The Hiders Blog......: Why we are here....

I was spending some time today finishing off the refresh of the TFT business plan and Raj had given me some updated stats on Bangalore to insert. I thought I would let you see them as they blew my mind!!

The Indian population is now over 1.2 billion out of which 54 percent of Indians are below 25 years of age. Indians below 15 years of age are 336 million and 121 million are between the ages of 15 and 19. The age group of 20-34 are 271 million, adding up 728 million under 34 years of age making almost 70 present of the population. Thus making ‘India world’s youngest nation' having 555 million young people.

Bangalore (now called Bengaluru) has an estimated population of 7.2 million (2008). It is a City of great wealth and yet great poverty:

- It has the highest rate of suicide; as many as 1800 people commit suicide each year in the city, a majority of attempted suicides are between the age group of 20 to 24.

- A survey conducted by abortion centres across the city of Mumbai states that a minimum of 120 teenagers undergo abortions every month.

-According to WHO (World Health Organization) 10 percent of all abortions in India every year, are about five million a year among girls between 15 and 19.’

- There are 5.1 million HIV positive patients and 1,11,608 people with Aids in India , it is estimated that by 2010 there will be 20-25 million HIV positive people in India

-India also has the largest population of street children, ‘it is estimated that in urban areas there are 11 million children on the streets. Of them 420,000 street children live in six metropolitan cities of India, in Delhi alone there are at least 100,000 street children’

-The government estimates ‘that there are 400,000 child prostitutes in India. Unofficial estimates say India has as many as two million prostitutes, of which 20 percent are below 15 years of age. UINICEF claims that almost 15 percent of them enter the profession before the age of 15, and 25 percent enter between 15 and 18