Demographics of India in the context of United Nations Population Fund

India is a country in South Asia and is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the most-populous country with more than 1.4 billion people, home to nearly 17.5 percent of the world's population. India consists of twenty-eight states and eight union territories.

Indian nationalism is an instance of civic nationalism. It is inclusive of all of the people of India, despite their diverse ethnic, linguistic and religious backgrounds. Indian nationalism can trace roots to pre-colonial India, but was fully developed during the Indian independence movement which campaigned against nearly two centuries of British rule. Indian nationalism quickly rose to popularity in India through these united anti-colonial coalitions and movements. Independence movement figures like Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, and Jawaharlal Nehru spearheaded the Indian nationalist movement, with the Indian National Congress playing a major role.

India's independence in 1947 was coupled with separation from Muslim-majority Pakistan, with that nation being carved out of British India's northwestern and eastern regions. Afterwards, Prime Minister Nehru and his successors continued to campaign on Indian nationalism in the face of border wars with both China and Pakistan, with the latter clashing several times over the Kashmir border region. After the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971 and the Bangladesh Liberation War, which resulted in East Pakistan's independence, Indian nationalism reached its post-independence peak. However by the 1980s, religious tensions reached a boiling point, the Indian National Congress lost its political dominance and became more authoritarian, and Indian nationalism sluggishly collapsed in the following decades. Despite its decline and the rise of religious nationalism, Indian nationalism and its historic figures continue to strongly influence the politics of India and reflect an opposition to the sectarian strands of Hindu nationalism and Muslim nationalism.

Hinduism is the largest and most practised religion in India. About 79.8% of the country's population is Hindu. India is home to 94% of the global Hindu population, making it the largest homeland of Hindus worldwide. The vast majority of Indian Hindus belong to Vaishnavite, Shaivite, and Shakta denominations. India is one of the two Hindu-majority countries in the world along with Nepal (81.19%).