Vital Facts about India

• 7th largest area (329 mh) which is 2.5% of world geographical area;
• 2nd largest human population (1 bn);
• 16% of world's population (500 mn);
• 18% of world's domestic cattle population
• 1.8% of world's forest area;
• 22.6% of the area legally classified as Forests- of which 1.56% is Very Dense, 10.32% is Moderately Dense, 8.96% is Open Forests, 1.62% is Scrub Forests and 0.14% is Mangrove Forests;
• 51% of the legally classified area is under Reserved Forests (RFs), 31% is under Protected Forests (PFs) and 18% is under Unclassed Forests (UFs);
• 8% of world' bio-diversity- one of the 12 mega bio-diversity countries of the world;
• Having 2 global terrestrial bio-diversity hot spots- the North-East and the Western Ghats;
• Having 16 Forest types and 251 Forest sub-types, based on climatic and edaphic conditions;
• Teak, Sal, Dipterocarpus and the Conifers are the Principal Commercial species;
• Natural Habitats are Palearctic Trans-Himalayan in the North, Indo-Malayan in the North East, Indo-Ethiopian in the West, Oriental in Peninsular India and the Coastal & Island Eco-systems;
• 10 Bio-diversity rich Zoogeographic zones;
• 80,000 species of Animals;
• 45,000 species of Plants, of which 15,000 have medicinal value;
• 3,200 Wild Relatives of Agricultural Crops;
• 131 Wild Relatives of Domesticated Animals;
• 5,150 Endemic Plant species;
• 1,837 Endemic Animal species;
• 33 species facing extinction threat;
• 14 major basins draining numerous rivers;
• Rivers emanating from mountains are snow-fed, while the rivers emanating from central & southern parts are rain-fed;
• Annual rainfall varies from 37 cm. (in Rajasthan) to 1500 cm. (in Meghalaya-Cheerapunji);
• 3 distinct seasons- summer, winter and monsoon;