India, the seventh largest country in the world, is the most populous country in the world.

Mukesh Agrawal

While occupying only 2.6% of world area (3287263 km²), it sustains 17.8% of global population (1428 million) with an overall population density of 481/km². Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar are the three most populous states of India, in this order. Some important demographic characteristics of India are given in Table 28.1.

28.1