08/17/97 - 1004

760 Million Hindus currently living in India

NEW DELHI, India (VNN) - Latest statistics from India are as follows:

POPULATION: 936 million (source: Planning Ministry). About 75 percent live in rural areas (source: 1991 Census). Registered voters 590 million (source: Election Commission estimate, 1996).

Religions: Hindus (82 percent), Moslems (12 percent), Christians (2.3 percent), Sikhs (2.0 percent), Buddhists (0.8 percent), Jains (0.4 percent). (Source: 1991 census)

Official language: Hindi in the Devanagari script. Regional languages are widely used, as well as English.

Literacy: 52 percent (source: 1991 census). AREA: 1.3 million sq miles (3.3 million sq km) stretching from the Himalayas in the north to the Indian ocean in the south. India shares borders with Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma and Bangladesh.