South Asia

South Asia is the southern sub-region of Asia, defined in both geographical and ethnic-cultural terms. With a population of 2.04 billion, it contains a quarter (25%) of the world's people. The modern states of South Asia are commonly listed as Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan is also often included, though it may also be classed as part of Central Asia. The region borders East Asia to the northeast, Central Asia to the northwest, West Asia to the west, and Southeast Asia to the east. Its land is dominated by the Indian subcontinent, with the Indian Ocean to the south and the Himalayas, Karakoram, and Pamir Mountains to the north.

Settled life emerged on the Indian subcontinent along the western edge of the Indus River Basin about 9,000 years ago. It slowly developed into the Indus Valley Civilisation of the third millennium BCE. By 1200 BCE, an archaic form of Sanskrit, an Indo-European language, had diffused into India from the northwest, and the Dravidian languages were replaced in the northern and western regions. By 400 BCE, stratification and exclusion by caste had appeared within Hinduism, and Buddhism and Jainism had also arisen, proclaiming social orders not linked to birth.

In the early medieval era, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism became established on South Asia's southern and western coasts. Muslim armies from Central Asia repeatedly overran the plains of northern India, and they eventually founded the Delhi Sultanate in the 13th century. This drew the region into the wide networks of medieval Islam. The Islamic Mughal Empire, founded in 1526, brought about two centuries of relative peace and left a legacy of beautiful architecture. Later, the gradually expanding rule of the British East India Company turned most of South Asia into a colonial economy, while also strengthening its sovereignty. British Crown rule began in 1858. In 1947, the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two independent dominions: a Hindu-majority Dominion of India and a Muslim-majority Dominion of Pakistan. This happened amid large-scale loss of life and an unprecedented migration. The 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, a Cold War episode that led to the secession of East Pakistan, was the most recent case of a new nation being formed in the region.

South Asia has a total area of 5.2 million km² (2 million sq.mi), which is 10% of the Asian continent. Its population of about 2.04 billion makes it both the most populous and the most densely populated geographical region in the world. In 2022, South Asia had the world's largest populations of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Jains, and Zoroastrians. The region alone accounts for 90.47% of Hindus, 95.5% of Sikhs, and 31% of Muslims worldwide, as well as 35 million Christians and 25 million Buddhists.

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an economic cooperation organisation in the region. It was established in 1985 and includes all of the South Asian nations.

Definition

See also: Greater India

See also: Indian subcontinent § Geopolitics

See also: Akhand Bharat and Foreign relations of India

South Asia does not have clear edges. The countries in the region have very different foreign policies, and there is no clear boundary between South Asia and other parts of Asia, especially Southeast Asia and West Asia. Most of the region is a peninsula on the Indian Plate, cut off from the rest of Asia by mountains. It is shaped like a diamond, with the Himalayas to the north, the Hindu Kush to the west, and the Arakan Mountains to the east. It reaches south into the Indian Ocean, with the Arabian Sea to the southwest and the Bay of Bengal to the southeast. The usual definition of South Asia mostly comes from the borders of the Indian Empire, the former British Raj. The countries of Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, which were the core of the British Empire from 1857 to 1947, are the core of South Asia today. Nepal and Bhutan, which were British protectorates but not part of the British Raj, and the island countries of Sri Lanka and the Maldives are also generally included. Depending on the definition, the British Indian Ocean Territory and the Tibet Autonomous Region may be included too. Myanmar (Burma), a former British colony now mostly seen as part of Southeast Asia, is sometimes included. Some sources also include Afghanistan.

Organizations also define the region in different ways. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) started in 1985 with seven countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan became its eighth member in 2007. The South Asia Free Trade Agreement admitted Afghanistan in 2011. The World Bank and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) count the eight SAARC countries as South Asia. The Hirschman–Herfindahl index of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific leaves out Afghanistan. The United Nations Statistics Division's scheme of subregions includes Iran with the eight SAARC members as part of Southern Asia. The terms "Indian subcontinent" and "South Asia" are sometimes used in the same way. The Indian subcontinent is mainly a geological term for land that moved northeast from ancient Gondwana and hit the Eurasian plate nearly 55 million years ago, near the end of the Palaeocene. Historians Catherine Asher and Cynthia Talbot describe it as a natural landmass that stayed fairly isolated from the rest of Eurasia. The phrase began in the British Empire, and "South Asia" is often preferred to show a difference from East Asia. Historians Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal say the term South Asia is more "neutral," since "India" in front of "subcontinent" could upset people in Pakistan and Bangladesh. In Pakistan, the term "South Asia" was once seen as too focused on India and was "banned" in the International Relations department of Karachi University until 1989, after the death of Zia ul Haq. The region has also been called "India" in its classical and pre-modern sense, and "Greater India." Scholar Robert M. Cutler of Carleton University says South Asia, Southwest Asia, and Central Asia are different regions, but confusion has grown as some groups try to enlarge them into Greater South Asia...

History

For a topical guide, see Outline of South Asian history. For a chronological guide, see Timeline of South Asian history.

For the pre-1947 history of the region, see History of India, History of Pakistan, and History of Bangladesh.

See also: Peopling of India

The story of South Asia begins with people. Evidence of Homo sapiens activity goes back as long as 75,000 years, and earlier Homo erectus lived here from about 500,000 years ago. The earliest prehistoric culture has roots in Mesolithic sites, shown by rock paintings at the Bhimbetka rock shelters, which date to 30,000 BCE or older, as well as in Neolithic times. The first major civilisation was the Indus Valley Civilisation, which spread and flourished in the northwest from about 3300 to 1300 BCE, in what is now Pakistan, North India, and Afghanistan. Its Mature Harappan period, from 2600 to 1900 BCE, saw a sophisticated and technologically advanced urban culture. According to Possehl, the civilisation is a logical, though somewhat arbitrary, starting point for South Asian religions, but scholars dispute these links to later traditions. After this civilisation collapsed, Indo-Aryans, who were Indo-European-speaking herders, migrated into north-western India. The Vedic period lasted from about 1900 to 500 BCE. Around 1000 BCE, the first recorded state-level society in South Asia existed, and the Brahmanas, Aranyakas, and Upanishads began asking about the meaning of rituals, in what is called the "Hindu synthesis." Increasing urbanisation between 800 and 400 BCE contributed to new ideas that challenged Brahmanism, leading to Śramana movements. The most prominent leaders were Mahavira, a proponent of Jainism, and the Buddha, founder of Buddhism. The Greek army of Alexander the Great stayed in the Hindu Kush region for several years. Later, the Maurya Empire extended over much of South Asia in the 3rd century BCE, and Buddhism spread beyond the region, as shown by the Bamiyan Buddhas and the Edicts of Ashoka. The Gupta Empire ruled much of the region between the 4th and 7th centuries, a time that saw major temples and universities such as Nalanda built, along with cave sites like the Ajanta Caves, Badami cave temples, and Ellora Caves.

See also: Medieval India

Islam became a political power on the fringe of South Asia in the 8th century, when the Arab general Muhammad bin Qasim conquered Sindh and Multan. Mahmud of Ghazni raided kingdoms in north India many times, and the Ghurid Mu'izz al-Din Muhammad began a war of expansion in 1173 that laid the foundation for the Delhi Sultanate. That sultanate was ruled by the Mamluk, Khalji, Tughlaq, Sayyid, and Lodi dynasties. Muhammad bin Tughlaq ruled during a period when the sultanate reached its largest size. In the northeast, the Bengal Sultanate became independent in 1346 CE. In South India, the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire came to power in 1336, and it was defeated at the Battle of Talikota by an alliance of the Deccan sultanates. Around 1526, the Punjab governor Daulat Khan Lodi invited the Mughal Babur to attack the Delhi Sultanate. Babur defeated and killed Ibrahim Lodi at the Battle of Panipat in 1526, and the Mughal Empire replaced the Delhi Sultanate.

The modern history period of South Asia, from the 16th century onwards, saw the Mughal Empire, whose first ruler, Babur, had Turco-Mongol roots, and whose realm covered the northwestern and Indo-Gangetic Plain regions. Some areas remained under Hindu kings, such as those of the Vijayanagara Empire and the Kingdom of Mewar. Parts of modern Telangana and Andhra Pradesh were ruled by local Muslim rulers. The Mughal Empire built remarkable buildings such as the Taj Mahal. This time also included periods of religious persecution. Two leaders of Sikhism and Guru Tegh Bahadur, were executed when they refused to convert to Islam. Some Muslim rulers did not persecute non-Muslims; Akbar sought religious tolerance and abolished the jizya tax on non-Muslims. After the death of Aurangzeb and the collapse of the Mughal Empire in the early 18th century, the Marathas, Sikhs, Mysoreans, and Nawabs of Bengal controlled large regions. By the mid-18th century, India was a major proto-industrializing region. Maritime trade between South Asia and European merchants began after the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India. British, French, and Portuguese colonial interests made treaties with local rulers and set up trading ports. Ranjit Singh united a large region in the northwest into the Sikh Empire. After the defeat of the Nawab of Bengal, Tipu Sultan, and his French allies, British traders dominated much of South Asia by using divide and rule tactics. The region experienced de-industrialisation in the first decades of British rule. After the Indian Rebellion of 1857, control of the subcontinent was transferred to the British government. Famines and extreme poverty marked the colonial period, though railways built with British technology later helped provide famine relief. Millions of South Asians migrated throughout the world because of labour needs and opportunities in the British Empire. Western political thought inspired an Indian intellectual movement, and by the 20th century the Indian National Congress, led by Mahatma Gandhi, sought full independence. By the 1940s, independence activists were divided between those who favored a separate nation for Indian Muslims and those who wanted a united India. During World War II, over 2 million Indians fought for Britain. Britain then granted independence in 1947, which came with the Partition of India into a Hindu-majority India and a Muslim-majority Pakistan. This caused significant displacement and violence.

After independence in 1947, India and Pakistan had to decide what to do with the hundreds of princely states and remaining European colonies. Through referendums, military action, and negotiated accessions, the vast majority of India and Pakistan were politically united within a few years. India and Pakistan clashed several times in the decades after independence, with disputes over Kashmir playing a major role, and that dispute remains ongoing. In 1971, the eastern half of Pakistan separated with help from India and became Bangladesh, after the Bangladesh Liberation War. The Cold War also contributed to the divide, as Pakistan aligned with the West and India with the Soviet Union. Pakistan has faced terrorism, economic issues, and military dominance of its government since independence. India has grown significantly, cutting extreme poverty below 20% and surpassing Pakistan's GDP per capita in the 2010s after economic liberalisation from the 1980s. Bangladesh, which struggled for decades, is now one of the fastest-growing countries in the region. Afghanistan has gone through several invasions and Islamist regimes, and many of its refugees went to Pakistan and other parts of South Asia, bringing influences such as cricket. Religious nationalism has grown across the region, and Hindu nationalism grew in India with the election of the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014. India and China have recently fought on their border and competed for dominance of South Asia, while the United States and other countries have strengthened ties with India to counter China in the Indo-Pacific. (See also: 2025 India–Pakistan standoff)

Geography

See also: Indian subcontinent § Geography

Further information: Geography of India, Geography of Pakistan, Geography of Afghanistan, Geography of Bangladesh, Geography of Bhutan, Geography of Sri Lanka, Geography of Nepal, and Geography of the Maldives

According to Saul Cohen, early colonial strategists grouped South Asia with East Asia, but the region excluding Afghanistan is really a distinct geopolitical region. It has many kinds of land, such as glaciers, rainforests, valleys, deserts, and grasslands, like much larger continents. It is surrounded by the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean, and the Arabian Sea. The tip of the Indian Peninsula had the highest quality pearls. Most of the region rests on the Indian Plate, the northern part of the Indo-Australian Plate, which is separated from the rest of the Eurasian Plate. The plate includes most of South Asia and reaches from the Himalayas into the basin under the Indian Ocean, with parts of South China and eastern Indonesia, as well as the Kunlun and Karakoram ranges. It stops before Ladakh, Kohistan, the Hindu Kush range, and Balochistan. Looking at the land structure, the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Tibet lies outside the region, while the Pamir Mountains in Tajikistan lie inside it (geophysically). The Indian subcontinent once formed part of the supercontinent Gondwana, then rifted away during the Cretaceous period. About 50–55 million years ago it collided with the Eurasian Plate, giving birth to the Himalayan range and the Tibetan Plateau. It is the peninsular region south of the Himalayas and Kuen Lun mountains, and east of the Indus River and the Iranian Plateau.

The climate ranges from monsoon tropical in the south to temperate in the north, depending on altitude, nearness to the sea, and the seasonal monsoons. The northern Indo-Gangetic plains are hot in summer and cooler in winter, while the mountainous north is colder and gets snow. The Himalayas block cold winds from the north, so the plains stay fairly mild. The monsoon climate favours growing jute, tea, rice, and vegetables. South Asia has four broad climate zones: a dry subtropical continental climate in northern India and northern Pakistan, an equatorial climate in far south India and southwest Sri Lanka, a mostly tropical climate with subtropical heat in northwest India, a tropical climate with cool winters in Bangladesh, and a semi-arid climate in the centre, and an Alpine climate in the Himalayas and most of the Hindu Kush. Humidity above 80% has been recorded in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills and Sri Lanka. Two monsoon systems bring the region most of its rain, which is why South Asia depends so much on it. The summer monsoon blows from the southwest and brings 70%–90% of the yearly rain, while the winter monsoon blows from the northeast and is strongest in Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Low pressure centred over the Indus-Gangetic Plain and the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) shape these changes, and the region's Hydropower depends on the rain.

Main article: Climate change in Asia

South Asian countries are expected to face more flooding as the monsoon pattern intensifies. By 2030, major Indian cities such as Mumbai, Kolkata, Cuttack, and Kochi may have much of their land below the tide level. Sea level rise in Bangladesh could force 0.9–2.1 million people to move by 2050. Food security will become more uneven, and Infectious diarrhoea and dengue fever are likely to increase. Parts of the region may reach critical levels of heat stress under all but the lowest-emission climate change scenarios. India is estimated to have the world's highest social cost of carbon, meaning it feels the greatest impact from greenhouse gas emissions. In the 2017 edition of Germanwatch's Climate Risk Index, Bangladesh and Pakistan ranked sixth and seventh among the countries most affected from 1996 to 2015. Some research suggests South Asia could lose 2% of its GDP to climate change by 2050.

Northern South Asia is mostly Indo-Aryan, with Iranic populations in Afghanistan and Balochistan, and it is home to about half a billion people. Its borders have been heavily contested, mainly between India and Pakistan and China, and there are separatist movements in Northeast India. Sharing river waters has been difficult there. Northwestern South Asia is home to the Indus Valley Civilisation and was historically the most conquered region, since armies from the west had to cross it first. Eastern South Asia includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, parts of northeastern India, and Nepal, and lies between the Eastern Himalayas and the Bay of Bengal. The Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers flow into the sea through the Bengal region, where the world's largest delta, the Ganges Delta, is found. Since Nepal, Bhutan, and parts of India are landlocked, the coasts of Bangladesh and East India (West Bengal and Odisha) are the main gateways. Southern South Asia, which includes South India, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka, is mostly Dravidian and was a trade hub in ancient times. Tamil influence there is strong, and the Chola dynasty took Tamil culture to Sri Lanka.

See also: Exclusive economic zone and Indian Ocean

Society

See also: South Asian ethnic groups

Population

South Asia has about 1.938 billion people, which makes it the most populated region in the world. Its people are very mixed, with many languages and religions, and customs can be very different from one area to another.

Languages

Main article: Languages of South Asia

See also: Hindustani-speaking world

South Asia has many languages. The spoken languages mostly follow geography and are shared across religions, but the writing systems are divided by religion. Muslims in places like Afghanistan and Pakistan use the Arabic alphabet. Bangladesh, then called East Pakistan, used only the Nastaliq script until 1952, when the Language Movement led to Bengali becoming its official language. Other people in South Asia use scripts based on the Brahmi script for Indo-European languages... and other scripts for Dravidian languages.

The Nagari script is the most important of the traditional South Asian scripts. The Devanagari script is used for over 120 South Asian languages, including Hindi, Marathi, Nepali, Pali, Konkani, Bodo, Sindhi, and Maithili. It is also used for classical Sanskrit texts. The most spoken language in the region is Hindustani language, followed by Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Gujarati, Kannada, and Punjabi. Newer languages such as Urdu developed in northern South Asia. Punjabi is spoken by people of three religions, Islam, Hinduism, and Sikhism, and is written in three scripts: Gurmukhi alphabet for Sikhs, Nastaliq script for Muslim Punjabis in Pakistan, and Gurmukhi or Nāgarī script for Hindu Punjabis in India.

Sino-Tibetan languages are spoken across the northern parts of the region in Himalayan areas, often written in the Tibetan script. The national language of Bhutan is Dzongkha. Other languages spoken in Bhutan, Nepal, and Sikkim include Lepcha, Limbu, Gurung, Magar, Rai, Newari, Tamang, Tshangla, Thakali, and Sikkimese, while Ladakhi is spoken in Ladakh. Buddhism and Bon are often common where these languages are spoken. Some areas of Gilgit-Baltistan speak Balti language, but speakers write it with the Urdu script. Hundreds of years ago, the Tibetan script stopped being used in Pakistani Baltistan after the region adopted Islam.

English, with British spelling, is common in cities and is a major economic lingua franca of South Asia (see also South Asian English).

Religions

Main article: Religion in South Asia

Further information: Religion in Bangladesh, Religion in Bhutan, Religion in India, Religion in Nepal, Religion in Pakistan, and Religion in Sri Lanka

In 2010, South Asia had the world's largest population of Hindus, with about 510 million Muslims, over 27 million Sikhs, 35 million Christians, and over 25 million Buddhists. Hindus made up about 68% of the population, and Muslims about 31%. Most of the rest were Buddhists, Jains, Christians, and Sikhs. Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, and Christians are mostly found in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan, while Muslims are mostly found in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and the Maldives. All the major world religions are practised here, so South Asia is one of the most religiously diverse regions on Earth.

The Indian religions began in the Indian subcontinent. They include Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. These religions are different but share many ideas, and they spread from South Asia into East and Southeast Asia. Early Christianity and Islam came to coastal areas of South Asia through merchants who settled among local people. Later, Balochistan, Sindh, and parts of the Punjab region were conquered by the Arab caliphates, and Muslims from Persia and Central Asia arrived. Under Muslim rulers of the Islamic sultanates and the Mughal Empire, Islam spread further. About one-third of the world's Muslims are from South Asia.

Largest urban areas

South Asia has some of the most populated cities in the world. According to the 2023 edition of Demographia World Urban Areas, the region has 8 of the world's 35 megacities (urban areas with over 10 million people):

Migration

See also: Immigration to Bangladesh, Immigration to India, and Immigration to Pakistan

Ancient migrations into South Asia shaped the region's unique population, and later migrations often followed conquest, such as the British diaspora in India.

Immigration in South Asia often has a regional character. For example, most migrants in India come from other South Asian countries, and 97% of Bangladeshi migrants in India live in the regions of India that border Bangladesh, which are East India and Northeast India.

Culture

Main article: Culture of South Asia

See also: Category:Culture of South Asia

Sports

Field hockey has been the official national sport of many South Asian countries, and these countries together win most of the medals in field hockey at the Summer Olympics. Cricket is the most popular sport in South Asia, and 90% of the sport's fans around the world live in the Indian subcontinent. Traditional games, such as kabaddi and kho-kho, are played across the region and at the South Asian Games and Asian Games. Leagues for these games, such as the Pro Kabaddi League and Ultimate Kho Kho, are some of the most-watched sports competitions in the region.

Cinema

Music

Main article: Music of South Asia

Cuisine

Religion

Economy

Main article: Economy of South Asia

Further information: Economy of Afghanistan, Economy of Bangladesh, Economy of Bhutan, Economy of India, Economy of the Maldives, Economy of Nepal, Economy of Pakistan, and Economy of Sri Lanka

India is the largest economy in the region, with US$4.18 trillion, and makes up almost 82% of the South Asian economy. It is the world's 6th largest economy in nominal terms and the world's 3rd largest when measured by purchasing power adjusted exchange rates (US$17.64 trillion). India is a member of the G-20 major economies and BRICS. It is the fastest-growing major economy in the world, with growth of 7.2% in FY 2022–23. Bangladesh comes next, with a GDP of $446 billion, and it has the fastest GDP growth rate in Asia. It is listed among the Next Eleven countries. Pakistan follows with an economy of $340 billion, and Sri Lanka has the 2nd highest GDP per capita in the region. A World Bank report from 2015 said that South Asia became the fastest-growing region in the world from the last quarter of 2014.

Trade within the region makes up 50% of total trade in in East Asia, but only a little more than 5% in South Asia. Some parts of the region are much wealthier than others. The four Indian states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Karnataka are projected to make up almost 50% of India's GDP by 2030, while the five South Indian states, which have 20% of India's population, are expected to contribute 35% of India's GDP by 2030. In a 2011 World Bank report, about 24.6% of South Asians lived below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day, and Bhutan, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka had the lowest numbers of people in poverty. The major stock exchanges are the National Stock Exchange (NSE) of India, valued at $5.70 trillion (5th largest in the world), and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) of India, valued at $5.30 trillion. Others include the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) in Bangladesh, the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) in Sri Lanka, and the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), valued at $72 billion. This economic data comes from the International Monetary Fund, current as of April 2017, and is given in US dollars.

Education

See also: History of education in the Indian subcontinent

It is hard to judge the quality of education in South Asia because the countries differ greatly from one another. In 2018, 11.3 million children of primary age and 20.6 million of lower secondary age were out of school. Millions more finished primary school without learning basic reading and maths. UNESCO reported that 81 per cent of children aged six to fourteen in Southern and Central Asia were not learning in 2017, and only sub-Saharan Africa had a higher rate. Many students drop out, and over half finish secondary school without the skills they need. Schools often rely on teachers talking and students memorising facts, and some children face physical punishment and unfair treatment.

Education is free in most South Asian countries, but parents still pay for extra private lessons to make up for gaps in schooling. Larger and poorer countries such as India and Bangladesh have limited money for their schools, while smaller countries such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and Bhutan have achieved universal primary school completion. Conflict, natural disasters, and political problems also make it hard to run schools, and girls face serious barriers to learning. In 2011, India had about 21 million higher education students, which was 86% of the students in the region at that level.

Health and nutrition

The World Health Organization (WHO) says that South Asia is home to two of the three countries in the world still affected by polio: Pakistan and Afghanistan. In 2014, there were 306 polio cases in Pakistan and 28 in Afghanistan. Efforts to end polio have been hurt by militants in both countries, who say the programme is a cover to spy on their operations. Their attacks on immunisation teams have claimed 78 lives since December 2012. The World Bank estimates that India is one of the highest-ranking countries in the world for the number of children suffering from malnutrition. The share of underweight children in India is nearly double that of sub-Saharan Africa.

According to the World Bank, 64% of South Asians lived in rural areas in 2022. In 2021, about 330 million people in the region were malnourished. Nepal and Bangladesh reached their hunger targets, and the number of hungry people in the region has fallen over the last 25 years. However, the number of undernourished people in Pakistan has grown, from 28.7 million in the 1990s to 41.3 million in 2015. A report noted that malnutrition has been reduced in South Asia thanks to the Green Revolution, but it also raised concern about feeding and care for young children.

Governance and politics

Systems of government

See also: List of legislatures in South Asia and List of countries by system of government

India is a parliamentary republic led by a prime minister and is the largest working democracy in the world. It leads the region in the Democracy Index, and it has many political parties. Pakistan is a parliamentary Islamic republic, and its governments have often been unstable. Sri Lanka is a semi-presidential republic and the oldest lasting democracy in Asia. A long civil war, fought with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, ended in 2009. Bangladesh is a parliamentary democracy, and its laws describe it as both Islamic and secular. Nepal became a secular democratic republic in 2008, after being a Hindu state. Afghanistan has been ruled as an Islamic emirate since 2021, after many years of conflict. Bhutan is a Buddhist state with a constitutional monarchy. The Maldives is a presidential republic.

Regional politics

See also: War in Afghanistan (2001–2021), Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts, and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

India is the dominant geopolitical power in the region. It has most of the region's land, people, economy, and military spending. Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka are middle powers. After the Partition of India in 1947, India and Pakistan had many wars and conflicts, which shaped the region's politics. In 1985, the countries formed the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to work together. Because of tensions between India and Pakistan, India has focused more on smaller groups of countries, including SASEC, BIMSTEC, and BBIN.