8 Billion Lives
Be born

Where you could be born / Asia / Southern Asia

Born in India

About 1 in 6 people born in 2023 started life in India. A boy can expect to live 71 years and a girl 74, up from 42 and 40 in 1950. Fewer than half of people live in cities, and nearly everyone has basic drinking water.

1 in 6
odds of being born here
23.2 million births · Ranked 1st of 230
71 / 74
years of life, boys / girls
Was 42 / 40 in 1950
$2,428
income per person a year
2021 dollars · Ranked 161st of 203 · extrapolated
35%
live in a city
Most live in villages

Life and health

Life lasts about 31 years longer than in 1950. Child deaths fell from 295 in every 1,000 births to 28.

How long a life lasts

GirlsBoys

020406080195019852023

Years a baby born that year could expect to live.

Children who die before age 5
0100200300400195019852023

In every 1,000 births.

Life expectancy at birth70.5 years for boys, 73.6 for girlsUN WPP 2024
Children who die before age 527.6 in every 1,000 birthsUN WPP 2024
Deaths a year9,507,000UN WPP 2024
Doctors per 1,000 people0.7World Bank WDI
Children immunized against measles93%World Bank WDI
Adults living with HIV0.2%World Bank WDI
New tuberculosis cases a year192 per 100,000 peopleWorld Bank WDI
Malaria cases a year1 per 1,000 people at riskWorld Bank WDI

Family

Women had 5.7 children on average in 1950. Now it is 2.0, below the 2.1 it takes to keep a population steady.

Children per woman
02468195019852023

Average over a lifetime.

Children per woman1.98UN WPP 2024
Average age of mothers at birth27.5 yearsUN WPP 2024

Money and work

If every 100 coins of income were shared out, the richest fifth would hold 34 and the poorest fifth 11.

Who gets the income
Share of all income by fifth of the population, 2023
11%Poorest fifth
15%Second
18%Middle
22%Fourth
34%Richest fifth
Income per personabout $2,428 a year (2021 dollars, adjusted for prices)World Bank PIP, scaled between survey years Extrapolated
Share of income going to the richest fifth / poorest fifth34% / 11% (2023)World Bank PIP
Unemployment4.2% of the workforce (2023)World Bank WDI
Price rises5.6% a year (2023)World Bank WDI
Growth in output per person6.3% (2023)World Bank WDI
Jobs in farming44% of jobsWorld Bank WDI
Self-employed75% of jobs (2025)World Bank WDI
Secondary school enrolment79% (can pass 100 when older students are counted)World Bank WDI

Daily life

The largest city is Mumbai, with 12.7 million people.

35%
live in cities
100%
have electricity at home
95%
have basic drinking water
Largest cities
People living there
Mumbai12.7 million
Delhi11.0 million
Bengaluru8.5 million
Hyderabad7.0 million
Ahmedabad6.4 million
Languages
Share of people who can use each
Hindi41%
English19%
Bangla8%
Telugu7%
Marathi7%
Hindi, English, Bangla, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil is official.

Cities and regions

Every state, province and large city with a page.

Largest regions

Maharashtra51.7 million
Tamil Nadu35.7 million
Uttar Pradesh34.2 million
Gujarat26.5 million
Karnataka23.1 million
West Bengal19.9 million
Madhya Pradesh18.0 million
Delhi17.5 million
Andhra Pradesh16.9 million
Rajasthan16.6 million

Sourced: GeoNames Population of each state, province or region.

Large cities

Sourced: GeoNames Cities with a page: a million people or more.

All 35 regions
  • Maharashtra51.7 million
  • Tamil Nadu35.7 million
  • Uttar Pradesh34.2 million
  • Gujarat26.5 million
  • Karnataka23.1 million
  • West Bengal19.9 million
  • Madhya Pradesh18.0 million
  • Delhi17.5 million
  • Andhra Pradesh16.9 million
  • Rajasthan16.6 million
  • Kerala15.3 million
  • Telangana15.3 million
  • Bihar12.0 million
  • Punjab9.7 million
  • Haryana8.4 million
  • Jharkhand8.0 million
  • Odisha7.3 million
  • Chhattisgarh5.0 million
  • Assam3.2 million
  • Jammu and Kashmir2.9 million
  • Uttarakhand1.9 million
  • Puducherry1.2 million
  • Chandigarh970,602
  • Tripura696,144
  • Goa599,479
  • Manipur589,696
  • Meghalaya541,871
  • Himachal Pradesh495,567
  • Nagaland475,903
  • Mizoram475,259
  • Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu349,179
  • Andaman and Nicobar217,663
  • Arunachal Pradesh196,872
  • Sikkim100,286
  • Ladakh78,813

People on the move

About 1.3% as many people born here live abroad as live here. The most common destinations are United Arab Emirates, United States, Saudi Arabia.

Where people born here live abroad
By country of residence, 2024
United Arab Emirates3,248,545
United States3,165,238
Saudi Arabia1,953,496
Residents born abroad0.3% (2024)World Bank WDI
People born here who live abroadequal to 1.3% of the people who live hereUN DESA migrant stock
Where they go mostUnited Arab Emirates (3.2 million), United States (3.2 million), Saudi Arabia (2.0 million)UN DESA migrant stock
Money sent home from abroadabout $150.7 billion a year (2025)World Bank WDI

Safety nets

46% of older people receive a pension. Help for someone who loses a job reaches 0%.

46%
of older people receive a pension (2022)
0%
of unemployed people receive a benefit (2022)

Events in the data

The game draws real events from these records, so a life lived here can meet them.

Reported COVID-19 deaths, 2020 to 2024533,623Our World in Data, from WHO
Significant earthquakes recorded since 195031; the deadliest, in 2001, killed about 20,005 people (magnitude 7.6)NOAA NCEI
Hurricane-strength storms since 198030NOAA IBTrACS
Deaths in organized violence61,021 between 1989 and 2024UCDP

Now live it.

Born in India, to a family drawn from these numbers. Every life replays exactly from its seed.

Be born in India

Elsewhere in Asia

All countries

How to read the sources. Every figure is sourced to a named dataset, shown beside it. A figure marked "Extrapolated" is estimated by a model because no survey covers the year. UN figures are for 2023, the latest year of UN estimates; other figures are the latest year their dataset has. Rank 1 is the highest figure among 230 countries and territories. All sources and licences