The internet penetration rate in India rose over 55 percent in 2025, from about 14 percent in 2014. Although these figures seem relatively low, it meant that more than half of the population of 1.4 billion people had internet access that year. This also ranked the country second in the world in terms of active internet users. Internet availability and accessibility By 2021, the number of internet connections across the country tripled with urban areas accounting for a higher density of connections than rural regions. Despite incredibly low internet prices, internet usage in India has yet to reach its full potential. Lack of awareness and a tangible gender gap lie at the heart of the matter, with affordable mobile handsets and mobile internet connections presenting only a partial solution. Reliance Jio was the popular choice among Indian internet subscribers, offering them wider coverage at cheap rates. Digital living Home to one of the largest bases of netizens in the world, India is abuzz with internet activities being carried out every moment of every day. From information and research to shopping and entertainment to living in smart homes, Indians have welcomed digital living with open arms. Among these, social media usage was one of the most common reasons for accessing the internet.

The overall population of pet dogs in India was over 33 million in 2023. The population is likely to reach more than 51 million by 2028. The growth in the number of pet dogs has led to an increase in pet food sales across the country.

The population of pet cats in India amounted to nearly 3.6 million in the year 2023 and the population was forecast to reach approximately 5.76 million by the end of year 2028. The growth in the number of pets in India had led to the increase in of pet food sales, from approximately 172 million U.S. dollars in 2016 to approximately 629 million dollars in 2023.

Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the Mumbai, India metro area from 1950 to 2025.

Abstract

The Enterprise Surveys of Micro firms (ESM) conducted by the World Bank Group's (WBG) Enterprise Analysis Unit (DECEA) in India. The survey covers nine cities: Hyderabad, Telangana; Jaipur, Rajasthan; Kochi, Kerala; Ludhiana, Punjab; Mumbai, Maharashtra; Sehore, Madhya Pradesh; Surat, Gujarat; Tezpur, Assam; and Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.

The primary objectives of the ESM are to: i) understand demographics of the micro enterprises in the covered cities, ii) describe the environment within which these enterprises operate, and iii) enable data analysis based on the samples that are representative at each city level.

Geographic coverage

Nine cities in India: Hyderabad, Telangana; Jaipur, Rajasthan; Kochi, Kerala; Ludhiana, Punjab; Mumbai, Maharashtra; Sehore, Madhya Pradesh; Surat, Gujarat; Tezpur, Assam; and Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.

Analysis unit

• Firms

Universe

The universe of ESM includes formally registered businesses in the sectors covered by the ES and with less than five employees. The definition of formal registration can vary by country. The universe table for each of the nine cities covered by ESM in India was obtained from the 6th Economic Census (EC) of India (conducted between January 2013 and April 2014), which has its own well-defined definition of registration. Generally, this entails registration with any central/government agency, under Shops & Establishment Act, Factories Act etc.

In terms of sectors, the survey covers all non-agricultural and non-extractive sectors. In particular, according to the group classification of ISIC Revision 4.0, it includes: all manufacturing sectors (group D), construction (group F), wholesale and retail trade (group G), transportation and storage (group H), accommodation and food service activities (group I), a subset of information and communications (group J), some administrative and support service activities (codes 79) and other service activities (codes 95). Notably, the ESM universe excludes the following sectors: financial and insurance activities (group K), real estate activities (group L), and all public or utilities-sectors.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The sample for Enterprise Survey of Micro firms in India 2022 was selected using stratified random sampling, following the methodology explained in the Sampling Note (https://www.enterprisesurveys.org/content/dam/enterprisesurveys/documents/methodology/Sampling_Note-Consolidated-2-16-22.pdf). Stratified random sampling was preferred over simple random sampling for several reasons, including: a. To obtain unbiased estimates for different subdivisions of the population with some known level of precision, along with the unbiased estimates for the whole population. b. To make sure that the final total sample includes establishments from all different sectors and that it is not concentrated in one or two of industries/sizes/regions. c. To exploit the benefits of stratified sampling where population estimates, in most cases, will be more precise than using a simple random sampling method (i.e., lower standard errors, other things being equal.) d. Stratification may produce a smaller bound on the error of estimation than would be produced by a simple random sample of the same size. This result is particularly true if measurements within strata are homogeneous. e. The cost per observation in the survey may be reduced by stratification of the population elements into convenient groupings.

Two levels of stratification were used in this survey: industry and region. For stratification by industry, two groups were used: Manufacturing (combining all the relevant activities in ISIC Rev. 4.0 codes 10-33) and Services (remainder of the universe, as outlined above). Regional stratification was done across nine cities included in the study, namely: Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Ludhiana, Mumbai, Sehore, Surat, Tezpur and Varanasi.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the Bangalore, India metro area from 1950 to 2025.

Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the Visakhapatnam, India metro area from 1950 to 2025.

This statistic depicts the age distribution of India from 2013 to 2023. In 2023, about 25.06 percent of the Indian population fell into the 0-14 year category, 68.02 percent into the 15-64 age group and 6.92 percent were over 65 years of age. Age distribution in India India is one of the largest countries in the world and its population is constantly increasing. India’s society is categorized into a hierarchically organized caste system, encompassing certain rights and values for each caste. Indians are born into a caste, and those belonging to a lower echelon often face discrimination and hardship. The median age (which means that one half of the population is younger and the other one is older) of India’s population has been increasing constantly after a slump in the 1970s, and is expected to increase further over the next few years. However, in international comparison, it is fairly low; in other countries the average inhabitant is about 20 years older. But India seems to be on the rise, not only is it a member of the BRIC states – an association of emerging economies, the other members being Brazil, Russia and China –, life expectancy of Indians has also increased significantly over the past decade, which is an indicator of access to better health care and nutrition. Gender equality is still non-existant in India, even though most Indians believe that the quality of life is about equal for men and women in their country. India is patriarchal and women still often face forced marriages, domestic violence, dowry killings or rape. As of late, India has come to be considered one of the least safe places for women worldwide. Additionally, infanticide and selective abortion of female fetuses attribute to the inequality of women in India. It is believed that this has led to the fact that the vast majority of Indian children aged 0 to 6 years are male.

The statistic shows the 30 largest countries in the world by area. Russia is the largest country by far, with a total area of about 17 million square kilometers.

Population of Russia

Despite its large area, Russia - nowadays the largest country in the world - has a relatively small total population. However, its population is still rather large in numbers in comparison to those of other countries. In mid-2014, it was ranked ninth on a list of countries with the largest population, a ranking led by China with a population of over 1.37 billion people. In 2015, the estimated total population of Russia amounted to around 146 million people. The aforementioned low population density in Russia is a result of its vast landmass; in 2014, there were only around 8.78 inhabitants per square kilometer living in the country. Most of the Russian population lives in the nation’s capital and largest city, Moscow: In 2015, over 12 million people lived in the metropolis.

The graph shows the population growth in China from 2000 to 2024. In 2024, the Chinese population decreased by about 0.1 percent or 1.39 million to around 1.408 billion people. Declining population growth in China Due to strict birth control measures by the Chinese government as well as changing family and work situations of the Chinese people, population growth has subsided over the past decades. Although the gradual abolition of the one-child policy from 2014 on led to temporarily higher birth figures, growth rates further decreased in recent years. As of 2024, leading countries in population growth could almost exclusively be found on the African continent and the Arabian Peninsula. Nevertheless, as of mid 2024, Asia ranked first by a wide margin among the continents in terms of absolute population. Future development of Chinese population The Chinese population reached a maximum of 1,412.6 million people in 2021 but decreased by 850,000 in 2022 and another 2.08 million in 2023. Until 2022, China had still ranked the world’s most populous country, but it was overtaken by India in 2023. Apart from the population decrease, a clear growth trend in Chinese cities is visible. By 2024, around 67 percent of Chinese people lived in urban areas, compared to merely 36 percent in 2000.

The number of smartphone users in India was estimated to reach over one billion in 2023. It was estimated by 2040, the number of smartphone users in India will reach 1.55 billion.

Smartphone users in India – additional information

The number of smartphone users worldwide is projected to amount to nearly 7.7 billion by 2027. It is expected that, by 2022, more than two third of the total global population will use a smartphone. Due to China’s rapid growth, the country has become a distant leader in the smartphone market, leaving the U.S., which previously held the top position, far behind. Smartphone users in China already accounted for 72 percent of the country’s population in 2022. By 2028, more than 83 percent of the population in China is projected to use a smartphone. For 2022, the number of smartphone users in China amounted to nearly 1.04 billion.

India, the second most populous country in the world, passed the United States in number of smartphone users in 2017. Around 223 million people in the U.S. use a smartphone by 2017, compared to 340 million in India. Despite this increase in volume, the U.S. still has a higher smartphone penetration rate than India. The smartphone penetration rate in India reached close to 71 percent by 2023, a penetration rate that the U.S. already reached in 2019. Samsung was the leading smartphone vendor in India in 2022, followed by Xiaomi and Vivo.

In a country with the third-largest road network in the world, the total number of vehicles in fiscal year 2022 stood at 354 million. Road travel seemed to be the preferred choice in India with around 60 percent of the population who used personal or shared vehicles for commute. Not only public commute, the industrial movement of goods through roads has also been on the rise with nearly 2.9 billion metric tons per kilometer of freight transported through roads in the financial year 2020. Demographics The youth in the capital city of Delhi prefer to use public transport, and it is known to be one of the best public transport networks in the country. In the southern cities of Hyderabad and Chennai, however, personal two-wheelers were vehicles of choice for the young generation. This affection towards the easily navigable two-wheelers was reflected in the sales volume, with an approximate 18 million two-wheelers sold in the country in financial year 2024. Road accidents With the increase of motor bike sales in India, there was also a rise in the risks involved with them. With over 32.9 thousand road accidents by two-wheelers in 2022, each year, about three to five percent of the GDP of the country was invested in road accidents. Despite the downside, the number of motorcycles was likely to increase to make travelling within a mercilessly congested and not easily accessible network of roads within the large cities. Moreover, with continued urbanization and a consumer sector that continues to burgeon, the development of the automotive industry was expected to see continued growth.