kerala at a glance

Kerala Features

Kerala is located at the Southwestern tip of India and covers a total area of 38,863 sq kms. Kerala has a total population of 3,18,41,374 people with the sex ratio being 1058 women for 1000 men. The language widely spoken is Malayalam although English is a widely spoken language through out Kerala. The main religions of the people of Kerala are Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. The climate is tropical with summer lasting from February to May, monsoon from June to September and winter from October to January. The currency of Kerala is the Indian Rupee.

Districts of Kerala

There are a total of 14 districts in Kerala which are listed as follows:-

Thiruvananthapuram
Kollam
Alappuzha
Pathanamthitta
Kottayam
Idukki
Ernakulam
Thrissur
Palakkad
Malappuram
Wayanad
Kozhikode
Kannur
Kasaragod

The major cities in Kerala are Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode. There are a total of 61 taluks, 1452 revenue villages, 5 city corporations, 991 grama panchayats, 152 block panchayats and 14 district panchayats.

The literacy rate in Kerala is 90.92% with the male literacy rate being 94.2% and female literacy rate being 86.17%. The educational infrastructure is very sound with 6755 lower primary schools, 2966 upper primary schools, 2585 high schools and 7 universities and 286 arts and science colleges.

The Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI) is high and there is a large network of health infrastructure with 961 primary health centres and 5094 sub centres.

There is a wide network for all means of transportation in Kerala.

Air: There are three international airports in Kerala which are at Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode and Nedumbassery (Kochi). They operate both international and domestic flights.

Road and Rail : Kerala is well connected by road and railway.

Seaports: The major seaport is at Kochi and the minor ones are at Kozhikode, Alappuzha and Kollam.

Some of the major beaches in Kerala are Kovalam, Varkala, Fort Kochi, Kappad and Bekal. The major hill stations include Ponmudi, Peerumade, Thekkady, Munnar and Wayanad. There are a number of wildlife sanctuaries which include Thekkady (Periyar), Parambikkulam, Wayanad, Silent Valley, Aralm, Peechi-Vazhani, Idukki, Chinnar, Peppara and Neyyar and the major bird sanctuaries are at Thattekad and Kumarakom.

The major industries in Kerala are Tourism Industry, Information Technology, Fertilizer, Oil Refining, Power Generation, Ship Building, Machine Tools, Electronics, Cables and Rubber. The agricultural sector boasts of farm and cash crops such as rubber, coffee, tea, spices, pepper, cashew, coconut, arecanut and rice. The exports from Kerala include the marine products, coir, spices, handicrafts and food and other products.