So why do they do it? Here are some possible answers from a women’s point of view…
They get itchy. It’s natural for anyone to scratch if they have an itch. If your arm is itchy, what would you do?
India is an overcrowded place and privacy is something that is not always available to Indians. So they don’t care who’s watching.
They get hot under the pants and their testicles stick to their body. India is an extremely hot country and perhaps some Indian men just have to move it round to keep it cool.
Perhaps they don’t shave down-under and their hair gets all curly. Perhaps their public hairs are knotted around the foreskin and they need to untangle. Who knows!
They spot a female that tickle their fancy causing it to get erect and they need to hide it.
Being men, they can get away with it. It’s a big deal if women were to do this kind of stuff!
They are asserting their masculinity…. “Look I’m a man; I can scratch my balls if I want to”.
They are not aware that they are doing it.
Perhaps they are doing it for comfort or maybe they enjoy it.
Maybe they have a disease.
Perhaps they are checking to see if their penis and testicles are still there.
Please note
Remember, not all Indian men do this, it all depends on their social class, their upbringing and their values. Would you find this behaviour of Indian men disgusting?
Bidi (also spelled as beedi) is a deadly poor man’s thin Indian cigarette packed with high amount of nicotine, tar and carbon monoxide. It is very popular is south Asian countries, especially in India and is exported to more than 100 countries. If you are a smoker then I wanted to pinpoint the Indian styled cigarette that you might wish to try when you are in India (at your own risk of course). But a word of warning! Research has shown that a regular size bidi contains 5 times more tar than a regular cigarette and also thrice the amount of nicotine and carbon monoxide. Apart from these they have additional harmful chemicals like phenol, benzopyrenes, hydrogen cyanide, and ammonia.
Packs of Bidis (beedi)
Often bidis are manufactured by tying unrefined tobacco flakes in a Tendu Patta (leaf of Indian Ebony plant) and rarely by Bidi leaf tree (Bauhinia Racemosa). Bidis accounts for nearly 48% of the tobacco consumed in India. They allow the consumer to ingest a lot of particulate matter as they do not have any filters on them. They are unhealthy, addictive and are known to be the cause of oral, esophagus and lung cancers among many users, in addition to increasing risk of cardiovascular diseases and lung diseases. Unlike the cigars or cigarettes, bidis do not remain lit for a long time. Like any type of smoke, bidi smokers spread the smoke, making people exposed to it passive smokers and increase their health risks too. The user has to breathe in the smoke constantly and puff the bidi to prevent it from dying down which again has serious health issues. Research conducted shows that the health risk is much higher among bidi smokers than those who puff of cigarettes.
Indian woman smoking bidi. Photo by Nagarjun Kandukuru.Compared to cigarette smokers bidi smokers run higher risk of
Bidi consumers often come from low economic background and are at most of the times unaware of its ill effects on their health. The misguided perception about the bidi among its consumers is that unlike cigarettes it is a natural, handmade product with lesser factory manufactured chemicals like cigarette.
Bidis are often purchased lose without any package and they do not have any printed warnings. Even if they are bought in package, there is no statutory warning label on the package and even in the rare cases where they are present, the users may not know to read or understand it. Unlike the cigarette smokers these people are ignorant and do not know what they are getting into. The anti-tobacco ads promoted by Government of India which had been focusing on cigarette smoking has realized this aspect and is now trying to concentrate on prevention of tobacco usage through showing the ill effects of gutka consumption, eating paan and bidi smoking. The manufacturers often avoid tax payment, which allows them to sell the product at lower rates than other licensed tobacco products.
You can buy the bidi at a pan shop
With the increasing competition in market, the manufacturers came up different flavors of bidi including fancy types like vanilla, mango, strawberry or chocolate besides the traditional ones. These have attracted young smokers, as young as 10 year olds leading to serious illness and even death in some cases.
Though Bidis came into existence in 17th century, the usage began to increase only after Gandhi’s promotion of using Indian products gained popularity among the Indians. Most of the people gave up the usage of foreign cigarettes and tobacco products and started using Bidis which were made in India by the Indians. Initially prepared by the workers of the tobacco industry who could not afford expensive cigarettes but took the waste products and wrapped in leaves to enjoy a smoke in the evening after hard work, today Bidi manufacturing is a flourishing industry where the owners are minting millions of rupees.
Though the government implemented regulations to control the bidi manufacturing, it has survived as a cottage industry employing men to work in factory for higher pay, whereas women are allowed to work from home for lesser pay. Most of the workers of bidi industry become addict to the harmful product due to its easy availability and constant exposure to it. Even those people who abstain from smoking bidi suffer from the increased cotinine levels in their blood. The sufferers are often women and children from the rural or semi-urban areas who are driven to work in the industry due to prevailing poverty.
The home based workers of bidi create constant exposure to the dust and fumes of tobacco, thus causing health hazard for all the family members including small children and even infants in some cases. Most of the people exposed to bidi manufacturing suffer from diseases like asthma, bronchitis and tuberculosis besides cancers and heart disease.
You can find beedis in “paan shops” like in the picture above. By all means try it, they are cheap and cheerful and you never know you just might like it. Don’t forget to bring some beedis home with you. Just remember that bidis are as harmful as cigarettes.
If you want to enjoy India to the fullest then you might wish to get this book:
Someone asked what gifts they can give to their Indian friends in India. This is something I had not thought about. Although you can buy everything in India but if you are struggling to figure out what to buy for your friend when you visit India then here are a few travel gifts I can think of.
Pens: Pens are valued in India. We Indians love pens which mean that if we have a quality pen, we will cherish it. So you can gift a pen to your Indian friend but do make sure that they are foreign.
When you are out and about in the markets of India, don’t be put off by those who come and approach you and offer you to polish your shoes. Its part and parcel of the Indian experience! You might feel a little intimidated about the situation but these shoe polishers (or shoe shiners or boot polishers – whatever you like to call them) are actually trying to make a living. They are not begging or trying to con you, they are simply offering a service which you will not get anywhere in the western world.
We Indians are an amazing lot. As a traveller to India, you’ll find out as soon as you step out of the airport. For instance, any sort of public affection between the two sexes is a no go area for us. Kissing in public is something that we don’t do at all costs.
The trouble with Indians is that we love bragging how great our country is and how ancient our religion is and on. But does it really matter if children like these have to sell and beg to make a living? If you are going on holiday to India then you are going to see a lot of these. In fact, every time your taxi stops at the traffic light in Delhi then a boy or girl just like in the picture will come up to you to beg or approach you to sell something. Coming from abroad, you might find this heartbreaking and out of pity you might end up buying whatever they’re selling. But we as Indians are almost immune to sights like these and most of us would probably turn a blind eye and even shoo them away.
I would like to wish everyone a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. The year 2013 is coming to an end and we must say goodbye to it. I have decided to say good bye to it by doing a small give-away on ShaluSharma.com.
I will be giving out 3 paperback copies (physical format) of my book “India Travel Survival Guide For Women”. The three randomly drawn lucky winners will win a copy of my paperback book which is on sale on Amazon.
Despite being Indian, India never fails to surprise me. Here are some interesting facts about India that you might find interesting.
*The official name of India is the Republic of India. Other names induced Bharat and often called Hindustan.
*India was the name given by the British because Indians used to grow Indigo (a dye used to colour clothes). Some say that it comes from the River Indus.
Don’t be surprised to see two men holding hands in India. In most European nations and in the USA, this public display of affection can be mistaken for being gay or lesbian but not in India. Here we don’t see it that way. Just because twomen (or women) are holding hands or they have hands on other’s shoulders does not mean anything. They just happen to be friends and there is nothing sexual about the whole thing.
In India, you’ll find lots of things for sale including services that some of you might find amusing. One such service is having your earwax removed. How cool is that? Where in the world are you going to get your earwax removed in this way? In fact, these “earwax removal guys”, we call them “walas” (or fellows) are everywhere. They are the so-called “professional” street-side ear cleaners or ear wax removers who are well versed in their job (by the way, we also have street toenail cutters, tooth pullers, head massagers, nail polishers, barbers and anything you can think of).
Someone recently told me that Indian women are the most beautiful in the world. Even Paris Hilton, on her visit to India tweeted that she finds Indian women exotic and gorgeous. It got me thinking and I came to the conclusion that Indian women are indeed naturally gifted and beautiful. No wonder Indian women have won numerous beauty pageants for instance; Susmita Sen as Miss Universe, Aishwarya Rai and Priyanka Chopra as Miss World. In addition, India has some of the world’s sexiest women for example Neha Dhupia, Riya Sen and numerous others.
India is one of the most colourful countries of the world. The Indian people love wearing colourful clothes, doing strange things and not to mention that Indian movies are full of colourful dance sequences. This makes India one of the most photogenic places on earth; hence those travelling to India must take a camera with them to capture the amazing things they might see while in India. No wonder, travellers to India such as Kathryn Burrington, Elle the Solo Female Nomad, Samuel Jeffery and Daniel McBane, all of them have recommended taking a camera with them. I agree with them completely, you never know what you will find in India.
