What if the Indian Subcontinent United Today?

The Indian Subcontinent is one of the most powerful and influential regions in the world. Today, 7 countries are generally considered to be part of the subcontinent, with each of them having fairly similar cultures and identities. But what if the entire region united into one country? Also, let me start off by saying that this is completely impossible to happen and never will but it would be interesting to hypothesize what would happen if it did.

So the first thing we need to think about a united Indian Subcontinent is the population and land it would control. For starters, 7 different countries would make the region up: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives. This, however, would not seem that much at a glance but would definitely not stop it from having a huge land area, if you take into consideration how big these countries actually are.

In total, a the united subcontinent would have a huge area of 1,730,000 Square Miles, or 0.8% of the entire world's surface area, which would make it still only the 7th largest country in the world, larger than an independent India (1,269,345 Sq miles), but still significantly behind the 6th place contender, Australia (2,969,906 Sq miles), which is not a big difference to India's own land area.

Nonetheless, though, the subcontinent's population would be gargantuan, standing at a mind-blowing 1.7 Billion people, which would make it by far the most populous country in the world, even ahead of China (1.44 Billion), and around 23% of the entire world! Such a huge population would mainly be due to the massive population centres within the subcontinent's borders, like Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, all home to over 100 million people. Just like I mentioned, India, alone, would completely dominate this, accounting for a very significant 72% of its population.

The Indian Subcontinent would also boast some massive cities with lots to show. A capital for the new country would be very tough choice as nearly every option possible would at least offend someone. But just for the sake of this blog, in my opinion, the most likely choice would probably be Delhi as not only is it already the current capital of India, but also a swinging population centre. Delhi would also be the most populous urban-area in the subcontinent with an urban population of a whopping 31,300,000 people, which is actually the 5th most populous city in the world! As well as this, the subcontinent would also be home to 7 megacities out of the 37 total in the world. Here would be the rest of the top 10 largest cities in the Indian Subcontinent:

As well as being a population and land behemoth, a united Indian Subcontinent would also have a huge economy on the world stage. In total, the country's Nominal GDP would stand at a whopping $3.569 Trillion, which would be enough to put it in 5th place, in terms of Nominal GDP, even ahead of other massive economies like the United Kingdom ($3.124 Trillion) and France ($2.938 Trillion), but behind the economies of Germany ($4.319 Trillion) and Japan ($5.378 Trillion). As expected, India would be the largest contributor for this amount, accounting for a huge 85% of it.

The Nominal GDP Per Capita of the subcontinent would actually be quite lacking, though, despite its huge GDP, standing at a fairly low $2,099. This would be enough to place it with the 168th highest living standards in the world, higher than the living standards in Haiti ($1,943) and Kiribati ($1,917), but slightly more impoverished than Angola ($2,101) and an independent Bangladesh ($2,122).

The next topic we need to think about a united Indian Subcontinent are the Religious, Linguistic and Ethnic Groups that would be prevailing within its borders.

Starting with Religion, Hinduism would be, by far, the most followed religion within the subcontinent, at a big majority of 63.3% of the population. Islam would be the next largest faith at 31.4%, followed by Christianity at a big drop to just 2%, Buddhism at 1.5%, Sikhs at 1.1%, and the final 0.4% being made up of Atheists and Irreligious people.

Focusing on Ethnic Groups now, Indo-Aryan ethnicities would make up the vast majority of the subcontinent at 73% of its population, followed by Dravidians, mainly focused in Southern India and Northern Sri Lanka, would be the next largest block at 19%. Pashtuns would make the last largest Ethnic Group prevailing in its borders, at 2.5%, with the final 5.7% being a mix of various other tiny ethnicities.

Linguistic Groups in the Indian Subcontinent would be as equally diverse as the Ethnicities and Religion in it as well. Hindi would be the most spoken language, making up 33% of the population. Bengali would be the next most spoken at 15%, followed by Punjabi at 8%, Marathi at 5%, and Telugu, also at 5%. Tamil Speakers would be represented as 4.6%, with Gujarati and Sinhalese following closely behind at 3.5% and 1.1% respectively. The final 12.9% of the population, would be made up of various different languages with only a tiny percentage being spoken.

The last thing we need to think about a united Indian Subcontinent is its military, which would of course be no disappointment. Starting with manpower, the subcontinent would possess a huge 2,600,000 active-duty troops which would be more than enough to give it the largest active-military force in the world, even well ahead of China (2,035,000 troops) and double that of the United States (1,359,450). The country would also possess an additional 2,100,000 troops placed in reserves bringing the total to a massive 4,700,000.

The Indian Subcontinent's Budget for its military would be gargantuan, standing at $83.8 Billion, but only just a 15% increase from an independent India's budget. Nonetheless, this would be enough to give the subcontinent the 3rd highest budget in the world, steaming ahead of both Russia ($65.1 Billion) and Saudi Arabia's ($61.9 Billion), but still quite behind the huge budgets of China ($261 Billion) and the United States ($732 Billion).

Finally, a united subcontinent would also be a Nuclear Power, inheriting both India and Pakistan's entire arsenals. An exact amount would be unclear to predict, however, but an estimation would be about 271-330 nukes at its disposal, which would still make the Indian Subcontinent a formidable military power.

Aficionado's Indian Subcontinent - A Profile