(South Asian countries are defined as India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. Pakistan could be considered as either Middle Eastern or South Asian, but is included as well)
Determining the countries most similar to South Asia requires considering various social, cultural, economic, and political factors. One way to answer this complex question is by analyzing the data from the Country Similarity Index. The index attempts to quantify how similar countries are to each other relative to other countries, using a variety of statistics from five broad categories: demographics, culture, politics, infrastructure, and geography.
Unsurprisingly, the most average country in South Asia is India, according to the data. India makes up the bulk of the Indian Subcontinent and is quite religiously, linguistically, and geographically diverse. This makes it easily the most average country in South Asia. In fact, two countries in the region, Bangladesh and Pakistan, were once part of India until relatively recently. The majority of people in India speak Indic languages, as is common in the region. These countries tend to not have well developed infrastructure and their technology standards are similar. Most countries in the region drive on the left side of the road, use Indian broad gauge railroad tracks, and have similar electrical outlets.
Myanmar is a Southeast Asian country, but it was once part of British India. Myanmar is also one of the least developed Southeast Asian nations, so it more closely resembles South Asia than other Southeast Asian countries. Like most South Asian countries, Myanmar uses scripts derived from the ancient Brahmi script, so it has similarities with scripts used in many South Asian languages. Furthermore, Myanmar, like Bhutan and Sri Lanka, is predominately Buddhist. It is a Dharmic religion that shares cultural roots with Hinduism. However, the country also has a significantly percentage of Muslims and Christians too. Myanmar borders two South Asian countries: Bangladesh and India. It is also borders the Indian Ocean.
The data shows that the least similar country to South Asia is Finland. Its climate is extremely cold and it is sparsely populated. The genetics of its people are further different from India than other European countries, since Finnish people have more genes originating from Siberia. They are also unique since they speak Uralic languages that are unrelated to Hindi, unlike Indo-European languages. While cricket is extremely popular in India, Finland’s favorite sport is ice hockey. Furthermore, Finland’s people tend to be significantly wealthier and have more years of education. Their technology is different as well since Finland drives on the right side of the road and has Type C electrical outlets.
