Demographic profile
India is the 1st most populous of the 238 countries and territories tracked on this site, home to about 17.71% of everyone alive. Within Southern and Central Asia, it ranks 1 of 13.
Each day brings roughly 65,538 births and 29,937 deaths, adding about 13,002,998 people over a year. At the current natural-increase rate of 0.88% annually, the population would double in roughly 80 years if the rate held. Real trajectories bend as fertility, mortality and migration shift, which is why the chart below shows both history and projection.
Among its first-level divisions, the largest by our modelled allocation is Gujarat, holding an estimated 18.7% of the national population. The full breakdown of all 36 states and regions is in the table below — regional figures outside Sudan are modelled estimates built on real region names, and are flagged as such.
Literacy stands near 76.3% and adult smoking prevalence around 27.0%, with life expectancy at about 62.5 years. Baselines come from UN World Population Prospects, the World Bank, WHO surveys, WorldPop and HDX; the counters project them forward in real time — the method, and every caveat, is documented on our data sources page.
Quick answers
What is the population of India in 2026? Approximately 1,477,628,099 people (live projection; the counter above updates every second).
How fast is India growing? About 0.88% per year — roughly 65,538 births and 29,937 deaths every day.
What share of the world lives in India? Around 17.71% — ranked 1 worldwide by population.
