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India is a large multicultural country in South Asia, with a population of over one billion. The Indian economy is the fourth largest in the world in terms of purchasing power parity and is the world's second-fastest growing economy. India is also the second most populous country in the world, and the world's largest democracy. India has grown significantly, in terms of both population and strategic importance, in the last 20 years. It has also emerged as an important regional power, with one of the world's largest militaries and a declared nuclear weapons capability. Strategically located in Asia, constituting most of the Indian subcontinent, India straddles many busy trade routes. It shares its borders with Pakistan, the People's Republic of China, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Afghanistan. Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Indonesia are the nearby island nations in the Indian Ocean. Home to some of the most ancient civilizations in the world, India was formally ruled by the British for almost 90 years before gaining independence in 1947.(more...)