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South Asia

May 01, 2024

This article is about the geographical subregion of Asia. For the physiographical region of Eurasia, see Indian subcontinent.
Not to be confused with Southern Asia (UN geoscheme).

South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethnic-cultural terms. As commonly conceptualized, the modern states of South Asia include Afghanistan,[6] Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.[7] South Asia borders East Asia to the northeast, Central Asia to the northwest, West Asia to the west and Southeast Asia to the east. Topographically, it is dominated by the Indian subcontinent and is bounded by the Indian Ocean in the south, and the Himalayas, Karakoram, and Pamir Mountains in the north.[8]

South Asia
Area5,222,321 km2 (2,016,349 sq mi)
Population2.04 billion (2024)[1]
Population density362.3/km2 (938/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)$18.05 trillion (2024)[2]
GDP (nominal)$5.04 trillion (2024)[3]
GDP per capita$2,650 (nominal) (2024)
$9,470 (PPP) (2024)[4]
HDI 0.641 (2019)(medium)[5]
Ethnic groupsIndo-Aryan, Iranian, Dravidian, Sino-Tibetan, Austroasiatic, Turkic etc.
ReligionsHinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Irreligion
Demonym
Countries
Dependencies
Languages
Official languages (national level)
Other official languages (provincial/regional level)
Time zones
5 time zones
Internet TLD.af, .bd, .bt, .in, .io, .lk, .mv, .np, .pk
Calling codeZone 8 & 9
Largest cities
UN M49 code034 – Southern Asia
142 – Asia
001 – World

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an economic cooperation organization in the region which was established in 1985 and includes all eight nations comprising South Asia.[9] South Asia has a total area of 5.2 million sq.km (2 million sq.mi), which is 10% of the Asian continent.[7] According to the United Nations, the population of South Asia, including Iran, is estimated to be 2.04 billion[10][11] or about one-fourth of the world's population, making it both the most populous and the most densely populated geographical region in the world.[12]

In 2022, South Asia had the world's largest populations of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Jains, and Zoroastrians.[13] South Asia alone accounts for 90.47% of Hindus, 95.5% of Sikhs, and 31% of Muslims worldwide, as well as 35 million Christians and 25 million Buddhists.[14][15][16][17]

Definition

 
Various definitions of South Asia, including the definition by the United Nations geoscheme which was created for "statistical convenience and does not imply any assumption regarding political or other affiliation of countries or territories."[18]

The geographical extent is not clear cut as systemic and foreign policy orientations of its constituents are quite asymmetrical.[19] Beyond the core territories of the Indian Empire (territories of the British Empire which were under the system of British Raj), there is a high degree of variation as to which other countries are included in South Asia.[20][21][22][23] There is no clear boundary – geographical, geopolitical, socio-cultural, economical, or historical – between South Asia and other parts of Asia, especially Southeast Asia and West Asia.[24]

The common definition of South Asia is largely inherited from the administrative boundaries of the Indian Empire,[25] with several exceptions. The current territories of Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan which were the core territories of the British Empire from 1857 to 1947 also form the core territories of South Asia.[26][27] The mountain countries of Nepal and Bhutan, two independent countries that were not under the British Raj but were protectorates of the Empire,[28] and the island countries of Sri Lanka and Maldives are generally included.[29] By various definitions based on substantially different reasons, the British Indian Ocean Territory and the Tibet Autonomous Region may be included as well.[30][31][32][33][34][35] Myanmar (Burma), a former British colony and now largely considered a part of Southeast Asia, is also sometimes included.[19][21][36] Afghanistan is also included by some sources.[19][21][37][38]

 
United Nations map of South Asia.[39] However, the United Nations does not endorse any definitions or area boundaries.[note 2]

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), a contiguous block of countries, started in 1985 with seven countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka – and admitted Afghanistan as an eighth member in 2007.[40][41] China and Myanmar have also applied for the status of full members of SAARC.[42][43] The South Asia Free Trade Agreement admitted Afghanistan in 2011.[44]

The World Bank and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) recognizes the eight SAARC countries as South Asia,[45][46][47][48] The Hirschman–Herfindahl index of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific for the region excludes Afghanistan from South Asia.[49] Population Information Network (POPIN) excludes Maldives which is included as a member Pacific POPIN subregional network.[50] The United Nations Statistics Division's scheme of subregions, for statistical purpose,[18] includes Iran along with all eight members of the SAARC as part of Southern Asia.[51] The United Nations Industrial Development Organization includes Iran as well as Afghanistan as parts of South Asia.[52]

The boundaries of South Asia vary based on how the region is defined. South Asia's northern, eastern, and western boundaries vary based on definitions used, while the Indian Ocean is the southern periphery. Most of this region rests on the Indian Plate and is isolated from the rest of Asia by mountain barriers.[53][54] Much of the region consists of a peninsula in south-central Asia, rather resembling a diamond which is delineated by the Himalayas on the north, the Hindu Kush in the west, and the Arakanese in the east,[55] and which extends southward into the Indian Ocean with the Arabian Sea to the southwest and the Bay of Bengal to the southeast.[56][57]

 
While South Asia had never been a coherent geopolitical region, it has a distinct geographical identity[36][55]

The terms "Indian subcontinent" and "South Asia" are sometimes used interchangeably.[29][56][58][59][60] The Indian subcontinent is largely a geological term referring to the land mass that drifted northeastwards from ancient Gondwana, colliding with the Eurasian plate nearly 55 million years ago, towards the end of Palaeocene. This geological region largely includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.[61] Historians Catherine Asher and Cynthia Talbot state that the term "Indian subcontinent" describes a natural physical landmass in South Asia that has been relatively isolated from the rest of Eurasia.[62]

The use of the term Indian subcontinent began in the British Empire, and has been a term particularly common in its successors.[58] South Asia as the preferred term is particularly common when scholars or officials seek to differentiate this region from East Asia.[63] According to historians Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal, the Indian subcontinent has come to be known as South Asia "in more recent and neutral parlance."[59] This "neutral" notion refers to the concerns of Pakistan and Bangladesh, particularly given the recurring conflicts between India and Pakistan, wherein the dominant placement of "India" as a prefix before the subcontinent might offend some political sentiments.[36] However, in Pakistan, the term "South Asia" is considered too India-centric and was banned until 1989 after the death of Zia ul Haq.[64] This region has also been labelled as "India" (in its classical and pre-modern sense) and "Greater India".[36][55]

According to Robert M. Cutler – a scholar of political science at Carleton University,[65] the terms South Asia, Southwest Asia, and Central Asia are distinct, but the confusion and disagreements have arisen due to the geopolitical movement to enlarge these regions into Greater South Asia, Greater Southwest Asia, and Greater Central Asia. The frontier of Greater South Asia, states Cutler, between 2001 and 2006 has been geopolitically extended to eastern Iran and western Afghanistan in the west, and in the north to northeastern Iran, northern Afghanistan, and southern Uzbekistan.[65]

Identification with a South Asian identity was found to be significantly low among respondents in an older two-year survey across Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.[66]

History

For a topical guide, see Outline of South Asian history. For a chronological guide, see Timeline of South Asian history.

Pre-history

The history of core South Asia begins with evidence of human activity of Homo sapiens, as long as 75,000 years ago, or with earlier hominids including Homo erectus from about 500,000 years ago.[67] The earliest prehistoric culture have roots in the mesolithic sites as evidenced by the rock paintings of Bhimbetka rock shelters dating to a period of 30,000 BCE or older,[note 3] as well as neolithic times.[note 4]

Ancient era

 
Indus Valley civilisation during 2600–1900 BCE, the mature phase

The Indus Valley civilization, which spread and flourished in the northwestern part of South Asia from c. 3300 to 1300 BCE in present-day Pakistan, Northern India and Afghanistan, was the first major civilization in South Asia.[68] A sophisticated and technologically advanced urban culture developed in the Mature Harappan period, from 2600 to 1900 BCE.[69] According to anthropologist Possehl, the Indus Valley civilization provides a logical, if somewhat arbitrary, starting point for South Asian religions, but these links from the Indus religion to later-day South Asian traditions are subject to scholarly dispute.[70]

 
Maurya Empire in 250 BCE

The Vedic period, named after the Vedic religion of the Indo-Aryans,[note 5] lasted from c. 1900 to 500 BCE.[72][73] The Indo-Aryans were Indo-European-speaking pastoralists[74] who migrated into north-western India after the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization.[71][75] Linguistic and archaeological data show a cultural change after 1500 BCE,[71] with the linguistic and religious data clearly showing links with Indo-European languages and religion.[76] By about 1200 BCE, the Vedic culture and agrarian lifestyle were established in the northwest and northern Gangetic plain of South Asia.[74][77][78] Rudimentary state-forms appeared, of which the Kuru-Pañcāla union was the most influential.[79][80] The first recorded state-level society in South Asia existed around 1000 BCE.[74] In this period, states Samuel, emerged the Brahmana and Aranyaka layers of Vedic texts, which merged into the earliest Upanishads.[81] These texts began to ask the meaning of a ritual, adding increasing levels of philosophical and metaphysical speculation,[81] or "Hindu synthesis".[82]

Increasing urbanisation of South Asia between 800 and 400 BCE, and possibly the spread of urban diseases, contributed to the rise of ascetic movements and of new ideas which challenged the orthodox Brahmanism.[83][failed verification] These ideas led to Sramana movements, of which Mahavira (c. 549–477 BCE), proponent of Jainism, and Buddha (c. 563 – c. 483), founder of Buddhism, was the most prominent icons.[84]

The Greek army led by Alexander the Great stayed in the Hindu Kush region of South Asia for several years and then later moved into the Indus valley region. Later, the Maurya Empire extended over much of South Asia in the 3rd century BCE. Buddhism spread beyond south Asia, through northwest into Central Asia. The Bamiyan Buddhas of Afghanistan and the edicts of Aśoka suggest that the Buddhist monks spread Buddhism (Dharma) in eastern provinces of the Seleucid Empire, and possibly even farther into West Asia.[85][86][87] The Theravada school spread south from India in the 3rd century BCE, to Sri Lanka, later to Southeast Asia.[88] Buddhism, by the last centuries of the 1st millennium BCE, was prominent in the Himalayan region, Gandhara, Hindu Kush region and Bactria.[89][90][91]

From about 500 BCE through about 300 CE, the Vedic-Brahmanic synthesis or "Hindu synthesis" continued.[82] Classical Hindu and Sramanic (particularly Buddhist) ideas spread within South Asia, as well as outside South Asia.[92][93][94] The Gupta Empire ruled over a large part of the region between the 4th and 7th centuries, a period that saw the construction of major temples, monasteries and universities such as the Nalanda.[95][96][97] During this era, and through the 10th century, numerous cave monasteries and temples such as the Ajanta Caves, Badami cave temples and Ellora Caves were built in South Asia.[98][99][100]

Medieval era

 
Outreach of influence of early medieval Chola dynasty

Islam came as a political power in the fringe of South Asia in 8th century CE when the Arab general Muhammad bin Qasim conquered Sindh, and Multan in Southern Punjab, in modern-day Pakistan.[101] By 962 CE, Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms in South Asia were under a wave of raids from Muslim armies from Central Asia.[102] Among them was Mahmud of Ghazni, who raided and plundered kingdoms in north India from east of the Indus river to west of Yamuna river seventeen times between 997 and 1030.[103] Mahmud of Ghazni raided the treasuries but retracted each time, only extending Islamic rule into western Punjab.[104][105]

 
Timur defeats the Sultan of Delhi, Nasir-u Din Mehmud, in the winter of 1397–1398

The wave of raids on north Indian and western Indian kingdoms by Muslim warlords continued after Mahmud of Ghazni, plundering and looting these kingdoms.[106] The raids did not establish or extend permanent boundaries of their Islamic kingdoms. The Ghurid Sultan Mu'izz al-Din Muhammad began a systematic war of expansion into North India in 1173.[107] He sought to carve out a principality for himself by expanding the Islamic world,[103][108] and thus laid the foundation for the Muslim kingdom that became the Delhi Sultanate.[103] Some historians chronicle the Delhi Sultanate from 1192 due to the presence and geographical claims of Mu'izz al-Din in South Asia by that time.[109]

The Delhi Sultanate covered varying parts of South Asia and was ruled by a series of dynasties: Mamluk, Khalji, Tughlaq, Sayyid and Lodi dynasties. Muhammad bin Tughlaq came to power in 1325, launched a war of expansion and the Delhi Sultanate reached it largest geographical reach over the South Asian region during his 26-year rule.[110] A Sunni Sultan, Muhammad bin Tughlaq persecuted non-Muslims such as Hindus, as well as non-Sunni Muslims such as Shia and Mahdi sects.[111][112][113]

Revolts against the Delhi Sultanate sprang up in many parts of South Asia during the 14th century.[citation needed] In the northeast, the Bengal Sultanate became independent in 1346 CE. It remained in power through the early 16th century. The state religion of the sultanate was Islam.[114][115] In South India, the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire came to power in 1336 and persisted until the middle of the 16th century. It was ultimately defeated and destroyed by an alliance of Muslim Deccan sultanates at the battle of Talikota.[116][117]

About 1526, the Punjab governor Dawlat Khan Lodī reached out to the Mughal Babur and invited him to attack Delhi Sultanate. Babur defeated and killed Ibrahim Lodi in the Battle of Panipat in 1526. The death of Ibrahim Lodi ended the Delhi Sultanate, and the Mughal Empire replaced it.[118]

Modern era

 
Emperor Shah Jahan and his son Prince Aurangzeb in Mughal Court, 1650

The modern history period of South Asia, that is 16th-century onwards, witnessed the establishment of the Mughal empire, with Sunni Islam theology. The first ruler was Babur had Turco-Mongol roots and his realm included the northwest and Indo-Gangetic Plain regions of South Asia. The southern and northeastern regions of South Asia were largely under Hindu kings such as those of Vijayanagara Empire and Ahom kingdom,[119] with some regions such as parts of modern Telangana and Andhra Pradesh under local Sultanates namely Deccan sultanates.[120][121]

The Mughal Empire continued its wars of expansion after Babur's death. With the fall of the Rajput kingdoms and Vijayanagara, its boundaries encompassed almost the entirety of the Indian subcontinent.[122] The Mughal Empire was marked by a period of artistic exchanges and a Central Asian and South Asian architecture synthesis, with remarkable buildings such as the Taj Mahal.[123][121][124]

However, this time also marked an extended period of religious persecution.[125] Two of the religious leaders of Sikhism, Guru Arjan and Guru Tegh Bahadur were arrested under orders of the Mughal emperors after their revolts and were executed when they refused to convert to Islam.[126][127][128] Religious taxes on non-Muslims called jizya were imposed. Buddhist, Hindu and Sikh temples were desecrated. However, not all Muslim rulers persecuted non-Muslims. Akbar, a Mughal ruler for example, sought religious tolerance and abolished jizya.[129][130][131][132]

 
British Indian Empire in 1909. British India is shaded pink, the princely states yellow.

After the death of Aurangzeb and the collapse of the Mughal Empire, which marks the beginning of modern India, in the early 18th century, it provided opportunities for the Marathas, Sikhs, Mysoreans and Nawabs of Bengal to exercise control over large regions of the Indian subcontinent.[133][134] By the mid-18th century, India was a major proto-industrializing region.[135][121]

Maritime trading between South Asia and European merchants began after the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama returned to Europe. British, French, Portuguese colonial interests struck treaties with these rulers and established their trading ports. In northwest South Asia, a large region was consolidated into the Sikh Empire by Ranjit Singh.[136][137] After the defeat of the Nawab of Bengal and Tipu Sultan and his French allies, the British Empire expanded their control to the Hindu Kush region. By the 19th century, British traders had conquered much of South Asia using divide-and-rule tactics, with the region experiencing significant de-industrialisation in its first few decades of British rule.[138] Control of the region was transferred to the British government after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, with the British cracking down to some extent afterwards.[139] An increase of famines and extreme poverty characterised the colonial period, though railways built with British technology eventually provided crucial famine relief by increasing food distribution throughout India.[140][138] Introduction of Western political thought inspired a growing Indian intellectual movement. By the 20th century, the British rule begin to be challenged by the Indian National Congress under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi to seek full independence from the British rule.[141][142]

Britain, under pressure from Indian freedom fighters, increasingly gave self-rule to British India. By the 1940s, two rival camps emerged among independence activists: those who favored a separate nation for Indian Muslims, and those who wanted a united India. As World War II raged, over 2 million Indians fought for Britain.[143] After the war, the process of independence took place and Britain granted independence to the vast majority of South Asians in 1947,[144] though this coincided with the partition of India into a Hindu-majority India and a Muslim-majority Pakistan, which resulted in significant violence and hardened religious divides in the region for some months.[145]

Contemporary era

India and Pakistan clashed several times in the decades after Independence, with disputes over Kashmir playing a significant role.[146] In 1971, the eastern half of Pakistan seceded with help from India and became the People's Republic of Bangladesh after the traumatic Bangladesh Liberation War.[147] This, along with India and Pakistan gaining nuclear weapons soon afterwards, increased tensions between the two countries.[148] The Cold War decades also contributed to the divide, as Pakistan aligned with the West and India with the Soviet Union; modern legacies of this divide include the majority of India's modern-day weaponry being Russian in origin.[149][150]

Pakistan has been beset with terrorism, economic issues and military dominance of its government since Independence,[151] with none of its Prime Ministers having completed a full 5-year term in office.[152] India has grown significantly,[153] having slashed its rate of extreme poverty to below 20%.[154] Bangladesh, having struggled greatly for decades due to conflict with and economic exploitation by Pakistan,[155][156] is now one of the fastest-growing countries in the region, beating India in terms of GDP per capita.[157][158] Afghanistan has gone through several invasions and Islamist regimes, with many of its refugees having gone to Pakistan and other parts of South Asia and bringing back cultural influences such as cricket.[159][160] Religious nationalism has grown across the region, with human rights violations causing millions of Hindus and Christians to flee Pakistan and Bangladesh,[161][162] and Hindu nationalism having grown in India with the election of the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014.[163] A recent phenomenon has been that of India and China fighting on their border, as well as vying for dominance of South Asia, with China able to use its superior economy to attract countries surrounding India.[164]

Further information: War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) and Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts

Geography

Further information: Geography of India, Geography of Pakistan, Geography of Afghanistan, Geography of Bangladesh, Geography of Bhutan, Geography of Sri Lanka, Geography of Nepal, and Geography of the Maldives

According to Saul Cohen, early colonial era strategists treated South Asia with East Asia, but in reality, the South Asia region excluding Afghanistan is a distinct geopolitical region separated from other nearby geostrategic realms, one that is geographically diverse.[165] The region is home to a variety of geographical features, such as glaciers, rainforests, valleys, deserts, and grasslands that are typical of much larger continents. It is surrounded by three water bodies – the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea – and has acutely varied climate zones. The tip of the Indian Peninsula had the highest quality pearls.[166]

Indian Plate

Main article: Indian Plate

Most of this region is resting on the Indian Plate, the northerly portion of the Indo-Australian Plate, separated from the rest of the Eurasian Plate. The Indian Plate includes most of South Asia, forming a land mass which extends from the Himalayas into a portion of the basin under the Indian Ocean, including parts of South China and Eastern Indonesia, as well as Kunlun and Karakoram ranges,[167][168] and extending up to but not including Ladakh, Kohistan, the Hindu Kush range, and Balochistan.[169][170][171] It may be noted that geophysically the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Tibet is situated at the outside the border of the regional structure, while the Pamir Mountains in Tajikistan are situated inside that border.[172]

The Indian subcontinent formerly formed part of the supercontinent Gondwana, before rifting away during the Cretaceous period and colliding with the Eurasian Plate about 50–55 million years ago and giving birth to the Himalayan range and the Tibetan plateau. It is the peninsular region south of the Himalayas and Kuen Lun mountain ranges and east of the Indus River and the Iranian Plateau, extending southward into the Indian Ocean between the Arabian Sea (to the southwest) and the Bay of Bengal (to the southeast).

Climate

 
South Asia's Köppen climate classification map[173] is based on native vegetation, temperature, precipitation and their seasonality.
  (Af) Tropical rainforest
  (Am) Tropical monsoon
  (Aw) Tropical savanna, wet & dry
  (BWh) Hot desert
  (BWk) Cold desert
  (BSh) Hot semi arid
  (BSk) Cold semi arid
  (Csa) Mediterranean, dry, hot summer
  (Cfa) Subtropical, humid
  (Cwa) Subtropical, humid summer, dry winter
  (Cwb) Subtropical highland, dry winter
  (Dsa) Continental, hot summer
  (Dsb) Continental, warm summer
  (Dwb) Continental, dry winter
  (Dwc) Continental Subarctic, dry winter

The climate of this vast region varies considerably from area to area from tropical monsoon in the south to temperate in the north. The variety is influenced by not only the altitude but also by factors such as proximity to the seacoast and the seasonal impact of the monsoons. Southern parts are mostly hot in summers and receive rain during monsoon periods. The northern belt of Indo-Gangetic plains also is hot in summer, but cooler in winter. The mountainous north is colder and receives snowfall at higher altitudes of Himalayan ranges.

As the Himalayas block the north-Asian bitter cold winds, the temperatures are considerably moderate in the plains down below. For the most part, the climate of the region is called the monsoon climate, which keeps the region humid during summer and dry during winter, and favours the cultivation of jute, tea, rice, and various vegetables in this region.

South Asia is largely divided into four broad climate zones:[174]

Maximum relative humidity of over 80% has been recorded in Khasi and Jaintia Hills and Sri Lanka, while the area adjustment to Pakistan and western India records lower than 20%–30%.[174] Climate of South Asia is largely characterized by monsoons. South Asia depends critically on monsoon rainfall.[175] Two monsoon systems exist in the region:[176]

  • The summer monsoon: Wind blows from the southwest to most parts of the region. It accounts for 70%–90% of the annual precipitation.
  • The winter monsoon: Wind blows from the northeast. Dominant in Sri Lanka and Maldives.

The warmest period of the year precedes the monsoon season (March to mid June). In the summer the low pressures are centered over the Indus-Gangetic Plain and high wind from the Indian Ocean blows towards the center. The monsoons are the second coolest season of the year because of high humidity and cloud covering. But, at the beginning of June, the jetstreams vanish above the Tibetan Plateau, low pressure over the Indus Valley deepens and the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) moves in. The change is violent. Moderately vigorous monsoon depressions form in the Bay of Bengal and make landfall from June to September.[174]

Climate change in South Asia is causing a range of challenges including sea level rise, cyclonic activity, and changes in ambient temperature and precipitation patterns.[177]

Regions

Main category: Regions of South Asia
Further information: Northern South Asia, Eastern South Asia, East India, Central India, South India, West India, and Northwestern South Asia

Land and water area

See also: Exclusive economic zone and Indian Ocean

This list includes dependent territories within their sovereign states (including uninhabited territories), but does not include claims on Antarctica. EEZ+TIA is exclusive economic zone (EEZ) plus total internal area (TIA) which includes land and internal waters.

Country Area in km2 EEZ Shelf EEZ+TIA
  Afghanistan 652,864 0 0 652,864
  Bangladesh 148,460 86,392 66,438 230,390
  Bhutan 38,394 0 0 38,394
  India 3,287,263 2,305,143 402,996 5,592,406
  Nepal 147,181 0 0 147,181
  Maldives 298 923,322 34,538 923,622
  Pakistan 881,913 290,000 51,383 1,117,911
  Sri Lanka 65,610 532,619 32,453 598,229
Total 5,221,093 4,137,476 587,808 9,300,997

Society

See also: South Asian ethnic groups

Population

The population of South Asia is about 1.938 billion which makes it the most populated region in the world.[178] It is socially very mixed, consisting of many language groups and religions, and social practices in one region that are vastly different from those in another.[179]

Country Population in thousands

(2023)[180][1]

% of South Asia % of world[181] Density (per km2) Population growth rate[182] Population projection (in thousands)[180][1]
2005–10 2010–15 2015–20 1950 1975 2000 2025 2050 2075 2100
  Afghanistan 42,240 2.17% 0.525% 61.8 2.78 3.16 2.41 7,752 12,689 20,779 44,516 74,075 98,732 110,855
  Bangladesh 172,954 8.92% 2.15% 1301 1.18 1.16 1.04 37,895 70,066 127,658 170,937 203,905 201,891 176,366
  Bhutan 787 0.04% 0.00978% 20.3 2.05 1.58 1.18 177 348 591 797 874 803 654
  India 1,428,628 73.7% 17.5% 473.4 1.46 1.23 1.10 376,325 623,103 1,056,576 1,454,607 1,670,491 1,676,035 1,529,850
  Maldives 521 0.03% 0.00647% 1738.2 2.68 2.76 1.85 74 136 279 515 570 543 469
  Nepal 30,897 1.59% 0.384% 204.1 1.05 1.17 1.09 8,483 13,420 23,941 31,577 37,401 38,189 33,770
  Pakistan 240,486 12.4% 2.98% 300.2 2.05 2.09 1.91 37,542 66,817 142,344 249,949 367,808 453,262 487,017
  Sri Lanka 21,894 1.13% 0.272% 347.2 0.68 0.50 0.35 7,971 13,755 18,778 22,000 21,815 19,000 14,695
South Asia 1,938,407 100% 24.094% 377.5 - - - 476,220 800,335 1,390,946 1,974,898 2,376,939 2,488,455 2,353,676
Population of South Asian countries in 1950, 1975, 2000, 2025, 2050, 2075 and 2100 projection from the United Nations has been displayed in table. The given population projections are based on medium fertility index. With India and Bangladesh approaching replacement rates fast, population growth in South Asia is facing steep decline and may turn negative in mid 21st century.[180][1]

Languages

Main article: Languages of South Asia
 
Ethno-linguistic distribution map of South Asia
 SindhGujaratBalochistan, PakistanPunjabKhyber PakhtunkhwaHindi beltHindi beltKashmirBhutanNepalBengalNortheast IndiaTelugu statesMaharashtraOdishaKarnatakaKeralaTamil NaduSri Lankan TamilsSinhalese people
A clickable map of the main language spoken in each state/province of South Asia excluding Afghanistan and the Maldives. Indo-Aryan languages are in green, Iranic languages in dark green, Dravidian languages in purple, and Tibeto-Burman languages in red.

There are numerous languages in South Asia. The spoken languages of the region are largely based on geography and shared across religious boundaries, but the written script is sharply divided by religious boundaries. In particular, Muslims of South Asia such as in Afghanistan and Pakistan use the Arabic alphabet and Persian Nastaliq. Till 1952, Muslim-majority Bangladesh (then known as East Pakistan) also mandated only the Nastaliq script, but after that adopted regional scripts and particularly Bengali, after the Language Movement for the adoption of Bengali as the official language of the then East Pakistan. Non-Muslims of South Asia, and some Muslims in India, on the other hand, use scripts such as those derived from Brahmi script for Indo-European languages and non-Brahmi scripts for Dravidian languages and others.[183][184]

The Nagari script has been the primus inter pares of the traditional South Asian scripts.[185] The Devanagari script is used for over 120 South Asian languages,[186] including Hindi,[187] Marathi, Nepali, Pali, Konkani, Bodo, Sindhi and Maithili among other languages and dialects, making it one of the most used and adopted writing systems in the world.[188] The Devanagari script is also used for classical Sanskrit texts.[186]

The largest spoken language in this region is Hindustani language, followed by Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Gujarati, Kannada, and Punjabi.[183][184] In the modern era, new syncretic languages developed in the region such as Urdu that are used by the Muslim community of northern South Asia (particularly Pakistan and northern states of India).[189] The Punjabi language spans three religions: Islam, Hinduism, and Sikhism. The spoken language is similar, but it is written in three scripts. The Sikh use Gurmukhi alphabet, Muslim Punjabis in Pakistan use the Nastaliq script, while Hindu Punjabis in India use the Gurmukhi or Nāgarī script. The Gurmukhi and Nagari scripts are distinct but close in their structure, but the Persian Nastaliq script is very different.[190]

Sino-Tibetan languages are spoken across northern belts of the region in the Himalayan areas, often using the Tibetan script.[191] These languages are predominantly spoken in Bhutan and Nepal as well as parts of Burma and northern India in the state of Sikkim and the Ladakh region.[192] The national language of Bhutan is Dzongkha, while Lepcha, Limbu, Gurung, Magar, Rai, Newari, Tamang, Tshangla, Thakali and Sikkimese are also spoken in Bhutan, Nepal and Sikkim, and Ladakhi is spoken in Ladakh.[192] Both Buddhism and Bon are often predominant in areas where these languages are present.[192][191] Some areas in Gilgit-Baltistan also speak Balti language, however speakers write with the Urdu script.[191] The Tibetan script fell out of use in Pakistani Baltistan hundreds of years ago upon the region's adoption of Islam[191]

English, with British spelling, is commonly used in urban areas and is a major economic lingua franca of South Asia.[193]

Religions

Main article: Religion in South Asia
Further information: Religion in Bangladesh, Religion in Bhutan, Religion in India, Religion in Nepal, Religion in Pakistan, and Religion in Sri Lanka
 
Religious Diversity in South Asia by National Subdivision

Religion in British India 1871–1872 Census (includes modern-day India, Bangladesh, most of Pakistan and coastal Myanmar))[194]

  Hinduism (73.07%)
  Islam (21.45%)
  Buddhism and Jainism (1.49%)
  Sikhism (0.62%)
  Christianity (0.47%)
  Others (2.68%)
  Religion not known (0.22%)

In 2010, South Asia had the world's largest population of Hindus,[16] about 510 million Muslims,[16] over 27 million Sikhs, 35 million Christians and over 25 million Buddhists.[14] Hindus make up about 68 percent or about 900 million and Muslims at 31 percent or 510 million of the overall South Asia population,[195] while Buddhists, Jains, Christians and Sikhs constitute most of the rest. The Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs and Christians are concentrated in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan, while the Muslims are concentrated in Afghanistan (99%), Bangladesh (90%), Pakistan (96%) and Maldives (100%).[16] With all major religions practised in the subcontinent, South Asia is known for its religious diversity and one of the most religiously diverse regions on earth.

Indian religions are the religions that originated in the Indian subcontinent; namely Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism.[196] The Indian religions are distinct yet share terminology, concepts, goals and ideas, and from South Asia spread into East Asia and southeast Asia.[196] Early Christianity and Islam were introduced into coastal regions of South Asia by merchants who settled among the local populations. Later Sindh, Balochistan, and parts of the Punjab region saw conquest by the Arab caliphates along with an influx of Muslims from Persia and Central Asia, which resulted in spread of both Shia and Sunni Islam in parts of northwestern region of South Asia. Subsequently, under the influence of Muslim rulers of the Islamic sultanates and the Mughal Empire, Islam spread in South Asia.[197][198] About one-third of the world's Muslims are from South Asia.[15][17][13]

Country State religion Religious population as a percentage of total population
Buddhism Christianity Hinduism Islam Kiratism Sikhism Others Year reported
  Afghanistan Islam – – – 99.7% – – 0.3% 2019[199]
  Bangladesh Islam 0.6% 0.4% 9.5% 90.4% – – – 2011[200]
  Bhutan Vajrayana Buddhism 74.8% 0.5% 22.6% 0.1% – – 2% 2010[201][202]
  India Secular 0.7% 2.3% 79.8% 14.2% – 1.7% 1.3% 2011[203][204]
  Maldives Islam – – – 100% – – – [205][206][207]
  Nepal Secular 9% 1.3% 81.3% 4.4% 3% – 0.8% 2013[208]
  Pakistan Islam – 1.59% 1.85% 96.28% – – 0.07% 2010[209]
  Sri Lanka Theravada Buddhism 70.2% 6.2% 12.6% 9.7% – – 1.4% 2011[210]

Largest urban areas

South Asia is home to some of the most populated urban areas in the world. According to the 2023 edition of Demographia World Urban Areas, the region contains 8 of the world's 35 megacities (urban areas over 10 million population):[211]

Rank Urban Area State/Province Country Skyline Population[211] Area (km2)[211] Density (/km2)[211]
1 Delhi National Capital Region   India
 
 31,190,000 2,344 13,307
2 Mumbai Maharashtra   India
 
 25,189,000 1,046 24,073
3 Kolkata West Bengal   India
 
 21,747,000 1,352 16,085
4 Karachi Sindh   Pakistan
 
 20,249,000 1,124 18,014
5 Dhaka Dhaka Division   Bangladesh
 
 19,134,000 619 30,911
6 Bangalore Karnataka   India
 
 15,257,000 1,743 8,753
7 Lahore Punjab   Pakistan
 
 13,504,000 945 14,285
8 Chennai Tamil Nadu   India
 
 11,570,000 1,225 9,444
9 Hyderabad Telangana   India
 
 9,797,000 1,689 5,802
10 Ahmedabad Gujarat   India
 
 8,006,000 505 15,852

Diaspora

This section is an excerpt from South Asian diaspora.[edit]
The South Asian diaspora, also known as the Desi diaspora,[212] is the group of people whose ancestral origins lie in South Asia (the Indian subcontinent), but who live outside the region.[213] There are over 44 million people in this diaspora.[214]

Culture

Main article: South Asian culture
See also: Category:South Asian culture

Sports

Main articles: Sport in South Asia and Traditional games of South Asia

Cricket is the most popular sport in South Asia,[215] with 90% of the sport's worldwide fans being in the Indian subcontinent.[216] There are also some traditional games, such as kabaddi and kho-kho, which are played across the region and officially at the South Asian Games and Asian Games;[217][218][219] the leagues created for these traditional sports (such as Pro Kabaddi League and Ultimate Kho Kho) are some of the most-watched sports competitions in the region.[220][221]

Cinema

This section is an excerpt from South Asian cinema.[edit]
Cinema is prominent in South Asia, with the Bollywood (representing the most-spoken language in the region of Hindi) and South Indian film industries being the most dominant. Pakistan's Lollywood also is growing, while historically, Bengali cinema was highly acclaimed by international film circles.

Music

Main article: Music of South Asia

Cuisine

Main article: South Asian cuisine

Economy

Main article: Economy of South Asia
Further information: Economy of Afghanistan, Economy of Bangladesh, Economy of India, Economy of Nepal, Economy of Pakistan, and Economy of Sri Lanka
 
Mumbai is the financial capital of India with GDP of $400 billion[222]
 
GDP per capita development in South Asia

India is the largest economy in the region (US$ 4.11 trillion) and makes up almost 80% of the South Asian economy; it is the world's 5th largest in nominal terms and 3rd largest by purchasing power adjusted exchange rates (US$ 14.26 trillion).[223] India is the member of G-20 major economies and BRICS from the region. It is the fastest-growing major economy in the world and one of the world's fastest registering a growth of 7.2% in FY 2022–23.[224]

India is followed by Bangladesh, which has a GDP of ($446 billion). It has the fastest GDP growth rate in Asia. It is one of the emerging and growth-leading economies of the world, and is also listed among the Next Eleven countries. It is also one of the fastest-growing middle-income countries. It has the world's 33rd largest GDP in nominal terms and is the 25th largest by purchasing power adjusted exchange rates ($1.476 trillion). Bangladesh's economic growth was 6.4% in 2022.[225] The next one is Pakistan, which has an economy of ($340 billion). Next is Sri Lanka, which has the 2nd highest GDP per capita and the 4th largest economy in the region. According to a World Bank report in 2015, driven by a strong expansion in India, coupled with favorable oil prices, from the last quarter of 2014 South Asia became the fastest-growing region in the world.[226]

Certain parts of South Asia are significantly wealthier than others; the four Indian states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Karnataka are projected to account for almost 50% of India's GDP by 2030, while the five South Indian states comprising 20% of India's population are expected to contribute 35% of India's GDP by 2030.[227]

Country
[228][229][230] 		GDP Inflation

(2022)[231]

HDI
Nominal GDP
(in millions) (2022) (%Share)[232] 		GDP per capita

(2022)[233]

GDP (PPP)
(in millions) (2022) (%Share) 		GDP (PPP) per capita (2022) GDP growth

(2022)[234]

HDI

(2019)[235]

Inequality-adjusted HDI (2019)[236]
  Afghanistan[237] $20,136 (2020) $611 (2020) $80,912 (2020) $2,456 (2020) -2.4% (2020) 5.6% (2020)  0.478 (low) No data
  Bangladesh $460,751 (10.41%) $2,734 $1,345,646 (8.97%) $7,985 7.2% 6.1%  0.661 (medium)  0.465 (low)
  Bhutan $2,707 (0.06%) $3,562 $9,937 (0.07%) $13,077 4.0% 7.7%  0.666 (medium)  0.450 (low)
  India $3,468,566 (78.35%) $2,466 $11,665,490 (77.74%) $8,293 6.8% 6.9%  0.633 (medium)  0.538 (low)
  Maldives $5,900 (0.13%) $15,097 $12,071 (0.08%) $30,888 8.7% 4.3%  0.747 (high)  0.568 (medium)
    Nepal $39,028 (0.88%) $1,293 $141,161 (0.94%) $4,677 4.2% 6.3%  0.602 (medium)  0.430 (low)
  Pakistan $376,493 (8.50%) $1,658 $1,512,476 (10.08%) $6,662 6.0% 12.10%  0.544 (low)  0.386 (low)
  Sri Lanka $73,739 (1.67%) $3,293 $318,690 (2.12%) $14,230 -8.7% 48.2%  0.782 (high)  0.686 (medium)
South Asia[238] $4,427,184 (100%) $2,385 $15,005,471 (100%) $8,085 6.4% 8.1%  0.639 (medium) -

According to the World Bank's 2011 report, based on 2005 ICP PPP, about 24.6% of the South Asian population was below the international poverty line of $1.25/day.[239] Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka had the lowest number of people below the poverty line, with 2.4%, 1.5% and 4.1% respectively.

According to the 2023 MPI (multidimensional poverty index) report by the UN, around 20% of South Asians are poor.[240]

51.7% of Afghanistan's population was under the MPI poverty threshold in 2019,[241] while 24.1% of Bangladesh's population was under the threshold in 2021.[242] India lifted 415 million people from MPI-poverty from 2005/06 to 2019/21; 16.4% of India's population was MPI-poor in 2019/2021, compared to 55.1% in 2005/2006.[154] 10% of India's population was under the international poverty line of $2.15/day in 2021.[243]

Country
[228][229][230] 		Population below poverty line (at $1.9/day) Global Hunger Index (2021)[244] Population under-nourished (2015)[245] Life expectancy (2019)[246] (global rank) Global wealth report (2019)[247][248][249]
World Bank[250] (year) 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Index Report (MPI source year)[251] Population in Extreme poverty (2022)[252] CIA Factbook (2015)[253] Total national wealth in billion USD (global rank) Wealth per adult in USD Median wealth per adult in USD (global rank)
  Afghanistan 54.5% (2016) 55.91% (2015–16) 18% 36% 28.3 (103rd) 26.8% 63.2 (160th) 25 (116th) 1,463 640 (156th)
  Bangladesh 24.3% (2016) 24.64% (2019) 4% 31.5% 19.1 (76th) 16.4% 74.3 (82nd) 697 (44th) 6,643 2,787 (117th)
  Bhutan 8.2% (2017) 37.34% (2010) 4% 12% No data No data 73.1 (99th) No Data No Data No Data
  India 21.9% (2011) 16.4% (2019–21) 3% 29.8% 27.5 (101st) 15.2% 70.8 (117th) 12,614 (7th) 14,569 3,042 (115th)
  Maldives 8.2% (2016) 0.77% (2016–17) 4% 16% No data 5.2% 79.6 (33rd) 7 (142nd) 23,297 8,555 (74th)
    Nepal 25.2% (2010) 17.50% (2019) 8% 25.2% 19.1 (76th) 7.8% 70.9 (116th) 68 (94th) 3,870 1,510 (136th)
  Pakistan 24.3% (2015) 38.33% (2017–18) 5% 12.4% 24.7 (94th) 22% 69.3 (144th) 465 (49th) 4,096 1,766 (128th)
  Sri Lanka 4.1% (2016) 2.92% (2016) 5% 8.9% 16 (65th) 22% 76.9 (54th) 297 (60th) 20,628 8,283 (77th)

The major stock exchanges in the region are Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) with market Capitalization of $3.5 trillion (10th largest in the world), National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) with market capitalization of $3.55 trillion (9th largest in the world), Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), and Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) with market capitalization of $72 billion.[254] Economic data is sourced from the International Monetary Fund, current as of April 2017, and is given in US dollars.[255]

Education

 
Durbar High School, oldest secondary school of Nepal, established in 1854 CE
 
Lower class school in Sri Lanka
 
College of Natural Resources, Royal University of Bhutan

One of the key challenges in assessing the quality of education in South Asia is the vast range of contextual difference across the region, complicating any attempt to compare between countries.[256] In 2018, 11.3 million children at the primary level and 20.6 million children at the lower secondary level were out-of-school in South Asia, while millions of children completed primary education without mastering the foundational skills of basic numeracy and literacy.[257]

According to UNESCO, 241 million children between six and fourteen years or 81 percent of the total were not learning in Southern and Central Asia in 2017. Only sub-Saharan Africa had a higher rate of children not learning. Two-thirds of these children were in school, sitting in classrooms. Only 19% of children attending primary and lower secondary schools attain a minimum proficiency level in reading and mathematics.[258][259] According to a citizen-led assessment, only 48% in Indian public schools and 46% of children in Pakistan public schools could read a class two level text by the time they reached class five.[260][259] This poor quality of education in turn has contributed to some of the highest drop-out rates in the world, while over half of the students complete secondary school with acquiring requisite skills.[259]

In South Asia, classrooms are teacher-centred and rote-based, while children are often subjected to corporal punishment and discrimination.[257] Different South Asian countries have different education structures. While by 2018 India and Pakistan has two of the most developed and increasingly decentralised education systems, Bangladesh still had a highly centralised system, and Nepal is in a state of transition from a centralized to a decentralized system.[256] In most South Asian countries children's education is theoretically free; the exceptions are the Maldives, where there is no constitutionally guaranteed free education, as well as Bhutan and Nepal, where fees are charged by primary schools. But parents are still faced with unmanageable secondary financial demands, including private tuition to make up for the inadequacies of the education system.[261]

The larger and poorer countries in the region, like India and Bangladesh, struggle financially to get sufficient resources to sustain an education system required for their vast populations, with an added challenge of getting large numbers of out-of-school children enrolled into schools.[256] Their capacity to deliver inclusive and equitable quality education is limited by low levels of public finance for education,[257] while the smaller emerging middle-income countries like Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bhutan have been able to achieve universal primary school completion, and are in a better position to focus on quality of education.[256]

Children's education in the region is also adversely affected by natural and human-made crises including natural hazards, political instability, rising extremism and civil strife that makes it difficult to deliver educational services.[257] Afghanistan and India are among the top ten countries with the highest number of reported disasters due to natural hazards and conflict. The precarious security situation in Afghanistan is a big barrier in rolling out education programmes on a national scale.[256]

According to UNICEF, girls face incredible hurdles to pursue their education in the region,[257] while UNESCO estimated in 2005 that 24 million girls of primary-school age in the region were not receiving any formal education.[262][263] Between 1900 and 2005, most of the countries in the region had shown progress in girls' education with Sri Lanka and the Maldives significantly ahead of the others, while the gender gap in education has widened in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Bangladesh made the greatest progress in the region in the period increasing girls' secondary school enrolment from 13 percent to 56 percent in ten years.[264][265]

With about 21 million students in 700 universities and 40 thousand colleges India had one of the largest higher education systems in the world in 2011, accounting for 86 percent of all higher-level students in South Asia. Bangladesh (two million) and Pakistan (1.8 million) stood at distant second and third positions in the region. In Nepal (390 thousand) and Sri Lanka (230 thousand) the numbers were much smaller. Bhutan with only one university and Maldives with none hardly had between them about 7000 students in higher education in 2011. The gross enrolment ratio in 2011 ranged from about 10 percent in Pakistan and Afghanistan to above 20 percent in India, much below the global average of 31 percent.[266]

 
IInstitute of Engineering, Pulchowk Campus, Nepal
Parameters Afghanistan Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka
Primary School Enrollment[267] 29% 90% 85% 92% 94% 96% 73% 98%
Secondary School Enrollment[268] 49% 54% 78% 68% N/A 72% 45% 96%

Health and nutrition

 
Child getting vaccine in Bangladesh under the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI)

According to World Health Organization (WHO), South Asia is home to two out of the three countries in the world still affected by polio, Pakistan and Afghanistan, with 306 & 28 polio cases registered in 2014 respectively.[269] Attempts to eradicate polio have been badly hit by opposition from militants in both countries, who say the program is cover to spy on their operations. Their attacks on immunization teams have claimed 78 lives since December 2012.[270]

The World Bank estimates that India is one of the highest ranking countries in the world for the number of children suffering from malnutrition. The prevalence of underweight children in India is among the highest in the world and is nearly double that of Sub Saharan Africa with dire consequences for mobility, mortality, productivity, and economic growth.[271]

 
A weekly child examination performed at a hospital in Farah, Afghanistan

According to the World Bank, 64% of South Asians lived in rural areas in 2022.[272] In 2008, about 75% of South Asia's poor lived in rural areas and most relied on agriculture for their livelihood[273] according to the UN's Food and Agricultural Organisation.

In 2021, approximately 330 million people in the region were malnourished.[274] A 2015 report says that Nepal reached both the WFS target as well as MDG and is moving towards bringing down the number of undernourished people to less than 5% of the population.[245] Bangladesh reached the MDG target with the National Food Policy framework – with only 16.5% of the population undernourished. In India, the malnourished comprise just over 15 percent of the population. While the number of malnourished people in the neighborhood has shown a decline over the last 25 years, the number of under-nourished in Pakistan displays an upward trend. There were 28.7 million hungry in Pakistan in the 1990s – a number that has steadily increased to 41.3 million in 2015 with 22% of the population malnourished. Approximately 194.6 million people are undernourished in India, which accounts for the highest number of people suffering from hunger in any single country.[245][275]

The 2006 report stated, "the low status of women in South Asian countries and their lack of nutritional knowledge are important determinants of high prevalence of underweight children in the region". Corruption and the lack of initiative on the part of the government has been one of the major problems associated with nutrition in India. Illiteracy in villages has been found to be one of the major issues that need more government attention. The report mentioned that although there has been a reduction in malnutrition due to the Green Revolution in South Asia, there is concern that South Asia has "inadequate feeding and caring practices for young children".[276]

Governance and politics

Systems of government

See also: List of legislatures in South Asia and List of countries by system of government
Country Capital Form of government Head of state Head of government Legislature Official language Currency Coat of arms / National Emblems
  Afghanistan Kabul Unitary totalitarian provisional theocratic Islamic emirate Supreme Leader Prime Minister Leadership Council[277] Pashto
Dari 		؋ Afghani  
  Bangladesh Dhaka Unitary parliamentary constitutional republic President Prime Minister Jatiya Sangsad Bengali
English 		৳ Taka  
  Bhutan Thimphu Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy King Prime Minister National Council
National Assembly 		Dzongkha Nu. Ngultrum  
  India New Delhi Federal parliamentary constitutional republic President Prime Minister Rajya Sabha
Lok Sabha 		Hindi
English 		₹ Indian rupee  
  Maldives Malé Unitary presidential constitutional republic President People's Majlis Maldivian ރ Rufiyaa  
    Nepal Kathmandu Federal parliamentary constitutional republic President Prime Minister National Assembly
House of Representatives 		Nepali रु Nepalese rupee  
  Pakistan Islamabad Federal parliamentary Islamic republic President Prime Minister Senate
National Assembly 		Urdu
English 		₨ Pakistani rupee  
  Sri Lanka Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte Unitary semi-presidential constitutional republic President Prime Minister Parliament Sinhala
Tamil
English 		රු/₨ Sri Lankan rupee  
 
Sansad Bhavan, New Delhi, India
 
Parliament House, Islamabad, Pakistan
 
Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, Dhaka, Bangladesh

India is a secular federative parliamentary republic with the prime minister as head of government. With the most populous functional democracy in world[278] and the world's longest written constitution,[279][280][281] India has been stably sustaining the political system it adopted in 1950 with no regime change except that by a democratic election. India's sustained democratic freedoms are unique among the world's newer establishments. Since the formation of its republic abolishing British law, it has remained a democracy with civil liberties, an active Supreme Court, and a largely independent press.[282] India leads region in Democracy Index. It has a multi-party system in its internal regional politics[283] whereas alternative transfer of powers to alliances of Indian left-wing and right-wing political parties in national government provide it with characteristics of a two-party state.[284] India has been facing notable internal religious conflicts and separatism however consistently becoming more and more stable with time.

The foundation of Pakistan lies in the Pakistan movement which began in colonial India based on Islamic nationalism. Pakistan is a federal parliamentary Islamic republic and was the world's first country to adopt Islamic republic system to modify its republican status under its otherwise secular constitution in 1956. Pakistan's governance is one of the most conflicted in the world. The military rule and the unstable governments in Pakistan have become a concern for the South Asian region. Out of 22 appointed Pakistani Prime ministers, none of them have ever been able to complete a full term in office.[285] The nature of Pakistani politics can be characterized as a multi-party system.

The unitary semi-presidential constitutional republic of Sri Lanka is the oldest sustained democracy in Asia. Tensions between the Sinhalese and the Tamils led to the emergence of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a separatist Sri Lankan Tamil militant group and the outbreak of the Sri Lankan Civil War. The war, which ended in 2009, would undermine the country's stability for more than two and a half decades.[286] Sri Lanka, however, has been leading the region in HDI with per capita GDP well ahead of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Sri Lanka has a multi-party system, and the political situation in Sri Lanka has been dominated by an increasingly assertive ideology of Sinhalese nationalism.

Bangladesh is a unitary parliamentary republic. The law of Bangladesh defines it as Islamic[287] as well as secular.[288] The nature of Bangladeshi politics can be characterized as a multi-party system. Bangladesh is a unitary state and parliamentary democracy.[289] Bangladesh also stands out as one of the few Muslim-majority democracies. "It is a moderate and generally secular and tolerant — though sometimes this is getting stretched at the moment — alternative to violent extremism in a very troubled part of the world", said Dan Mozena, the U.S. ambassador to Bangladesh. Although Bangladesh's legal code is secular, more citizens are embracing a conservative version of Islam, with some pushing for sharia law, analysts say. Experts say that the rise in conservatism reflects the influence of foreign-financed Islamic charities and the more austere version of Islam brought home by migrant workers in Persian Gulf countries.[290]

By the 18th century, the Hindu Gorkha Kingdom achieved the unification of Nepal. Hinduism became the state religion and Hindu laws were formulated as national policies. A small oligarchic group of Gorkha region based Hindu Thakuri and Chhetri political families dominated the national politics, military and civic affairs until the abdication of the Rana dynasty regime and establishment of Parliamentary democratic system in 1951, which was twice suspended by Nepalese monarchs, in 1960 and 2005. It was the last Hindu state in world before becoming a secular democratic republic in 2008. The country's modern development suffered due to the various significant events like the 1990 Nepalese revolution, 1996–2006 Nepalese Civil War, April 2015 Nepal earthquake and the 2015 Nepal blockade by India leading to the grave 2015–2017 Nepal humanitarian crisis. There is also a huge turnover in the office of the Prime Minister of Nepal leading to serious concerns of political instability. The country has been ranked one of the poor countries in terms of GDP per capita but it has one of the lowest levels of hunger problem in South Asia.[244] When the stability of the country ensured as late as recent, it has also made considerable progress in development indicators outpacing many other South Asian states.

Afghanistan has been a unitary theocratic Islamic emirate since 2021. Afghanistan has been suffering from one of the most unstable regimes on earth as a result of multiple foreign invasions, civil wars, revolutions and terrorist groups. Persisting instability for decades have left the country's economy stagnated and torn and it remains one of the most poor and least developed countries on the planet, leading to the influx of Afghan refugees to neighboring countries like Iran.[199]

Bhutan is a Buddhist state with a constitutional monarchy. The country has been ranked as the least corrupt and most peaceful country in the region, with the most economic freedom, in 2016.

Maldives is a unitary presidential republic with Sunni Islam strictly as the state religion.

Governance and stability
Parameters Afghanistan Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka
Fragile States Index[291] 102.9 85.7 69.5 75.3 66.2 82.6 92.1 81.8
Corruption Perceptions Index (2019)[292] (Global rank out of 179 countries) 16 (173rd) 26 (146th) 68 (25th) 41 (80th) 29 (130th) 34 (113th) 32 (120th) 38 (93rd)
The Worldwide Governance
Indicators (2015)[293] 		Government Effectiveness 8% 24% 68% 56% 41% 13% 27% 53%
Political stability and absence
of violence/terrorism 		1% 11% 89% 17% 61% 16% 1% 47%
Rule of law 2% 27% 70% 56% 35% 27% 24% 60%
Voice and accountability 16% 31% 46% 61% 30% 33% 27% 36%

Regional politics

See also: War in Afghanistan (2001–2021), Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts, and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

India has been the dominant geopolitical power in the region[294]<[295][296] and alone accounts for most part of the landmass, population, economy and military expenditure in the region.[297] India is a major economy, member of G4, has world's third highest military budget[298] and exerts strong cultural and political influence over the region.[299][300] Sometimes referred as a great power or emerging superpower primarily attributed to its large and expanding economic and military abilities, India acts as fulcrum of South Asia.[301][302]

Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are middle powers with sizeable populations and economies with significant impact on regional politics.[303][304]

During the Partition of India in 1947, subsequent violence and territorial disputes left relations between India and Pakistan sour and very hostile[305] and various confrontations and wars which largely shaped the politics of the region and contributed to the emergence of Bangladesh as an independent country.[306] With Yugoslavia, India founded the Non-Aligned Movement but later entered an agreement with the former Soviet Union following Western support for Pakistan.[307] Amid the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, US sent its USS Enterprise to the Indian Ocean in what was perceived as a nuclear threat by India.[308] India's nuclear test in 1974 pushed Pakistan's nuclear program[309] who conducted nuclear tests in Chagai-I in 1998, just 18 days after India's series of nuclear tests for thermonuclear weapons.[310]

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 accelerated efforts to form a union to restrengthen deteriorating regional security.[311] After agreements, the union, known as the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), was finally established in Dhaka in December 1985.[312] However, deterioration of India-Pakistan ties have led India to emphasize more on sub-regional groups SASEC, BIMSTEC and BBIN.

While in East Asia, regional trade accounts for 50% of total trade, it accounts for only a little more than 5% in South Asia.[313]

Populism is a general characteristic of internal politics of India.[314]

Regional groups of countries

Name Area
(km2) 		Population Population density
(per km2) 		Capital or Secretariat Currency Countries Official language Coat of arms
Core definition of South Asia 5,220,460 1,726,907,000 330.79 — — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka — —
UNSD definition of Southern Asia 6,778,083 1,702,000,000 270.77 — — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka — —
SAARC 4,637,469 1,626,000,000 350.6 Kathmandu — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka English —
SASEC 3,565,467 1,485,909,931 416.75 — — Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka — —
BBIN 3,499,559 1,465,236,000 418.69 — — Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal — —

See also

Broader regions

Notes

  1. ^ Administered by the United Kingdom, claimed by Mauritius as the Chagos Archipelago.
  2. ^ According to the UN cartographic section website disclaimers, "DESIGNATIONS USED: The depiction and use of boundaries, geographic names and related data shown on maps and included in lists, tables, documents, and databases on this website are not warranted to be error free nor do they necessarily imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations."[39]
  3. ^ Doniger 2010, p. 66: "Much of what we now call Hinduism may have had roots in cultures that thrived in South Asia long before the creation of textual evidence that we can decipher with any confidence. Remarkable cave paintings have been preserved from Mesolithic sites dating from c. 30,000 BCE in Bhimbetka, near present-day Bhopal, in the Vindhya Mountains in the province of Madhya Pradesh."
  4. ^ Jones & Ryan 2006, p. xvii: "Some practices of Hinduism must have originated in Neolithic times (c. 4000 BCE). The worship of certain plants and animals as sacred, for instance, could very likely have very great antiquity. The worship of goddesses, too, a part of Hinduism today, maybe a feature that originated in the Neolithic."
  5. ^ Michaels: "They called themselves arya ("Aryans," literally "the hospitable," from the Vedic arya, "homey, the hospitable") but even in the Rgveda, arya denotes a cultural and linguistic boundary and not only a racial one."[71]

References

Citations

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May 01, 2024
south, asia, this, article, about, geographical, subregion, asia, physiographical, region, eurasia, indian, subcontinent, confused, with, southern, asia, geoscheme, southern, subregion, asia, which, defined, both, geographical, ethnic, cultural, terms, commonl. This article is about the geographical subregion of Asia For the physiographical region of Eurasia see Indian subcontinent Not to be confused with Southern Asia UN geoscheme South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia which is defined in both geographical and ethnic cultural terms As commonly conceptualized the modern states of South Asia include Afghanistan 6 Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan and Sri Lanka 7 South Asia borders East Asia to the northeast Central Asia to the northwest West Asia to the west and Southeast Asia to the east Topographically it is dominated by the Indian subcontinent and is bounded by the Indian Ocean in the south and the Himalayas Karakoram and Pamir Mountains in the north 8 South AsiaArea5 222 321 km2 2 016 349 sq mi Population2 04 billion 2024 1 Population density362 3 km2 938 sq mi GDP PPP 18 05 trillion 2024 2 GDP nominal 5 04 trillion 2024 3 GDP per capita 2 650 nominal 2024 9 470 PPP 2024 4 HDI0 641 2019 medium 5 Ethnic groupsIndo Aryan Iranian Dravidian Sino Tibetan Austroasiatic Turkic etc ReligionsHinduism Islam Christianity Buddhism Sikhism Jainism Zoroastrianism IrreligionDemonymSouth AsianDesi colloquial Countries8 states Afghanistan Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri LankaDependenciesExternal 1 British Indian Ocean Territory note 1 United Kingdom LanguagesOfficial languages national level BengaliDari Persian UrduHindiPashtoNepaliDzongkhaDhivehiEnglishSinhalaTamil Other official languages provincial regional level Austroasiatic KhasiSantaliDravidian MalayalamKannadaTeluguIndo European AssameseBhojpuriDogriGujaratiKashmiriKonkaniMaithiliMarathiOdiaPunjabiSanskritSindhiSino Tibetan BodoGurungLimbuMizoMeiteiSikkimeseTamangTibetanNewariTurkic TurkmenUzbekTime zones5 time zones UTC 04 30 AfghanistanUTC 05 00 MaldivesPakistanUTC 05 30 IndiaSri LankaUTC 05 45 NepalUTC 06 00 BangladeshBhutanInternet TLD af bd bt in io lk mv np pkCalling codeZone 8 amp 9Largest cities10 largest cities in South Asia Delhi Mumbai Dhaka Karachi Kolkata Lahore Kabul Bangalore Chennai Hyderabad AhmedabadUN M49 code034 Southern Asia142 Asia001 World The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation SAARC is an economic cooperation organization in the region which was established in 1985 and includes all eight nations comprising South Asia 9 South Asia has a total area of 5 2 million sq km 2 million sq mi which is 10 of the Asian continent 7 According to the United Nations the population of South Asia including Iran is estimated to be 2 04 billion 10 11 or about one fourth of the world s population making it both the most populous and the most densely populated geographical region in the world 12 In 2022 South Asia had the world s largest populations of Hindus Muslims Sikhs Jains and Zoroastrians 13 South Asia alone accounts for 90 47 of Hindus 95 5 of Sikhs and 31 of Muslims worldwide as well as 35 million Christians and 25 million Buddhists 14 15 16 17 Contents 1 Definition 2 History 2 1 Pre history 2 2 Ancient era 2 3 Medieval era 2 4 Modern era 2 5 Contemporary era 3 Geography 3 1 Indian Plate 3 2 Climate 3 3 Regions 3 4 Land and water area 4 Society 4 1 Population 4 2 Languages 4 3 Religions 4 4 Largest urban areas 4 5 Diaspora 5 Culture 5 1 Sports 5 2 Cinema 5 3 Music 5 4 Cuisine 6 Economy 7 Education 8 Health and nutrition 9 Governance and politics 9 1 Systems of government 9 2 Regional politics 9 2 1 Regional groups of countries 10 See also 10 1 Broader regions 11 Notes 12 References 12 1 Citations 12 2 Sources 13 Further reading 14 External linksDefinition nbsp Various definitions of South Asia including the definition by the United Nations geoscheme which was created for statistical convenience and does not imply any assumption regarding political or other affiliation of countries or territories 18 The geographical extent is not clear cut as systemic and foreign policy orientations of its constituents are quite asymmetrical 19 Beyond the core territories of the Indian Empire territories of the British Empire which were under the system of British Raj there is a high degree of variation as to which other countries are included in South Asia 20 21 22 23 There is no clear boundary geographical geopolitical socio cultural economical or historical between South Asia and other parts of Asia especially Southeast Asia and West Asia 24 The common definition of South Asia is largely inherited from the administrative boundaries of the Indian Empire 25 with several exceptions The current territories of Bangladesh India and Pakistan which were the core territories of the British Empire from 1857 to 1947 also form the core territories of South Asia 26 27 The mountain countries of Nepal and Bhutan two independent countries that were not under the British Raj but were protectorates of the Empire 28 and the island countries of Sri Lanka and Maldives are generally included 29 By various definitions based on substantially different reasons the British Indian Ocean Territory and the Tibet Autonomous Region may be included as well 30 31 32 33 34 35 Myanmar Burma a former British colony and now largely considered a part of Southeast Asia is also sometimes included 19 21 36 Afghanistan is also included by some sources 19 21 37 38 nbsp United Nations map of South Asia 39 However the United Nations does not endorse any definitions or area boundaries note 2 The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation SAARC a contiguous block of countries started in 1985 with seven countries Bangladesh Bhutan India the Maldives Nepal Pakistan and Sri Lanka and admitted Afghanistan as an eighth member in 2007 40 41 China and Myanmar have also applied for the status of full members of SAARC 42 43 The South Asia Free Trade Agreement admitted Afghanistan in 2011 44 The World Bank and United Nations Children s Fund UNICEF recognizes the eight SAARC countries as South Asia 45 46 47 48 The Hirschman Herfindahl index of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific for the region excludes Afghanistan from South Asia 49 Population Information Network POPIN excludes Maldives which is included as a member Pacific POPIN subregional network 50 The United Nations Statistics Division s scheme of subregions for statistical purpose 18 includes Iran along with all eight members of the SAARC as part of Southern Asia 51 The United Nations Industrial Development Organization includes Iran as well as Afghanistan as parts of South Asia 52 The boundaries of South Asia vary based on how the region is defined South Asia s northern eastern and western boundaries vary based on definitions used while the Indian Ocean is the southern periphery Most of this region rests on the Indian Plate and is isolated from the rest of Asia by mountain barriers 53 54 Much of the region consists of a peninsula in south central Asia rather resembling a diamond which is delineated by the Himalayas on the north the Hindu Kush in the west and the Arakanese in the east 55 and which extends southward into the Indian Ocean with the Arabian Sea to the southwest and the Bay of Bengal to the southeast 56 57 nbsp While South Asia had never been a coherent geopolitical region it has a distinct geographical identity 36 55 The terms Indian subcontinent and South Asia are sometimes used interchangeably 29 56 58 59 60 The Indian subcontinent is largely a geological term referring to the land mass that drifted northeastwards from ancient Gondwana colliding with the Eurasian plate nearly 55 million years ago towards the end of Palaeocene This geological region largely includes Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan and Sri Lanka 61 Historians Catherine Asher and Cynthia Talbot state that the term Indian subcontinent describes a natural physical landmass in South Asia that has been relatively isolated from the rest of Eurasia 62 The use of the term Indian subcontinent began in the British Empire and has been a term particularly common in its successors 58 South Asia as the preferred term is particularly common when scholars or officials seek to differentiate this region from East Asia 63 According to historians Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal the Indian subcontinent has come to be known as South Asia in more recent and neutral parlance 59 This neutral notion refers to the concerns of Pakistan and Bangladesh particularly given the recurring conflicts between India and Pakistan wherein the dominant placement of India as a prefix before the subcontinent might offend some political sentiments 36 However in Pakistan the term South Asia is considered too India centric and was banned until 1989 after the death of Zia ul Haq 64 This region has also been labelled as India in its classical and pre modern sense and Greater India 36 55 According to Robert M Cutler a scholar of political science at Carleton University 65 the terms South Asia Southwest Asia and Central Asia are distinct but the confusion and disagreements have arisen due to the geopolitical movement to enlarge these regions into Greater South Asia Greater Southwest Asia and Greater Central Asia The frontier of Greater South Asia states Cutler between 2001 and 2006 has been geopolitically extended to eastern Iran and western Afghanistan in the west and in the north to northeastern Iran northern Afghanistan and southern Uzbekistan 65 Identification with a South Asian identity was found to be significantly low among respondents in an older two year survey across Bangladesh India Nepal Pakistan and Sri Lanka 66 HistoryFor a topical guide see Outline of South Asian history For a chronological guide see Timeline of South Asian history Pre history The history of core South Asia begins with evidence of human activity of Homo sapiens as long as 75 000 years ago or with earlier hominids including Homo erectus from about 500 000 years ago 67 The earliest prehistoric culture have roots in the mesolithic sites as evidenced by the rock paintings of Bhimbetka rock shelters dating to a period of 30 000 BCE or older note 3 as well as neolithic times note 4 Ancient era nbsp Indus Valley civilisation during 2600 1900 BCE the mature phase The Indus Valley civilization which spread and flourished in the northwestern part of South Asia from c 3300 to 1300 BCE in present day Pakistan Northern India and Afghanistan was the first major civilization in South Asia 68 A sophisticated and technologically advanced urban culture developed in the Mature Harappan period from 2600 to 1900 BCE 69 According to anthropologist Possehl the Indus Valley civilization provides a logical if somewhat arbitrary starting point for South Asian religions but these links from the Indus religion to later day South Asian traditions are subject to scholarly dispute 70 nbsp Maurya Empire in 250 BCE The Vedic period named after the Vedic religion of the Indo Aryans note 5 lasted from c 1900 to 500 BCE 72 73 The Indo Aryans were Indo European speaking pastoralists 74 who migrated into north western India after the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization 71 75 Linguistic and archaeological data show a cultural change after 1500 BCE 71 with the linguistic and religious data clearly showing links with Indo European languages and religion 76 By about 1200 BCE the Vedic culture and agrarian lifestyle were established in the northwest and northern Gangetic plain of South Asia 74 77 78 Rudimentary state forms appeared of which the Kuru Pancala union was the most influential 79 80 The first recorded state level society in South Asia existed around 1000 BCE 74 In this period states Samuel emerged the Brahmana and Aranyaka layers of Vedic texts which merged into the earliest Upanishads 81 These texts began to ask the meaning of a ritual adding increasing levels of philosophical and metaphysical speculation 81 or Hindu synthesis 82 Increasing urbanisation of South Asia between 800 and 400 BCE and possibly the spread of urban diseases contributed to the rise of ascetic movements and of new ideas which challenged the orthodox Brahmanism 83 failed verification These ideas led to Sramana movements of which Mahavira c 549 477 BCE proponent of Jainism and Buddha c 563 c 483 founder of Buddhism was the most prominent icons 84 The Greek army led by Alexander the Great stayed in the Hindu Kush region of South Asia for several years and then later moved into the Indus valley region Later the Maurya Empire extended over much of South Asia in the 3rd century BCE Buddhism spread beyond south Asia through northwest into Central Asia The Bamiyan Buddhas of Afghanistan and the edicts of Asoka suggest that the Buddhist monks spread Buddhism Dharma in eastern provinces of the Seleucid Empire and possibly even farther into West Asia 85 86 87 The Theravada school spread south from India in the 3rd century BCE to Sri Lanka later to Southeast Asia 88 Buddhism by the last centuries of the 1st millennium BCE was prominent in the Himalayan region Gandhara Hindu Kush region and Bactria 89 90 91 From about 500 BCE through about 300 CE the Vedic Brahmanic synthesis or Hindu synthesis continued 82 Classical Hindu and Sramanic particularly Buddhist ideas spread within South Asia as well as outside South Asia 92 93 94 The Gupta Empire ruled over a large part of the region between the 4th and 7th centuries a period that saw the construction of major temples monasteries and universities such as the Nalanda 95 96 97 During this era and through the 10th century numerous cave monasteries and temples such as the Ajanta Caves Badami cave temples and Ellora Caves were built in South Asia 98 99 100 Medieval era nbsp Outreach of influence of early medieval Chola dynasty Islam came as a political power in the fringe of South Asia in 8th century CE when the Arab general Muhammad bin Qasim conquered Sindh and Multan in Southern Punjab in modern day Pakistan 101 By 962 CE Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms in South Asia were under a wave of raids from Muslim armies from Central Asia 102 Among them was Mahmud of Ghazni who raided and plundered kingdoms in north India from east of the Indus river to west of Yamuna river seventeen times between 997 and 1030 103 Mahmud of Ghazni raided the treasuries but retracted each time only extending Islamic rule into western Punjab 104 105 nbsp Timur defeats the Sultan of Delhi Nasir u Din Mehmud in the winter of 1397 1398 The wave of raids on north Indian and western Indian kingdoms by Muslim warlords continued after Mahmud of Ghazni plundering and looting these kingdoms 106 The raids did not establish or extend permanent boundaries of their Islamic kingdoms The Ghurid Sultan Mu izz al Din Muhammad began a systematic war of expansion into North India in 1173 107 He sought to carve out a principality for himself by expanding the Islamic world 103 108 and thus laid the foundation for the Muslim kingdom that became the Delhi Sultanate 103 Some historians chronicle the Delhi Sultanate from 1192 due to the presence and geographical claims of Mu izz al Din in South Asia by that time 109 The Delhi Sultanate covered varying parts of South Asia and was ruled by a series of dynasties Mamluk Khalji Tughlaq Sayyid and Lodi dynasties Muhammad bin Tughlaq came to power in 1325 launched a war of expansion and the Delhi Sultanate reached it largest geographical reach over the South Asian region during his 26 year rule 110 A Sunni Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq persecuted non Muslims such as Hindus as well as non Sunni Muslims such as Shia and Mahdi sects 111 112 113 Revolts against the Delhi Sultanate sprang up in many parts of South Asia during the 14th century citation needed In the northeast the Bengal Sultanate became independent in 1346 CE It remained in power through the early 16th century The state religion of the sultanate was Islam 114 115 In South India the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire came to power in 1336 and persisted until the middle of the 16th century It was ultimately defeated and destroyed by an alliance of Muslim Deccan sultanates at the battle of Talikota 116 117 About 1526 the Punjab governor Dawlat Khan Lodi reached out to the Mughal Babur and invited him to attack Delhi Sultanate Babur defeated and killed Ibrahim Lodi in the Battle of Panipat in 1526 The death of Ibrahim Lodi ended the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire replaced it 118 Modern era nbsp Emperor Shah Jahan and his son Prince Aurangzeb in Mughal Court 1650 The modern history period of South Asia that is 16th century onwards witnessed the establishment of the Mughal empire with Sunni Islam theology The first ruler was Babur had Turco Mongol roots and his realm included the northwest and Indo Gangetic Plain regions of South Asia The southern and northeastern regions of South Asia were largely under Hindu kings such as those of Vijayanagara Empire and Ahom kingdom 119 with some regions such as parts of modern Telangana and Andhra Pradesh under local Sultanates namely Deccan sultanates 120 121 The Mughal Empire continued its wars of expansion after Babur s death With the fall of the Rajput kingdoms and Vijayanagara its boundaries encompassed almost the entirety of the Indian subcontinent 122 The Mughal Empire was marked by a period of artistic exchanges and a Central Asian and South Asian architecture synthesis with remarkable buildings such as the Taj Mahal 123 121 124 However this time also marked an extended period of religious persecution 125 Two of the religious leaders of Sikhism Guru Arjan and Guru Tegh Bahadur were arrested under orders of the Mughal emperors after their revolts and were executed when they refused to convert to Islam 126 127 128 Religious taxes on non Muslims called jizya were imposed Buddhist Hindu and Sikh temples were desecrated However not all Muslim rulers persecuted non Muslims Akbar a Mughal ruler for example sought religious tolerance and abolished jizya 129 130 131 132 nbsp British Indian Empire in 1909 British India is shaded pink the princely states yellow After the death of Aurangzeb and the collapse of the Mughal Empire which marks the beginning of modern India in the early 18th century it provided opportunities for the Marathas Sikhs Mysoreans and Nawabs of Bengal to exercise control over large regions of the Indian subcontinent 133 134 By the mid 18th century India was a major proto industrializing region 135 121 Maritime trading between South Asia and European merchants began after the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama returned to Europe British French Portuguese colonial interests struck treaties with these rulers and established their trading ports In northwest South Asia a large region was consolidated into the Sikh Empire by Ranjit Singh 136 137 After the defeat of the Nawab of Bengal and Tipu Sultan and his French allies the British Empire expanded their control to the Hindu Kush region By the 19th century British traders had conquered much of South Asia using divide and rule tactics with the region experiencing significant de industrialisation in its first few decades of British rule 138 Control of the region was transferred to the British government after the Indian Rebellion of 1857 with the British cracking down to some extent afterwards 139 An increase of famines and extreme poverty characterised the colonial period though railways built with British technology eventually provided crucial famine relief by increasing food distribution throughout India 140 138 Introduction of Western political thought inspired a growing Indian intellectual movement By the 20th century the British rule begin to be challenged by the Indian National Congress under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi to seek full independence from the British rule 141 142 Britain under pressure from Indian freedom fighters increasingly gave self rule to British India By the 1940s two rival camps emerged among independence activists those who favored a separate nation for Indian Muslims and those who wanted a united India As World War II raged over 2 million Indians fought for Britain 143 After the war the process of independence took place and Britain granted independence to the vast majority of South Asians in 1947 144 though this coincided with the partition of India into a Hindu majority India and a Muslim majority Pakistan which resulted in significant violence and hardened religious divides in the region for some months 145 Contemporary era India and Pakistan clashed several times in the decades after Independence with disputes over Kashmir playing a significant role 146 In 1971 the eastern half of Pakistan seceded with help from India and became the People s Republic of Bangladesh after the traumatic Bangladesh Liberation War 147 This along with India and Pakistan gaining nuclear weapons soon afterwards increased tensions between the two countries 148 The Cold War decades also contributed to the divide as Pakistan aligned with the West and India with the Soviet Union modern legacies of this divide include the majority of India s modern day weaponry being Russian in origin 149 150 Pakistan has been beset with terrorism economic issues and military dominance of its government since Independence 151 with none of its Prime Ministers having completed a full 5 year term in office 152 India has grown significantly 153 having slashed its rate of extreme poverty to below 20 154 Bangladesh having struggled greatly for decades due to conflict with and economic exploitation by Pakistan 155 156 is now one of the fastest growing countries in the region beating India in terms of GDP per capita 157 158 Afghanistan has gone through several invasions and Islamist regimes with many of its refugees having gone to Pakistan and other parts of South Asia and bringing back cultural influences such as cricket 159 160 Religious nationalism has grown across the region with human rights violations causing millions of Hindus and Christians to flee Pakistan and Bangladesh 161 162 and Hindu nationalism having grown in India with the election of the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014 163 A recent phenomenon has been that of India and China fighting on their border as well as vying for dominance of South Asia with China able to use its superior economy to attract countries surrounding India 164 Further information War in Afghanistan 2001 2021 and Indo Pakistani wars and conflictsGeographyFurther information Geography of India Geography of Pakistan Geography of Afghanistan Geography of Bangladesh Geography of Bhutan Geography of Sri Lanka Geography of Nepal and Geography of the Maldives According to Saul Cohen early colonial era strategists treated South Asia with East Asia but in reality the South Asia region excluding Afghanistan is a distinct geopolitical region separated from other nearby geostrategic realms one that is geographically diverse 165 The region is home to a variety of geographical features such as glaciers rainforests valleys deserts and grasslands that are typical of much larger continents It is surrounded by three water bodies the Bay of Bengal the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea and has acutely varied climate zones The tip of the Indian Peninsula had the highest quality pearls 166 Indian Plate Main article Indian Plate Most of this region is resting on the Indian Plate the northerly portion of the Indo Australian Plate separated from the rest of the Eurasian Plate The Indian Plate includes most of South Asia forming a land mass which extends from the Himalayas into a portion of the basin under the Indian Ocean including parts of South China and Eastern Indonesia as well as Kunlun and Karakoram ranges 167 168 and extending up to but not including Ladakh Kohistan the Hindu Kush range and Balochistan 169 170 171 It may be noted that geophysically the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Tibet is situated at the outside the border of the regional structure while the Pamir Mountains in Tajikistan are situated inside that border 172 The Indian subcontinent formerly formed part of the supercontinent Gondwana before rifting away during the Cretaceous period and colliding with the Eurasian Plate about 50 55 million years ago and giving birth to the Himalayan range and the Tibetan plateau It is the peninsular region south of the Himalayas and Kuen Lun mountain ranges and east of the Indus River and the Iranian Plateau extending southward into the Indian Ocean between the Arabian Sea to the southwest and the Bay of Bengal to the southeast Climate nbsp South Asia s Koppen climate classification map 173 is based on native vegetation temperature precipitation and their seasonality Af Tropical rainforest Am Tropical monsoon Aw Tropical savanna wet amp dry BWh Hot desert BWk Cold desert BSh Hot semi arid BSk Cold semi arid Csa Mediterranean dry hot summer Cfa Subtropical humid Cwa Subtropical humid summer dry winter Cwb Subtropical highland dry winter Dsa Continental hot summer Dsb Continental warm summer Dwb Continental dry winter Dwc Continental Subarctic dry winter The climate of this vast region varies considerably from area to area from tropical monsoon in the south to temperate in the north The variety is influenced by not only the altitude but also by factors such as proximity to the seacoast and the seasonal impact of the monsoons Southern parts are mostly hot in summers and receive rain during monsoon periods The northern belt of Indo Gangetic plains also is hot in summer but cooler in winter The mountainous north is colder and receives snowfall at higher altitudes of Himalayan ranges As the Himalayas block the north Asian bitter cold winds the temperatures are considerably moderate in the plains down below For the most part the climate of the region is called the monsoon climate which keeps the region humid during summer and dry during winter and favours the cultivation of jute tea rice and various vegetables in this region South Asia is largely divided into four broad climate zones 174 The northern Indian edge and northern Pakistani uplands have a dry subtropical continental climate The far south of India and southwest Sri Lanka have an equatorial climate Most of the peninsula has a tropical climate with variations Hot subtropical climate in northwest India Cool winter hot tropical climate in Bangladesh Tropical semi arid climate in the center The Himalayas and most of the Hindu Kush have an Alpine climate Maximum relative humidity of over 80 has been recorded in Khasi and Jaintia Hills and Sri Lanka while the area adjustment to Pakistan and western India records lower than 20 30 174 Climate of South Asia is largely characterized by monsoons South Asia depends critically on monsoon rainfall 175 Two monsoon systems exist in the region 176 The summer monsoon Wind blows from the southwest to most parts of the region It accounts for 70 90 of the annual precipitation The winter monsoon Wind blows from the northeast Dominant in Sri Lanka and Maldives The warmest period of the year precedes the monsoon season March to mid June In the summer the low pressures are centered over the Indus Gangetic Plain and high wind from the Indian Ocean blows towards the center The monsoons are the second coolest season of the year because of high humidity and cloud covering But at the beginning of June the jetstreams vanish above the Tibetan Plateau low pressure over the Indus Valley deepens and the Intertropical Convergence Zone ITCZ moves in The change is violent Moderately vigorous monsoon depressions form in the Bay of Bengal and make landfall from June to September 174 Climate change in South Asia is causing a range of challenges including sea level rise cyclonic activity and changes in ambient temperature and precipitation patterns 177 Regions Main category Regions of South AsiaFurther information Northern South Asia Eastern South Asia East India Central India South India West India and Northwestern South Asia Land and water area See also Exclusive economic zone and Indian Ocean This list includes dependent territories within their sovereign states including uninhabited territories but does not include claims on Antarctica EEZ TIA is exclusive economic zone EEZ plus total internal area TIA which includes land and internal waters Country Area in km2 EEZ Shelf EEZ TIA nbsp Afghanistan 652 864 0 0 652 864 nbsp Bangladesh 148 460 86 392 66 438 230 390 nbsp Bhutan 38 394 0 0 38 394 nbsp India 3 287 263 2 305 143 402 996 5 592 406 nbsp Nepal 147 181 0 0 147 181 nbsp Maldives 298 923 322 34 538 923 622 nbsp Pakistan 881 913 290 000 51 383 1 117 911 nbsp Sri Lanka 65 610 532 619 32 453 598 229 Total 5 221 093 4 137 476 587 808 9 300 997SocietySee also South Asian ethnic groups Population The population of South Asia is about 1 938 billion which makes it the most populated region in the world 178 It is socially very mixed consisting of many language groups and religions and social practices in one region that are vastly different from those in another 179 Country Population in thousands 2023 180 1 of South Asia of world 181 Density per km2 Population growth rate 182 Population projection in thousands 180 1 2005 10 2010 15 2015 20 1950 1975 2000 2025 2050 2075 2100 nbsp Afghanistan 42 240 2 17 0 525 61 8 2 78 3 16 2 41 7 752 12 689 20 779 44 516 74 075 98 732 110 855 nbsp Bangladesh 172 954 8 92 2 15 1301 1 18 1 16 1 04 37 895 70 066 127 658 170 937 203 905 201 891 176 366 nbsp Bhutan 787 0 04 0 00978 20 3 2 05 1 58 1 18 177 348 591 797 874 803 654 nbsp India 1 428 628 73 7 17 5 473 4 1 46 1 23 1 10 376 325 623 103 1 056 576 1 454 607 1 670 491 1 676 035 1 529 850 nbsp Maldives 521 0 03 0 00647 1738 2 2 68 2 76 1 85 74 136 279 515 570 543 469 nbsp Nepal 30 897 1 59 0 384 204 1 1 05 1 17 1 09 8 483 13 420 23 941 31 577 37 401 38 189 33 770 nbsp Pakistan 240 486 12 4 2 98 300 2 2 05 2 09 1 91 37 542 66 817 142 344 249 949 367 808 453 262 487 017 nbsp Sri Lanka 21 894 1 13 0 272 347 2 0 68 0 50 0 35 7 971 13 755 18 778 22 000 21 815 19 000 14 695 South Asia 1 938 407 100 24 094 377 5 476 220 800 335 1 390 946 1 974 898 2 376 939 2 488 455 2 353 676 Population of South Asian countries in 1950 1975 2000 2025 2050 2075 and 2100 projection from the United Nations has been displayed in table The given population projections are based on medium fertility index With India and Bangladesh approaching replacement rates fast population growth in South Asia is facing steep decline and may turn negative in mid 21st century 180 1 Languages Main article Languages of South Asia nbsp Ethno linguistic distribution map of South Asia nbsp A clickable map of the main language spoken in each state province of South Asia excluding Afghanistan and the Maldives Indo Aryan languages are in green Iranic languages in dark green Dravidian languages in purple and Tibeto Burman languages in red There are numerous languages in South Asia The spoken languages of the region are largely based on geography and shared across religious boundaries but the written script is sharply divided by religious boundaries In particular Muslims of South Asia such as in Afghanistan and Pakistan use the Arabic alphabet and Persian Nastaliq Till 1952 Muslim majority Bangladesh then known as East Pakistan also mandated only the Nastaliq script but after that adopted regional scripts and particularly Bengali after the Language Movement for the adoption of Bengali as the official language of the then East Pakistan Non Muslims of South Asia and some Muslims in India on the other hand use scripts such as those derived from Brahmi script for Indo European languages and non Brahmi scripts for Dravidian languages and others 183 184 The Nagari script has been the primus inter pares of the traditional South Asian scripts 185 The Devanagari script is used for over 120 South Asian languages 186 including Hindi 187 Marathi Nepali Pali Konkani Bodo Sindhi and Maithili among other languages and dialects making it one of the most used and adopted writing systems in the world 188 The Devanagari script is also used for classical Sanskrit texts 186 The largest spoken language in this region is Hindustani language followed by Bengali Telugu Tamil Marathi Gujarati Kannada and Punjabi 183 184 In the modern era new syncretic languages developed in the region such as Urdu that are used by the Muslim community of northern South Asia particularly Pakistan and northern states of India 189 The Punjabi language spans three religions Islam Hinduism and Sikhism The spoken language is similar but it is written in three scripts The Sikh use Gurmukhi alphabet Muslim Punjabis in Pakistan use the Nastaliq script while Hindu Punjabis in India use the Gurmukhi or Nagari script The Gurmukhi and Nagari scripts are distinct but close in their structure but the Persian Nastaliq script is very different 190 Sino Tibetan languages are spoken across northern belts of the region in the Himalayan areas often using the Tibetan script 191 These languages are predominantly spoken in Bhutan and Nepal as well as parts of Burma and northern India in the state of Sikkim and the Ladakh region 192 The national language of Bhutan is Dzongkha while Lepcha Limbu Gurung Magar Rai Newari Tamang Tshangla Thakali and Sikkimese are also spoken in Bhutan Nepal and Sikkim and Ladakhi is spoken in Ladakh 192 Both Buddhism and Bon are often predominant in areas where these languages are present 192 191 Some areas in Gilgit Baltistan also speak Balti language however speakers write with the Urdu script 191 The Tibetan script fell out of use in Pakistani Baltistan hundreds of years ago upon the region s adoption of Islam 191 English with British spelling is commonly used in urban areas and is a major economic lingua franca of South Asia 193 Religions Main article Religion in South Asia Further information Religion in Bangladesh Religion in Bhutan Religion in India Religion in Nepal Religion in Pakistan and Religion in Sri Lanka nbsp Religious Diversity in South Asia by National Subdivision Religion in British India 1871 1872 Census includes modern day India Bangladesh most of Pakistan and coastal Myanmar 194 Hinduism 73 07 Islam 21 45 Buddhism and Jainism 1 49 Sikhism 0 62 Christianity 0 47 Others 2 68 Religion not known 0 22 In 2010 South Asia had the world s largest population of Hindus 16 about 510 million Muslims 16 over 27 million Sikhs 35 million Christians and over 25 million Buddhists 14 Hindus make up about 68 percent or about 900 million and Muslims at 31 percent or 510 million of the overall South Asia population 195 while Buddhists Jains Christians and Sikhs constitute most of the rest The Hindus Buddhists Jains Sikhs and Christians are concentrated in India Nepal Sri Lanka and Bhutan while the Muslims are concentrated in Afghanistan 99 Bangladesh 90 Pakistan 96 and Maldives 100 16 With all major religions practised in the subcontinent South Asia is known for its religious diversity and one of the most religiously diverse regions on earth Indian religions are the religions that originated in the Indian subcontinent namely Hinduism Jainism Buddhism and Sikhism 196 The Indian religions are distinct yet share terminology concepts goals and ideas and from South Asia spread into East Asia and southeast Asia 196 Early Christianity and Islam were introduced into coastal regions of South Asia by merchants who settled among the local populations Later Sindh Balochistan and parts of the Punjab region saw conquest by the Arab caliphates along with an influx of Muslims from Persia and Central Asia which resulted in spread of both Shia and Sunni Islam in parts of northwestern region of South Asia Subsequently under the influence of Muslim rulers of the Islamic sultanates and the Mughal Empire Islam spread in South Asia 197 198 About one third of the world s Muslims are from South Asia 15 17 13 Country State religion Religious population as a percentage of total population Buddhism Christianity Hinduism Islam Kiratism Sikhism Others Year reported nbsp Afghanistan Islam 99 7 0 3 2019 199 nbsp Bangladesh Islam 0 6 0 4 9 5 90 4 2011 200 nbsp Bhutan Vajrayana Buddhism 74 8 0 5 22 6 0 1 2 2010 201 202 nbsp India Secular 0 7 2 3 79 8 14 2 1 7 1 3 2011 203 204 nbsp Maldives Islam 100 205 206 207 nbsp Nepal Secular 9 1 3 81 3 4 4 3 0 8 2013 208 nbsp Pakistan Islam 1 59 1 85 96 28 0 07 2010 209 nbsp Sri Lanka Theravada Buddhism 70 2 6 2 12 6 9 7 1 4 2011 210 Largest urban areas South Asia is home to some of the most populated urban areas in the world According to the 2023 edition of Demographia World Urban Areas the region contains 8 of the world s 35 megacities urban areas over 10 million population 211 Rank Urban Area State Province Country Skyline Population 211 Area km2 211 Density km2 211 1 Delhi National Capital Region nbsp India nbsp 31 190 000 2 344 13 307 2 Mumbai Maharashtra nbsp India nbsp 25 189 000 1 046 24 073 3 Kolkata West Bengal nbsp India nbsp 21 747 000 1 352 16 085 4 Karachi Sindh nbsp Pakistan nbsp 20 249 000 1 124 18 014 5 Dhaka Dhaka Division nbsp Bangladesh nbsp 19 134 000 619 30 911 6 Bangalore Karnataka nbsp India nbsp 15 257 000 1 743 8 753 7 Lahore Punjab nbsp Pakistan nbsp 13 504 000 945 14 285 8 Chennai Tamil Nadu nbsp India nbsp 11 570 000 1 225 9 444 9 Hyderabad Telangana nbsp India nbsp 9 797 000 1 689 5 802 10 Ahmedabad Gujarat nbsp India nbsp 8 006 000 505 15 852 Diaspora This section is an excerpt from South Asian diaspora edit The South Asian diaspora also known as the Desi diaspora 212 is the group of people whose ancestral origins lie in South Asia the Indian subcontinent but who live outside the region 213 There are over 44 million people in this diaspora 214 CultureMain article South Asian culture See also Category South Asian culture Sports Main articles Sport in South Asia and Traditional games of South Asia Cricket is the most popular sport in South Asia 215 with 90 of the sport s worldwide fans being in the Indian subcontinent 216 There are also some traditional games such as kabaddi and kho kho which are played across the region and officially at the South Asian Games and Asian Games 217 218 219 the leagues created for these traditional sports such as Pro Kabaddi League and Ultimate Kho Kho are some of the most watched sports competitions in the region 220 221 Cinema This section is an excerpt from South Asian cinema edit Cinema is prominent in South Asia with the Bollywood representing the most spoken language in the region of Hindi and South Indian film industries being the most dominant Pakistan s Lollywood also is growing while historically Bengali cinema was highly acclaimed by international film circles Music Main article Music of South Asia Cuisine Main article South Asian cuisineEconomyMain article Economy of South Asia Further information Economy of Afghanistan Economy of Bangladesh Economy of India Economy of Nepal Economy of Pakistan and Economy of Sri Lanka nbsp Mumbai is the financial capital of India with GDP of 400 billion 222 nbsp GDP per capita development in South Asia India is the largest economy in the region US 4 11 trillion and makes up almost 80 of the South Asian economy it is the world s 5th largest in nominal terms and 3rd largest by purchasing power adjusted exchange rates US 14 26 trillion 223 India is the member of G 20 major economies and BRICS from the region It is the fastest growing major economy in the world and one of the world s fastest registering a growth of 7 2 in FY 2022 23 224 India is followed by Bangladesh which has a GDP of 446 billion It has the fastest GDP growth rate in Asia It is one of the emerging and growth leading economies of the world and is also listed among the Next Eleven countries It is also one of the fastest growing middle income countries It has the world s 33rd largest GDP in nominal terms and is the 25th largest by purchasing power adjusted exchange rates 1 476 trillion Bangladesh s economic growth was 6 4 in 2022 225 The next one is Pakistan which has an economy of 340 billion Next is Sri Lanka which has the 2nd highest GDP per capita and the 4th largest economy in the region According to a World Bank report in 2015 driven by a strong expansion in India coupled with favorable oil prices from the last quarter of 2014 South Asia became the fastest growing region in the world 226 Certain parts of South Asia are significantly wealthier than others the four Indian states of Maharashtra Tamil Nadu Gujarat and Karnataka are projected to account for almost 50 of India s GDP by 2030 while the five South Indian states comprising 20 of India s population are expected to contribute 35 of India s GDP by 2030 227 Country 228 229 230 GDP Inflation 2022 231 HDI Nominal GDP in millions 2022 Share 232 GDP per capita 2022 233 GDP PPP in millions 2022 Share GDP PPP per capita 2022 GDP growth 2022 234 HDI 2019 235 Inequality adjusted HDI 2019 236 nbsp Afghanistan 237 20 136 2020 611 2020 80 912 2020 2 456 2020 2 4 2020 5 6 2020 nbsp 0 478 low No data nbsp Bangladesh 460 751 10 41 2 734 1 345 646 8 97 7 985 7 2 6 1 nbsp 0 661 medium nbsp 0 465 low nbsp Bhutan 2 707 0 06 3 562 9 937 0 07 13 077 4 0 7 7 nbsp 0 666 medium nbsp 0 450 low nbsp India 3 468 566 78 35 2 466 11 665 490 77 74 8 293 6 8 6 9 nbsp 0 633 medium nbsp 0 538 low nbsp Maldives 5 900 0 13 15 097 12 071 0 08 30 888 8 7 4 3 nbsp 0 747 high nbsp 0 568 medium nbsp Nepal 39 028 0 88 1 293 141 161 0 94 4 677 4 2 6 3 nbsp 0 602 medium nbsp 0 430 low nbsp Pakistan 376 493 8 50 1 658 1 512 476 10 08 6 662 6 0 12 10 nbsp 0 544 low nbsp 0 386 low nbsp Sri Lanka 73 739 1 67 3 293 318 690 2 12 14 230 8 7 48 2 nbsp 0 782 high nbsp 0 686 medium South Asia 238 4 427 184 100 2 385 15 005 471 100 8 085 6 4 8 1 nbsp 0 639 medium According to the World Bank s 2011 report based on 2005 ICP PPP about 24 6 of the South Asian population was below the international poverty line of 1 25 day 239 Bhutan Maldives and Sri Lanka had the lowest number of people below the poverty line with 2 4 1 5 and 4 1 respectively According to the 2023 MPI multidimensional poverty index report by the UN around 20 of South Asians are poor 240 51 7 of Afghanistan s population was under the MPI poverty threshold in 2019 241 while 24 1 of Bangladesh s population was under the threshold in 2021 242 India lifted 415 million people from MPI poverty from 2005 06 to 2019 21 16 4 of India s population was MPI poor in 2019 2021 compared to 55 1 in 2005 2006 154 10 of India s population was under the international poverty line of 2 15 day in 2021 243 Country 228 229 230 Population below poverty line at 1 9 day Global Hunger Index 2021 244 Population under nourished 2015 245 Life expectancy 2019 246 global rank Global wealth report 2019 247 248 249 World Bank 250 year 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Index Report MPI source year 251 Population in Extreme poverty 2022 252 CIA Factbook 2015 253 Total national wealth in billion USD global rank Wealth per adult in USD Median wealth per adult in USD global rank nbsp Afghanistan 54 5 2016 55 91 2015 16 18 36 28 3 103rd 26 8 63 2 160th 25 116th 1 463 640 156th nbsp Bangladesh 24 3 2016 24 64 2019 4 31 5 19 1 76th 16 4 74 3 82nd 697 44th 6 643 2 787 117th nbsp Bhutan 8 2 2017 37 34 2010 4 12 No data No data 73 1 99th No Data No Data No Data nbsp India 21 9 2011 16 4 2019 21 3 29 8 27 5 101st 15 2 70 8 117th 12 614 7th 14 569 3 042 115th nbsp Maldives 8 2 2016 0 77 2016 17 4 16 No data 5 2 79 6 33rd 7 142nd 23 297 8 555 74th nbsp Nepal 25 2 2010 17 50 2019 8 25 2 19 1 76th 7 8 70 9 116th 68 94th 3 870 1 510 136th nbsp Pakistan 24 3 2015 38 33 2017 18 5 12 4 24 7 94th 22 69 3 144th 465 49th 4 096 1 766 128th nbsp Sri Lanka 4 1 2016 2 92 2016 5 8 9 16 65th 22 76 9 54th 297 60th 20 628 8 283 77th The major stock exchanges in the region are Bombay Stock Exchange BSE with market Capitalization of 3 5 trillion 10th largest in the world National Stock Exchange of India NSE with market capitalization of 3 55 trillion 9th largest in the world Dhaka Stock Exchange DSE Colombo Stock Exchange CSE and Pakistan Stock Exchange PSX with market capitalization of 72 billion 254 Economic data is sourced from the International Monetary Fund current as of April 2017 and is given in US dollars 255 Education nbsp Durbar High School oldest secondary school of Nepal established in 1854 CE nbsp Lower class school in Sri Lanka nbsp College of Natural Resources Royal University of Bhutan One of the key challenges in assessing the quality of education in South Asia is the vast range of contextual difference across the region complicating any attempt to compare between countries 256 In 2018 11 3 million children at the primary level and 20 6 million children at the lower secondary level were out of school in South Asia while millions of children completed primary education without mastering the foundational skills of basic numeracy and literacy 257 According to UNESCO 241 million children between six and fourteen years or 81 percent of the total were not learning in Southern and Central Asia in 2017 Only sub Saharan Africa had a higher rate of children not learning Two thirds of these children were in school sitting in classrooms Only 19 of children attending primary and lower secondary schools attain a minimum proficiency level in reading and mathematics 258 259 According to a citizen led assessment only 48 in Indian public schools and 46 of children in Pakistan public schools could read a class two level text by the time they reached class five 260 259 This poor quality of education in turn has contributed to some of the highest drop out rates in the world while over half of the students complete secondary school with acquiring requisite skills 259 In South Asia classrooms are teacher centred and rote based while children are often subjected to corporal punishment and discrimination 257 Different South Asian countries have different education structures While by 2018 India and Pakistan has two of the most developed and increasingly decentralised education systems Bangladesh still had a highly centralised system and Nepal is in a state of transition from a centralized to a decentralized system 256 In most South Asian countries children s education is theoretically free the exceptions are the Maldives where there is no constitutionally guaranteed free education as well as Bhutan and Nepal where fees are charged by primary schools But parents are still faced with unmanageable secondary financial demands including private tuition to make up for the inadequacies of the education system 261 The larger and poorer countries in the region like India and Bangladesh struggle financially to get sufficient resources to sustain an education system required for their vast populations with an added challenge of getting large numbers of out of school children enrolled into schools 256 Their capacity to deliver inclusive and equitable quality education is limited by low levels of public finance for education 257 while the smaller emerging middle income countries like Sri Lanka Maldives and Bhutan have been able to achieve universal primary school completion and are in a better position to focus on quality of education 256 Children s education in the region is also adversely affected by natural and human made crises including natural hazards political instability rising extremism and civil strife that makes it difficult to deliver educational services 257 Afghanistan and India are among the top ten countries with the highest number of reported disasters due to natural hazards and conflict The precarious security situation in Afghanistan is a big barrier in rolling out education programmes on a national scale 256 According to UNICEF girls face incredible hurdles to pursue their education in the region 257 while UNESCO estimated in 2005 that 24 million girls of primary school age in the region were not receiving any formal education 262 263 Between 1900 and 2005 most of the countries in the region had shown progress in girls education with Sri Lanka and the Maldives significantly ahead of the others while the gender gap in education has widened in Pakistan and Afghanistan Bangladesh made the greatest progress in the region in the period increasing girls secondary school enrolment from 13 percent to 56 percent in ten years 264 265 With about 21 million students in 700 universities and 40 thousand colleges India had one of the largest higher education systems in the world in 2011 accounting for 86 percent of all higher level students in South Asia Bangladesh two million and Pakistan 1 8 million stood at distant second and third positions in the region In Nepal 390 thousand and Sri Lanka 230 thousand the numbers were much smaller Bhutan with only one university and Maldives with none hardly had between them about 7000 students in higher education in 2011 The gross enrolment ratio in 2011 ranged from about 10 percent in Pakistan and Afghanistan to above 20 percent in India much below the global average of 31 percent 266 nbsp IInstitute of Engineering Pulchowk Campus Nepal Parameters Afghanistan Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka Primary School Enrollment 267 29 90 85 92 94 96 73 98 Secondary School Enrollment 268 49 54 78 68 N A 72 45 96 Health and nutrition nbsp Child getting vaccine in Bangladesh under the Expanded Programme on Immunization EPI According to World Health Organization WHO South Asia is home to two out of the three countries in the world still affected by polio Pakistan and Afghanistan with 306 amp 28 polio cases registered in 2014 respectively 269 Attempts to eradicate polio have been badly hit by opposition from militants in both countries who say the program is cover to spy on their operations Their attacks on immunization teams have claimed 78 lives since December 2012 270 The World Bank estimates that India is one of the highest ranking countries in the world for the number of children suffering from malnutrition The prevalence of underweight children in India is among the highest in the world and is nearly double that of Sub Saharan Africa with dire consequences for mobility mortality productivity and economic growth 271 nbsp A weekly child examination performed at a hospital in Farah Afghanistan According to the World Bank 64 of South Asians lived in rural areas in 2022 272 In 2008 about 75 of South Asia s poor lived in rural areas and most relied on agriculture for their livelihood 273 according to the UN s Food and Agricultural Organisation In 2021 approximately 330 million people in the region were malnourished 274 A 2015 report says that Nepal reached both the WFS target as well as MDG and is moving towards bringing down the number of undernourished people to less than 5 of the population 245 Bangladesh reached the MDG target with the National Food Policy framework with only 16 5 of the population undernourished In India the malnourished comprise just over 15 percent of the population While the number of malnourished people in the neighborhood has shown a decline over the last 25 years the number of under nourished in Pakistan displays an upward trend There were 28 7 million hungry in Pakistan in the 1990s a number that has steadily increased to 41 3 million in 2015 with 22 of the population malnourished Approximately 194 6 million people are undernourished in India which accounts for the highest number of people suffering from hunger in any single country 245 275 The 2006 report stated the low status of women in South Asian countries and their lack of nutritional knowledge are important determinants of high prevalence of underweight children in the region Corruption and the lack of initiative on the part of the government has been one of the major problems associated with nutrition in India Illiteracy in villages has been found to be one of the major issues that need more government attention The report mentioned that although there has been a reduction in malnutrition due to the Green Revolution in South Asia there is concern that South Asia has inadequate feeding and caring practices for young children 276 Governance and politicsSystems of government See also List of legislatures in South Asia and List of countries by system of government Country Capital Form of government Head of state Head of government Legislature Official language Currency Coat of arms National Emblems nbsp Afghanistan Kabul Unitary totalitarian provisional theocratic Islamic emirate Supreme Leader Prime Minister Leadership Council 277 PashtoDari Afghani nbsp nbsp Bangladesh Dhaka Unitary parliamentary constitutional republic President Prime Minister Jatiya Sangsad BengaliEnglish Taka nbsp nbsp Bhutan Thimphu Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy King Prime Minister National CouncilNational Assembly Dzongkha Nu Ngultrum nbsp nbsp India New Delhi Federal parliamentary constitutional republic President Prime Minister Rajya SabhaLok Sabha HindiEnglish Indian rupee nbsp nbsp Maldives Male Unitary presidential constitutional republic President People s Majlis Maldivian ރ Rufiyaa nbsp nbsp Nepal Kathmandu Federal parliamentary constitutional republic President Prime Minister National AssemblyHouse of Representatives Nepali र Nepalese rupee nbsp nbsp Pakistan Islamabad Federal parliamentary Islamic republic President Prime Minister SenateNational Assembly UrduEnglish Pakistani rupee nbsp nbsp Sri Lanka Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte Unitary semi presidential constitutional republic President Prime Minister Parliament SinhalaTamilEnglish ර Sri Lankan rupee nbsp nbsp Sansad Bhavan New Delhi India nbsp Parliament House Islamabad Pakistan nbsp Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban Dhaka Bangladesh India is a secular federative parliamentary republic with the prime minister as head of government With the most populous functional democracy in world 278 and the world s longest written constitution 279 280 281 India has been stably sustaining the political system it adopted in 1950 with no regime change except that by a democratic election India s sustained democratic freedoms are unique among the world s newer establishments Since the formation of its republic abolishing British law it has remained a democracy with civil liberties an active Supreme Court and a largely independent press 282 India leads region in Democracy Index It has a multi party system in its internal regional politics 283 whereas alternative transfer of powers to alliances of Indian left wing and right wing political parties in national government provide it with characteristics of a two party state 284 India has been facing notable internal religious conflicts and separatism however consistently becoming more and more stable with time The foundation of Pakistan lies in the Pakistan movement which began in colonial India based on Islamic nationalism Pakistan is a federal parliamentary Islamic republic and was the world s first country to adopt Islamic republic system to modify its republican status under its otherwise secular constitution in 1956 Pakistan s governance is one of the most conflicted in the world The military rule and the unstable governments in Pakistan have become a concern for the South Asian region Out of 22 appointed Pakistani Prime ministers none of them have ever been able to complete a full term in office 285 The nature of Pakistani politics can be characterized as a multi party system The unitary semi presidential constitutional republic of Sri Lanka is the oldest sustained democracy in Asia Tensions between the Sinhalese and the Tamils led to the emergence of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam a separatist Sri Lankan Tamil militant group and the outbreak of the Sri Lankan Civil War The war which ended in 2009 would undermine the country s stability for more than two and a half decades 286 Sri Lanka however has been leading the region in HDI with per capita GDP well ahead of India Pakistan and Bangladesh Sri Lanka has a multi party system and the political situation in Sri Lanka has been dominated by an increasingly assertive ideology of Sinhalese nationalism Bangladesh is a unitary parliamentary republic The law of Bangladesh defines it as Islamic 287 as well as secular 288 The nature of Bangladeshi politics can be characterized as a multi party system Bangladesh is a unitary state and parliamentary democracy 289 Bangladesh also stands out as one of the few Muslim majority democracies It is a moderate and generally secular and tolerant though sometimes this is getting stretched at the moment alternative to violent extremism in a very troubled part of the world said Dan Mozena the U S ambassador to Bangladesh Although Bangladesh s legal code is secular more citizens are embracing a conservative version of Islam with some pushing for sharia law analysts say Experts say that the rise in conservatism reflects the influence of foreign financed Islamic charities and the more austere version of Islam brought home by migrant workers in Persian Gulf countries 290 By the 18th century the Hindu Gorkha Kingdom achieved the unification of Nepal Hinduism became the state religion and Hindu laws were formulated as national policies A small oligarchic group of Gorkha region based Hindu Thakuri and Chhetri political families dominated the national politics military and civic affairs until the abdication of the Rana dynasty regime and establishment of Parliamentary democratic system in 1951 which was twice suspended by Nepalese monarchs in 1960 and 2005 It was the last Hindu state in world before becoming a secular democratic republic in 2008 The country s modern development suffered due to the various significant events like the 1990 Nepalese revolution 1996 2006 Nepalese Civil War April 2015 Nepal earthquake and the 2015 Nepal blockade by India leading to the grave 2015 2017 Nepal humanitarian crisis There is also a huge turnover in the office of the Prime Minister of Nepal leading to serious concerns of political instability The country has been ranked one of the poor countries in terms of GDP per capita but it has one of the lowest levels of hunger problem in South Asia 244 When the stability of the country ensured as late as recent it has also made considerable progress in development indicators outpacing many other South Asian states Afghanistan has been a unitary theocratic Islamic emirate since 2021 Afghanistan has been suffering from one of the most unstable regimes on earth as a result of multiple foreign invasions civil wars revolutions and terrorist groups Persisting instability for decades have left the country s economy stagnated and torn and it remains one of the most poor and least developed countries on the planet leading to the influx of Afghan refugees to neighboring countries like Iran 199 Bhutan is a Buddhist state with a constitutional monarchy The country has been ranked as the least corrupt and most peaceful country in the region with the most economic freedom in 2016 Maldives is a unitary presidential republic with Sunni Islam strictly as the state religion Governance and stability Parameters Afghanistan Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka Fragile States Index 291 102 9 85 7 69 5 75 3 66 2 82 6 92 1 81 8 Corruption Perceptions Index 2019 292 Global rank out of 179 countries 16 173rd 26 146th 68 25th 41 80th 29 130th 34 113th 32 120th 38 93rd The Worldwide GovernanceIndicators 2015 293 Government Effectiveness 8 24 68 56 41 13 27 53 Political stability and absenceof violence terrorism 1 11 89 17 61 16 1 47 Rule of law 2 27 70 56 35 27 24 60 Voice and accountability 16 31 46 61 30 33 27 36 Regional politics See also War in Afghanistan 2001 2021 Indo Pakistani wars and conflicts and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation India has been the dominant geopolitical power in the region 294 lt 295 296 and alone accounts for most part of the landmass population economy and military expenditure in the region 297 India is a major economy member of G4 has world s third highest military budget 298 and exerts strong cultural and political influence over the region 299 300 Sometimes referred as a great power or emerging superpower primarily attributed to its large and expanding economic and military abilities India acts as fulcrum of South Asia 301 302 Bangladesh Pakistan and Sri Lanka are middle powers with sizeable populations and economies with significant impact on regional politics 303 304 During the Partition of India in 1947 subsequent violence and territorial disputes left relations between India and Pakistan sour and very hostile 305 and various confrontations and wars which largely shaped the politics of the region and contributed to the emergence of Bangladesh as an independent country 306 With Yugoslavia India founded the Non Aligned Movement but later entered an agreement with the former Soviet Union following Western support for Pakistan 307 Amid the Indo Pakistani War of 1971 US sent its USS Enterprise to the Indian Ocean in what was perceived as a nuclear threat by India 308 India s nuclear test in 1974 pushed Pakistan s nuclear program 309 who conducted nuclear tests in Chagai I in 1998 just 18 days after India s series of nuclear tests for thermonuclear weapons 310 The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 accelerated efforts to form a union to restrengthen deteriorating regional security 311 After agreements the union known as the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation SAARC was finally established in Dhaka in December 1985 312 However deterioration of India Pakistan ties have led India to emphasize more on sub regional groups SASEC BIMSTEC and BBIN While in East Asia regional trade accounts for 50 of total trade it accounts for only a little more than 5 in South Asia 313 Populism is a general characteristic of internal politics of India 314 Regional groups of countries Name Area km2 Population Population density per km2 Capital or Secretariat Currency Countries Official language Coat of arms Core definition of South Asia 5 220 460 1 726 907 000 330 79 Afghanistan Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka UNSD definition of Southern Asia 6 778 083 1 702 000 000 270 77 Afghanistan Bangladesh Bhutan India Iran Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka SAARC 4 637 469 1 626 000 000 350 6 Kathmandu Afghanistan Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka English SASEC 3 565 467 1 485 909 931 416 75 Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Myanmar Nepal Sri Lanka BBIN 3 499 559 1 465 236 000 418 69 Bangladesh Bhutan India Nepal See also nbsp Asia portal A Region in Turmoil South Asian Conflicts since 1947 by Rob Johnson South Asian cuisine Genetics and archaeogenetics of South Asia List of tallest buildings and structures in the Indian subcontinent List of territorial disputes South Asia Olympic Council South Asian Football Federation South Asian Games Broader regions Global Southeast South Asia and Southeast Asia India Middle East Europe Economic CorridorNotes Administered by the United Kingdom claimed by Mauritius as the Chagos Archipelago According to the UN cartographic section website disclaimers DESIGNATIONS USED The depiction and use of boundaries geographic names and related data shown on maps and included in lists tables documents and databases on this website are not warranted to be error free nor do they necessarily imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations 39 Doniger 2010 p 66 Much of what we now call Hinduism may have had roots in cultures that thrived in South Asia long before the creation of textual evidence that we can decipher with any confidence Remarkable cave paintings have been preserved from Mesolithic sites dating from c 30 000 BCE in Bhimbetka near present day Bhopal in the Vindhya Mountains in the province of Madhya Pradesh Jones amp Ryan 2006 p xvii Some practices of Hinduism must have originated in Neolithic times c 4000 BCE The worship of certain plants and animals as sacred for instance could very likely have 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