14 facts about India that will blow your mind

India has fascinated many. Mark Twain called it ‘the cradle of the human race’ and Albert Einstein said that without India contribution to maths ‘no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made’.

Business Insider has pulled together some staggering statistics from the sub-continent that will blow your mind.

Click NEXT to read the astonishing facts…

India's road network is long enough to loop around earth over 117 times, says Business Insider

According to CIA World FactBook, India has a road network of 4.7 million kilometres, is the second largest in the world.

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New Delhi’s air is the most polluted in the world

New York Times reported that The World Health Organization recorded a PM 2.5, which is nearly three times that of Beijing which has an annual mean of 59. PM is the measurement of particles in the air.

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India has the wettest place on earth which receives an average rainfall of about 40 feet every year

If you think it’s Cherrapunji you are incorrect. The wettest place is a village 10 miles of Cherrapunji called Mawsynram.

Mawsynram receives an average annual rainfall of 467.35 inches per year or four inches more than Cherrapunji, according to weather.com.

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India will become the world's youngest country by 2020

By 2020, India is set to become the world’s youngest country with 64 per cent of its population in the working age group. In the next seven years, the median age in India will be 29. The population in the 15-34 age group is expected to rise from 430 million in 2011 to 464 million in 2021.

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India guzzles 50 per cent of the world’s whiskey

According to Quartz.com, India is far and away the world’s biggest guzzler, owing in part to its large population. Roughly half of the world’s whiskey is drunk by the sub-continent. Most of it is made by UB India, the world’s largest whiskey company by volume.

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About Rs 2,500 crore worth of hair is bought and sold in India

Temples are the biggest source for quality hair. In fact, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams holds an e-auction for the hair tonsured off devotees. It raised 74 crore from the sale of hair in September last year, albeit down from the high of 130 crore in June three months earlier, according to The Economic Times.

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India's 25 richest people have a combined net worth of $174.8 billion, which is about as much as Ukraine's GDP

Mukesh Ambani is Indias richest man and is worth $24.2 billion. Ukraine has a nominal GDP of $176.2 billion, according to the IMF, states Business Insider.

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About 25% of India’s land is turning into desert - that’s the equivalent of three United Kingdoms

Changing rain pattern, over-use of land and excessive grazing is turning the country’s land to desert. India occupies just 2 per cent of the world's territory but is home to 17 per cent of its population, according to a Reuters.

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Consumer spending in India is expected to triple by 2020.

Indian consumer spending is projected to rise to $3.6 trillion in 2020, from $991 billion in 2010, according to Boston Consulting Group.

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India has the world's largest dairy cow population

There were 44.9 million dairy cows in India in 2011, and about 260 dairy million cows in the world. About 17.2 per cent of the worlds dairy cows reside in India, according to DairyCo.

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India's medical tourism industry will be as big as is set to equal $2 billion.

Medical tourism is a growing sector in India. India’s medical tourism sector is expected to experience an annual growth rate of 30%, making it a $2 billion industry by 2015, according to Wikipedia.

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India has over 275 billion tons of coal reserves, that's the equivalent of 1.37 billion blue whales, states Business Insider

India is expected to pass the U.S. to become the worlds second largest coal consumer over the next 20 years. This will primarily be driven by its electric power sector.

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India has the most expensive home, constructed at the cost of about $1 billion. This is equivalent to the GDP of Somalia.

Mukesh Ambani’s home, Antilla, cost $1 billion, making it the most expensive home in the world. It takes a staff of 600 to manage the 27-storey building.