Friday, November 5, 2010

Some facts about India


This evening I saw my nephew Ragen's pictures from his trip to India. He and his friend Jiten and Jiten's wife Rebecca (both from India) visited India earlier this fall. Rebecca made and treated us to some delicious Indian foods, including chi tea. Their trip focused on mission and they traveled from the west to the south. I am even more excited to experience Indian culture!


Some background understanding:

India is a little more that one-third the size of the United States with a population of over 1.1 billion. It is the second most populated country with China being the most populated. This estimate is most likely low since some people who live in the slums are not counted in the census. 

Notice that India is comprised of numerous states and that the country of Bangladesh is nestled into India.  Each state has its own language. Students generally learn three languages in school: the official language Hindi, the secondary language English and the state language. Culture varies from state to state as well. So, they can speak, read and write in all three languages. This is a reminder to me of the value of our upcoming Spanish Immersion program at the Locust Grove campus. I love to envision that granddaughter Alana will be bilingual.

Life expectancy: 69.89 years  (You are welcome to round this off. :)

Literacy (percent of people that can read) 61%

Religions in India

Hinduism
About 80.5% of the population of India practice Hinduism. It is one of the ancient religions in the world.
Islam
After Hindus, Muslims hold the second dominant position in India. The proportion of Muslims in this country is 13.4% Muslims (over 100 million)
Christianity
Out of the total population of India, Christians constitute almost 2.3% (over 20 million).
Sikhism
About 1.9% (18 million) of India's population consists of Sikhs.
Other Indian Religions
Rest of the population (less than 2%) includes Buddhists (6 million), Jains, Parsis (Zoroastrians), Jews and Bahais.

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