Size of India

Also called: Area of India · Topic: India: Location, Size, Extent and Divisions · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 1 "Geographical Diversity of India"; Class 11, Ch 1 "India - Location"

Meaning

Size of India is the total area of India: 32,87,263 sq km (about 3.28 million sq km, or 32.87 lakh sq km) [2]. This is about 2.4% of the world's land area. It makes India the seventh-largest country in the world.

Size matters because it explains two big facts about India:

• India is very varied, with mountains, plains, plateaus, deserts and coasts.
• India's land is under heavy pressure, because it holds about 17% of the world's people on only 2.4% of its land [3].

Explanation

1. How big India is: area, share and rank

• Area: 32,87,263 sq km. Britannica gives the same figure, 3,287,263 sq km [2].
• Share of world land: about 2.4%.
• Rank: 7th in the world. The six bigger countries, from largest to smallest:

Rank	Country	Continent
1	Russia	Europe–Asia
2	Canada	North America
3	USA	North America
4	China	Asia
5	Brazil	South America
6	Australia	Australia (Oceania)
7	India	Asia

• Why some lists differ: sources measure area in different ways. For example, some count lakes and other water bodies and some do not.
• So some lists swap the USA and China at ranks 3 and 4.
• NCERT puts the USA before China.

• India stays at rank 7 in every list.

• Political units: 28 states and 8 Union Territories [2].

• In 2020, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu were joined into one UT.
• Some older government pages still show 9 UTs.

2. Frontier: how long India's borders are

• About one-third of India's frontier is coastline [2].
• Land border: 15,106.7 km [5].
• Coastline: 11,098.81 km, including the islands [4][5].
• Why the coastline figure changed:
• The old figure, 7,516.6 km, had been used since the 1970s. NCERT still gives this figure.
• The National Hydrographic Office (NHO) and the Survey of India (SoI) measured the coastline again. They used GIS (Geographic Information System: computer software that measures and maps places from digital map data) and high-resolution data [4].
• The Coastal Protection and Development Advisory Committee (CPDAC) accepted the new figure after every coastal state and UT agreed [4].
• The coast did not grow. The new method measures many more small bends and island edges, so the total is longer.

3. Small land share, very large population share

• The gap: India has 2.4% of the world's land but about 17–18% of its people.
• Census 2011 counted about 121 crore (1.21 billion) people. This was about 17.5% of the world's population (NCERT).
• The UN puts India at about 17% of the world's population, with about 1.4 billion people [3].
• India passed China in April 2023 and became the world's most populous country. By the end of April 2023, India's population was expected to reach 1,425,775,850 [3].

• The UN expects India's population to peak around 2064 and then slowly fall. China's population peaked in 2022 at 1.426 billion [3].

• Population density (the number of people living on each sq km of land): 382 persons per sq km in Census 2011 (NCERT).

• What this means: India has about 7 times more people than its share of land would suggest.
• Each person gets less farmland, water and forest.
• Land, water, forests and farms all come under heavy pressure.

4. Large size leads to great variety

• Cause: India is large, so it covers many latitudes, many heights and many kinds of rock.
• Process: each part of the country gets different weather, rivers and landforms.
• Result: India has very different landscapes:
• Lofty mountains in the north: the Himalaya.
• Snow-fed Himalayan rivers that flow all year: the Ganga and Brahmaputra.
• Rain-fed Peninsular rivers that flow east into the Bay of Bengal: the Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri.
• Forested hills in the North-East and in the south (the Western Ghats).

• Marusthali: the sandy Thar Desert, mainly in western Rajasthan.

• "Mini-continent": Class 7 NCERT uses this term. It means a country so large and varied that it has the range of landforms, climates, soils and cultures you would normally find across a whole continent.

• Largest country of the subcontinent: India is the biggest country in the Indian subcontinent, so it gives the subcontinent its name (Class 7 NCERT).

Where it occurs

• Two journeys across India show what its size means.
• North to south, Kashmir to Kanniyakumari (the southern tip of the mainland, about 8°4′N): Himalaya → Indus–Ganga alluvial plain (flat, fertile land built from silt laid down by rivers) → Vindhya–Satpura → Deccan Plateau → Nilgiri → Kerala coast.

• West to east, Jaisalmer (Rajasthan) to Imphal (Manipur): Thar Desert → Aravalli range → Ganga plain → edge of the Chota Nagpur Plateau → Bengal delta (Ganga–Brahmaputra) → Meghalaya plateau or Barak valley → Manipur hills (Purvachal).

• Land neighbours: India shares land borders with Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar [2].

• India also claims a 106 km border with Afghanistan in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir [6].

• Coastline: the coastline runs along the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. The 11,098.81 km figure includes the island coasts [4].

• In the world: India comes after Russia (Europe–Asia), Canada and the USA (North America), China (Asia), Brazil (South America) and Australia (Oceania) in area.

Don't confuse with

• Share of world land vs share of world population: India's land share is 2.4%, but its population share is about 17% (UN) [3], or 17.5% in Census 2011 (NCERT). Questions often mix the two numbers.
• Area rank vs population rank: India is 7th in area but 1st in population since April 2023 [3].
• Old coastline vs new coastline: 7,516.6 km is the old NCERT figure. 11,098.81 km is the new figure from the NHO and SoI [4]. The coastline was measured again; the land did not change.
• Land border vs coastline: the land border is 15,106.7 km [5] and the coastline is 11,098.81 km [4]. The land border is longer, and coastline makes up about one-third of the frontier [2].

Prelims Hooks

• India's area is 32,87,263 sq km, about 2.4% of the world's land. India is 7th in area [2].
• Countries larger than India, in order: Russia > Canada > USA > China > Brazil > Australia. Trap: some lists swap the USA and China, but India is 7th either way.
• India has about 17% of the world's population and became the most populous country in April 2023, passing China [3].
• New official coastline: 11,098.81 km, measured by the NHO and Survey of India using GIS. The old figure was 7,516.6 km [4].
• Land border: 15,106.7 km [5]. India shares land borders with 6 countries: Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar [2]. India also claims a 106 km border with Afghanistan [6].
• Population density in Census 2011 was 382 persons per sq km. Class 7 NCERT calls India a "mini-continent".

Mains Points

• Land–population mismatch (GS-I, GS-III): India has 2.4% of the world's land but about 17% of its people [3].
• Each person has less farmland, water and forest.
• Growing cities put more pressure on land.

• This makes food security, land-use planning and population policy key priorities.

• Size brings variety (GS-I): India spreads across many latitudes, heights and rock types.

• This gives it mountains, plains, plateaus, deserts and coasts, and a wide range of farming, minerals, energy sources and tourism.

• It also brings many kinds of disaster, such as floods, droughts, cyclones and earthquakes, so disaster planning must differ from region to region.

• A long frontier is hard to manage (GS-III): India must guard a 15,106.7 km land border and an 11,098.81 km coastline [4][5].

• This needs border fencing, coastal security and border-area development.
• All of these need policing and infrastructure, such as border roads and trade points like Nathu La.

Related concepts

• Indian Subcontinent

Read more

• Size and the Indian subcontinent