Kerala

Kerala occupies a narrow strip along the south-western coast, between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats. The capital is Thiruvananthapuram. The state is about 38,800 sq km and has one of the highest population densities in India.

Kerala’s human development indicators — literacy, life expectancy, infant mortality and sex ratio — are the best of any Indian state and have been for decades, the result of early investment in schooling and public health and of land and labour reforms in the mid-twentieth century. The economy depends heavily on remittances from workers in the Gulf, which have funded consumption and housing for a large share of households. Rubber, coconut, spices, cashew and fisheries are the main domestic sectors, and the state is a significant source of nurses and other professionals abroad.

The state has almost no large-scale industry and its fiscal position is strained by a large pension and welfare bill. Its coast and backwaters are exposed to erosion and saline intrusion, and the 2018 floods — the worst in a century — caused widespread damage and prompted a rethink of how reservoirs are managed. Politically, Kerala has alternated between the Left Democratic Front and the Congress-led United Democratic Front with unusual regularity for decades.