India Facts

For many years now India has had one of the fastest growing economies in the world. However the country ranks only at 119 on the Human Development Index, published by the United Nations. 46 % of India's children suffer from severe to moderate malnutrition. Off all the world's illiterate people, 35 % live in India. Whilst school is free and compulsory for children aged 6-14, facilities are often inadequate or lacking altogether. If no action is taken, it is estimated that by the year 2020 over 50 % of the illiterate people will live in India.

The following facts underline why Veerni's work in rural Rajasthan is vital.

POPULATION

• Between 2001 - 2011 India added 181 milliion people to the world, just under the entire population of Brazil
• India's population is 1.181 billion, representing one sixth of humanity, with one third of the world's poor
• Only 42.2 % of married women use a modern method of family planning
• Women hold just 10 % of posts in parliament, well below the global average of 19 %

LIVING CONDITIONS

• 380 million Indians live on less than $1 per day
• Only 42.2 % of married women use a modern method of family planning
• Women hold just 10 % of posts in parliament, well below the global average of 19 %

EDUCATION

• 20 % of children aged 6-14 do not attend school
• In rural Rajasthan less than 5 % of women are literate
• 35 % of the world's illiterate people live in India

CHILD MARRIAGE

• 29 % of urban girls and 56 % of rural girls are married before they reach 18
• Girls who marry by 15 often have 4 children by their early twenties

HEALTH

• Over 46 % of children suffer from malnutrition
• 5.2 million people live with HIV/AIDS
• Nearly 68,000 women die each year of pregnancy related deaths
• 56 % of adolescent girls are anemic

SON PREFERENCE

• Preference for sons and a profound bias against girls has led to one of the world's lowest women to men ratios: 914 women for every 1000 men
• The risk of dying between the ages of 1 and 5 is 43 % higher for girls than for boys
• 3 to 5 million female foetuses are aborted each year