Country Comparisons

Yesterday, I read an article that mentioned that Asia's largest slum will be getting some renovations. The slum happens to be in Bombay, India, and in this city of 12 million people (Bombay is the third largest city in the world) about 600,000 of them live in this slum.

This made me wonder how many people live in India anyway, how much money do they make, and exactly how big is the Indian sub-continent in relation to China, the US, and Germany? I knew that India was the second heaviliest populated country in the world, but the rest I wasn't sure. So here are the facts:

India:
1 billion people (2003 est.)
3.3 million square kilometers
$480/year (2002 average est. income)

China:
1.3 billion people (2003 est.)
9.5 million square kilometers
$940/year (2002 average est. income)

USA:
291 million people (2003 est.)
9.6 million square kilometers
$35,060/(2002 average est. income)

Germany
83 million people (2003 est.)
357,000 square kilometers
$22,670/year (2002 average est. income)

From a world perspective it boils down to this:

The most populous countries in the world are China, India, and the USA respectively. Germany is the 13th most populous country in the world. This means that on average in India there are 303 people per square kilometer, in Germany there are 232 people per square kilometer, in China there are 137 people per square kilometer, and in the USA there are 30 people per square kilometer.

The USA is third, China is fourth, India is seventh, and Germany is 62nd in terms of land mass.

The average income in the USA is the highest of the four countries and India is the lowest. World-wide, the USA ranks sixth, Germany 22nd, China 135th, and India 159th.

No wonder so many things are out-sourced to China and India, huh?

UPDATE 7/8/04:

A comment to this post suggested that I double check my stats and what do you know... Where the hell did I ever get those statistics anyway? I thought I got them from The World Almanac 2002, but when I doubled checked they aren't even close to what I have here.

It is true, I am mistaken: According to the 2002 World Almanac the information is as follows:

1. Russia; 17,075,400 sq km
   
2. China; 9,326,411 sq km
   
3. Canada; 9,220, 970 sq km
   
4. USA; 9,166,601 sq km
   
5. Brazil; 8,456,511 sq km
   
6. Australia; 7,617,931 sq km
   
7. India; 2,973,190 mil sq km
   
8. Argentina; 2,736,690 sq km
   
9. Kazakhstan; 2,717,300 sq km
   
10. Algeria; 2,381,741 sq km
    

Germany; 349,907 sq km

Boy, do I ever have egg on my face...