What if the Mughal Empire Reunited Today?

The Mughal Empire was one of the largest and most powerful empires in history. At its territorial peak in 1690, it stretched continuously all the way from Northern, modern-day Afghanistan, to Southern, modern-day India, and as far east as Bangladesh. However, like all empires, the Mughal Empire gradually began to lose the territory and influence it once had in the region, coupled with the growing European Colonial establishments in India, until it finally ceased to exist in 1858, fading away into history. But what if the empire reunited today?

The first thing we need to think about a reunited Mughal Empire is the population and land it would control today. To start off, 5 countries would lose all or some of their territory to the empire: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and a tiny part of Iran. All 5 of these countries would be located in Asia. This may not seem much at a glance but it would certainly not stop the empire from having a huge land area.

In total, the Mughal Empire's land area would be a massive amount, standing at 1,540,000 Square miles (3,988,000 sq km)! This would be enough to make the empire the 7th largest country in the world, ahead of an independent India (1,269,000 sq miles) and Argentina (1,073,000 sq miles), but still quite behind the giant countries of Australia (2,969,000 sq miles) and Brazil (3,287,000 sq miles).

As well as a huge land area, the population of the Mughal Empire would also be a gargantuan amount, standing at 1.47 Billion people, which is an absolutely mind-blowing. This would easily be enough to make the empire the most populous country in the world, even beating up other population giants like China (1.44 Billion) and more than quadruple the population of the United States (331 Million)! India alone, would completely dominate this population, accounting for a very significant 74% of the entire empire's population.

A reunited Mughal Empire would also boast some impressive cities with huge populations in addition to a huge population and land area. The capital of the empire would most likely be Delhi as the city was actually the historic capital of the empire, and is a very significant city today as well. Delhi would also be the most populous urban-area within the empire with a gargantuan population of 31,300,000, which is actually the 5th most populous city in the world! Delhi is so large, in fact, that if it were its own country, it would be the 41st most populous country in the world, even ahead of Saudi Arabia, a  country more than 500x the size of the city. Here would be the rest of the top 10 most populous Urban-Areas within the Mughal Empire:

As well as a massive population and land, the empire would also have a big economy, possibly as equally impressive. To start off, in total, the Mughal Empire would have a combined Nominal GDP of a whopping $3.402 Trillion. However, despite this, the empire wouldn't be much of a difference to modern-day India's economy ($3.049 Trillion), and would only move up just one place on the world stage. Nonetheless, this would be enough to put the empire in 5th place, in terms of Nominal GDP, even ahead of huge economies like the United Kingdom ($3.124 Trillion) and France ($2.938 Trillion), but quite significantly behind Germany ($4.319 Trillion) and Japan ($5.378 Trillion).

The GDP Per Capita of the empire, however, wouldn't be so impressive, mainly due to the relatively poor living standards in the parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan of the empire. Taking all of these factors in, the Mughal Empire's Nominal GDP Per Capita would stand at a quite low $2,314, far below the Global Average of $11,339. This would be enough to make the empire the 162nd richest country in the world, still ahead of many other countries, though, like São Tomé and Príncipe ($2,174) and Mauritania ($2,179) but behind the conditions in Ghana ($2,374) and Nigeria ($2,432).

The next thing we need to think about a reunited Mughal Empire are the religious and ethnic groups prevailing within its borders.

Starting with Religion, Hinduism would be by far the most followed faith in the empire with 65% of the population adhering to it. Islam would next, and the largest minority, at 29% of the population, split between 27% Sunni and 2% Shia. Christians would be represented at 2.6%, followed by Buddhists at 0.4%. The final 3% of the population would be made up of Atheists and Irreligious people.

Focusing on Ethnic Groups now, Indo-Aryan ethnicities would make up the vast majority of empire's population at a significant 81%. Dravidians would be next, making up a further 14%. This would be followed by Pashtuns at 2.6%, and the final 2.4% being a mix of various other tiny Ethnic Groups present in the empire.

Like the Mughal Empire's religious and ethnic groups, its Linguistic Groups would be as equally diverse as its religious and ethnic groups, or possibly even more diverse. Hindi would be the most spoken language within the empire accounting for 34% of the population speaking it. Urdu would be next most spoken language, being represented at 25%. This would be followed by Bengali at 13%, Punjabi at 7%, Pashto at 6.6%. Telugu at 6.4%, Gujarati at 4%, and Tamil at 1.9%. The final 1.1% the empire's population would be a mix of various other small and indigenous languages spoken within its borders.

Finally, we come to the last topic we need to think about a reunited Mughal Empire, its military size, which would of course be huge. Beginning with its manpower, the empire would possess a formidable force of around 1,920,000 active-duty personnel, enough to put it in a strong 2nd place, only just slightly behind the first-place contender, China (2,035,000 troops), and well ahead of other powerful militaries like North Korea (1,280,000 troops) and even the United States (1,359,400 troops). In addition to this, the empire would also possess an extra 5,900,000 troops placed in reserves, bringing its military to a total of 7,820,000 troops.

The budget to fund the empire's military would be a significant amount, standing at a whopping $82.2 Billion, or 2.4% of its entire Nominal GDP, giving it the 3rd highest budget in the world, ahead of Russia ($65.5 Billion) and Saudi Arabia's ($61.9 Billion), but still quite behind the military juggernauts of China ($261 Billion) and the United States ($732 Billion).

A reunited Mughal Empire would also be a strong Nuclear Power, inheriting both modern-day India and Pakistan's nukes. A specific amount of bombs would be unclear to state but an estimation would be around 326-365 Nuclear weapons at the empire's disposal.