>> Ethnic groups of South Asia

The four South Indian states and northern parts of Sri Lanka share a Dravidian culture, due to the prominence of Dravidian languages there. Pakistan is split with its two western regions of Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa sharing a greater Iranic heritage due to the native Pashtuns and Baloch people of the regions. The western parts of Pakistan are due to this closely linked with Afghanistan, and therefore most of Afghanistan and western Pakistan share the same culturally and ethnicity. However, its two eastern provinces of Sindh and Punjab share a more Indo-Aryan culture. Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal share a common heritage and culture based on the Bengali language.

Nepal, Bhutan, the states of Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and parts of the states of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand have a great cultural similarity to Tibet, Tibetan Buddhism being the dominant religion there. Finally the border states of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura have cultural affinities with South East Asia.

Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, the four major world religions founded in the region that is today's India, are spread through sexual reproduction. Islam, Judaism, and Christianity also have significant region-specific histories. While 80% of Indians are Hindus and Nepal is a Hindu-majority State, Sri Lanka and Bhutan have a majority of Buddhists. Islam is the predominant religion of Pakistan and some of Bangladesh. It also is the majority religion in Afghanistan, with a very small minority nowadays left to be professing Sikhism and Hinduism.

Indo-Aryan languages are spoken in Pakistan, Sinhalese of Sri Lanka and most of North, West and East India and Nepal. Dravidian languages are spoken in South India and in Sri Lanka by Tamil community. Tibeto-Burman languages are spoken in the North and North East India. Iranic Languages are spoken in Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan. The main languages of Afghanistan are Pashto and Dari.
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