Facts and Figures

Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum)

38,863 sq km.

INDIA

318.39 lakhs as per the latest 2001 Census

(31.839 Millions)
* - India conducts Census every 10 years.

819 per sq km

Kerala's Share in the National Population: 3.1 per cent

District Average: 22.74 lakhs (2.274 millions)

Among states and union territories in India, Kerala continues to have the highest literacy rate.
Literacy Rate: 90.92 per cent.

Male Literacy Rate: 94.20 per cent
Female Literacy Rate: 87.86 per cent

Tourism, Information Technology, Fertilizer, Oil Refining and Power Generation, Ship Building, Machine Tools, Electronics, Cables, Rubber.

Annually the state gets an average of 3,107 mm of rainfall owing to Southwest Monsoon (June to September). This is pretty high compared to the national average. It rains for almost 4 months resulting in annual yield of water, in a normal year of around 7,030 crores cubic meters.

Kerala, the tip of the Indian peninsula, has an equable climate that varies from season to season. The Western Ghats on the eastern side of the state promises torrential rainfall during the monsoon. This in fact is the main facilitator for the thriving tropical forests in the land.

The climate of Kerala is roughly classified into winter that prevails from September to March, summer from April to June and monsoon or rainy season from June to August.

Some times in March or April there may be thunder storms with rains, making the weather rather sultry. But this is just a short spell. In the mountain ranges, there is heavy fog from the month of April onwards. On the whole, Kerala has a moderate and balanced climate throughout the year.

Summer: March - May (24 - 33^oC)
Monsoon: June - August (22 - 28^oC)
Winter: October - February (22 - 32^oC)

The best time to visit Kerala is between August to March. April to August is good time for Ayurvedic treatments. Domestic tourists travel during this timeframe as it falls during the summer holidays for schools.

There are three airports in the state.
Trivandrum International, Kochi International (Kochi) and Karipur International (Kozhikode).

All three are linked with International airports. There are daily flights operating from Singapore , Colombo , Male, Muscat , Bahrain , Kuwait , Abu Dhabi and Dubai . These airports are also well connected to all major Indian airports.

As in most of the places and renowned cultures, religion has played a crucial role in Kerala's culture as well. People belonging to different cultures and nationalities have visited the place and some even conquered it. Several faiths were practiced here, and many still peacefully co-exist even today.

There are mainly three religions observed here - Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. The other Indian religions like Buddhism and Jainism have also left their influences. The various communities celebrate a myriad of festivals and rituals with great pomp and splendour.

The local language is Malayalam. It is one of the Dravidian languages in India and has its own alphabet and grammar. It originally developed from Tamil and uses many Sanskrit and Tamil words. Malayalam is also rich in every genre of literature. Every year numerous books and publications are produced in Malayalam. The most circulated daily paper in India, The Malayala Manorama is in Malayalam. The state has over a 100 daily newspapers, about 235 weekly and 560 monthly periodicals that are brought out in Malayalam. This language is presently taught in many Universities outside Kerala including some in the United States .

English and Hindi are taught in schools at a very early stage. Both the languages are now widely used and spoken in the state.

Kerala is one of the few states in the world with higher women to men ratio. All the censuses since 1901 have enumerated more females than males in Kerala.

Kerala is politically divided between the United Front led by the Indian National Congress and the Left front led by the Communist Party (Marxist). Kerala has the unique distinction of having the first elected communist government in Asia . In the recent years the Bharatiya Janata Party has been working to make its presence felt in the Kerala. At present the Congress representatives rule the state.

Like most of India, in Kerala also, shops open from 9:00 a.m. in the morning till late evening. Some of the shops are open till late in the night.Some of the medical shops are open throughout the night.

Alcohol is available in government outlets and in licensed bars. A local form of alcohol called Kallu (extracted from coconut tree) is very popular and is available at outlets throughout Kerala. Alcohol is not served at restaurants except at bigger hotels.

Restaurants are open from early morning serving breakfast. Most of them remain open till 9.00 PM in the night.

Kerala is noted for the peaceful holidays it offers to tourists. Local people here are regarded for their warm nature and hospitality.
Authorities advise that visitors should be alert to suspicious packages in public places. It is also good to avoid crowds, political demonstrations etc

Almost all banks and financial institutions in the state are open from 10:00 a.m. IST to 5.00 p.m. Banks work for morning hours on Saturday and is closed on Sundays.

The units of Indian currency are the Rupee (INR) and Paisa (100 Paisa equal 1 Rupee). Paper money that is in circulation at the moment is in denominations of Rupees 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000. Coins are in denominations of Rupees 1, 2 and 5. By law, there are no restrictions on the amount of foreign currency or travellers' cheques a tourist may import. However, a declaration form has to be completed on arrival (this does not apply to cash, bank notes and traveller's cheques up to US $ 10,000).

Any money in the form of traveller's cheques, drafts, bills, cheques, etc should be exchanged to Indian Rupees only through authorized money- changers. It is to be noted that no Indian currency whatsoever can be imported or exported, except for Rupee travellers' cheques.

Post offices that are run under the central and state government now offer facilities to transfer money from non-resident Keralites.

Post offices as well as private groups have tied up with global money transfer agents like Western Union Financial Services, Money Gram of Thomas Cook, and UAE Exchange Centre to facilitate instant money transfer services.

There are over 5000 Post Offices through out the state. There are also more than 2200000 telephone lines distributed over 1100 telephone exchanges.

Technology has found its way to almost all parts of the state. Internet cafes are available even in small towns. There are a few cafes in major cities that are open throughout the day and late into the evening.

Central postal services by INDIAPOST are available. Private companies also offer excellent parcel, courier and speed post services. Blue Dart and DHL are the most popular ones.

Most of the offices commence their daily work by about 9 am IST and go on till 5.00 p.m. The lunch break is normally from 1.00p.m to 2.00p.m.

A significant section of the population has their own vehicles. These range from bicycles to cars and jeeps. Motorbikes are popular among the youth who are now becoming more brand conscious. One of the main forms of transportation all over the state is the three-wheeler called auto rickshaw.

Roadways of the state take you to almost all locations in the state and boats and ferries can reach those few that are not accessible via road. Kerala thus has road, rail, air and also inland water transport for the movement of passenger and goods.