List of country subdivisions by population
These are lists of the most populous administrative country subdivisions in the world; Excluded are regions defined for convenience, that do not have their own single government: e.g. Calabarzon, East China, Kantō region and Northeastern United States.
List of first-level administrative subdivisions by population
The following is a ranked list of the 61 first-level administrative subdivisions worldwide with populations that are, as of the latest government data, over 20 million, along with a country of comparable population size, the country that the subdivision belongs to, the date the population statistic is taken from, their capital, their area, population density, and their largest metro area. The latest data issued by the country's government is used, and those subdivisions which are the largest in their respective countries are shown in bold. Countries which have a high proportion of their population enumerated in the largest subdivision include the United Kingdom and Pakistan. England appears on this list but does not have a single government because it is a constituent country.| Rank | Subdivision | Country | Capital | Population | Area km² | Density per km² | Comparable country | Date | Ref. | |
| 1 | Uttar Pradesh | ' | Lucknow | Lucknow | 228,931,000 | 243,290 | 940.98 | July 1, 2020 | ||
| 2 | Maharashtra | Mumbai | Mumbai | 123,676,000 | 307,713 | 401.92 | July 1, 2020 | |||
| 3 | Bihar | Patna | Patna | 121,895,000 | 94,163 | 1,294.51 | July 1, 2020 | |||
| 4 | Guangdong | ' | Guangzhou | Guangzhou | 115,210,000 | 179,800 | 640.77 | December 31, 2019 | ||
| 5 | Punjab | ' | Lahore | Lahore | 110,012,442 | 205,344 | 535.75 | April 15, 2017 | ||
| 6 | Shandong | Jinan | Jinan | 100,700,000 | 157,100 | 640.99 | December 31, 2019 | |||
| 7 | West Bengal | Kolkata | Kolkata | 97,719,000 | 88,752 | 1,101.03 | July 1, 2020 | |||
| 8 | Henan | Zhengzhou | Zhengzhou | 96,400,000 | 167,000 | 577.25 | December 31, 2019 | |||
| 9 | Madhya Pradesh | Bhopal | Indore | 83,755,000 | 308,252 | 271.71 | July 1, 2020 | |||
| 10 | Sichuan | Chengdu | Chengdu | 83,750,000 | 485,000 | 172.68 | December 31, 2019 | |||
| 11 | Jiangsu | Nanjing | Nanjing | 80,700,000 | 102,600 | 786.55 | December 31, 2019 | |||
| 12 | Rajasthan | Jaipur | Jaipur | 78,609,000 | 342,239 | 229.69 | July 1, 2020 | |||
| 13 | Tamil Nadu | Chennai | Chennai | 76,167,000 | 130,058 | 585.64 | July 1, 2020 | |||
| 14 | Hebei | Shijiazhuang | Shijiazhuang | 75,920,000 | 188,800 | 402.12 | December 31, 2019 | |||
| 15 | Hunan | Changsha | Changsha | 69,180,000 | 210,000 | 329.43 | December 31, 2019 | |||
| 16 | Gujarat | Gandhinagar | Ahmedabad | 69,171,000 | 196,024 | 352.87 | July 1, 2020 | |||
| 17 | Karnataka | Bengaluru | Bengaluru | 66,496,000 | 191,791 | 346.71 | July 1, 2020 | |||
| 18 | Anhui | Hefei | Hefei | 63,660,000 | 140,200 | 454.07 | December 31, 2019 | |||
| 19 | Hubei | Wuhan | Wuhan | 59,270,000 | 185,900 | 318.83 | December 31, 2019 | |||
| 20 | Zhejiang | Hangzhou | Hangzhou | 58,500,000 | 101,800 | 574.66 | December 31, 2019 | |||
| 21 | England | ' | London | London | 56,286,961 | 130,279 | 432.05 | June 30, 2019 | ||
| 22 | Andhra Pradesh | Amaravati | Visakhapatnam | 52,599,000 | 162,975 | 322.74 | July 1, 2020 | |||
| 23 | Guangxi | Nanning | Nanning | 49,600,000 | 237,600 | 208.75 | December 31, 2019 | |||
| 24 | West Java | ' | Bandung | Bekasi | 49,565,200 | 35,378 | 1,385.70 | July 1, 2020 | ||
| 25 | Yunnan | Kunming | Kunming | 48,580,000 | 394,000 | 123.30 | December 31, 2019 | |||
| 26 | Sindh | Karachi | Karachi | 47,886,051 | 140,914 | 339.82 | April 15, 2017 | |||
| 27 | Jiangxi | Nanchang | Nanchang | 46,660,000 | 166,900 | 279.57 | December 31, 2019 | |||
| 28 | São Paulo | ' | São Paulo | São Paulo | 46,289,333 | 248,223 | 186.48 | July 1, 2020 | ||
| 29 | Odisha | Bhubaneswar | Bhubaneswar | 43,913,000 | 155,707 | 282.02 | July 1, 2020 | |||
| 30 | Liaoning | Shenyang | Shenyang | 43,520,000 | 145,900 | 298.29 | December 31, 2019 | |||
| 31 | Dhaka Division | ' | Dhaka | Dhaka | 40,171,000 | 20,551 | 1,954.70 | March 15, 2016 | ||
| 32 | East Java | Surabaya | Surabaya | 39,955,900 | 47,800 | 835.90 | July 1, 2020 | |||
| 33 | Fujian | Fuzhou | Xiamen | 39,730,000 | 121,400 | 327.27 | December 31, 2019 | |||
| 34 | California | ' | Sacramento | Los Angeles | 39,512,223 | 423,970 | 93.20 | July 1, 2019 | ||
| 35 | Shaanxi | Xi'an | Xi'an | 38,760,000 | 205,800 | 188.34 | December 31, 2019 | |||
| 36 | Jharkhand | Ranchi | Jamshedpur | 38,115,000 | 79,714 | 478.15 | July 1, 2020 | |||
| 37 | Telangana | Hyderabad | Hyderabad | 37,536,000 | 112,077 | 334.91 | July 1, 2020 | |||
| 38 | Heilongjiang | Harbin | Harbin | 37,510,000 | 454,800 | 82.48 | December 31, 2019 | |||
| 39 | Shanxi | Taiyuan | Taiyuan | 37,290,000 | 156,000 | 239.04 | December 31, 2019 | |||
| 40 | Guizhou | Guiyang | Guiyang | 36,230,000 | 176,200 | 205.62 | December 31, 2019 | |||
| 41 | Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | Peshawar | Peshawar | 35,525,047 | 101,741 | 349.17 | April 15, 2017 | |||
| 42 | Oromia | Addis Ababa | Addis Ababa | 35,467,001 | 286,612 | 123.75 | July 1, 2017 | |||
| 43 | Kerala | Thiruvananthapuram | Thiruvananthapuram | 35,368,000 | 38,863 | 910.07 | July 1, 2020 | |||
| 44 | Assam | Dispur | Guwahati | 34,793,000 | 78,438 | 443.57 | July 1, 2020 | |||
| 45 | Central Java | Semarang | Semarang | 34,738,200 | 32,801 | 1,059.06 | July 1, 2020 | |||
| 46 | Chittagong Division | Chittagong | Chittagong | 31,980,000 | 33,771 | 946.97 | March 15, 2016 | |||
| 47 | Chongqing | Chongqing | Chongqing | 31,240,000 | 82,403 | 379.11 | December 31, 2019 | |||
| 48 | Punjab | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | 30,179,000 | 50,362 | 599.24 | July 1, 2020 | |||
| 49 | Chhattisgarh | Raipur | Raipur | 29,237,000 | 135,191 | 216.26 | July 1, 2020 | |||
| 50 | Haryana | Chandigarh | Faridabad | 29,213,000 | 44,212 | 660.75 | July 1, 2020 | |||
| 51 | Texas | Austin | Dallas-Fort Worth | 28,995,881 | 695,662 | 41.68 | July 1, 2019 | |||
| 52 | Jilin | Changchun | Changchun | 26,910,000 | 187,400 | 143.60 | December 31, 2019 | |||
| 53 | Gansu | Lanzhou | Lanzhou | 26,470,000 | 453,700 | 58.34 | December 31, 2019 | |||
| 53 | Inner Mongolia | Hohhot | Baotou | 25,400,000 | 1,183,000 | 21.47 | December 31, 2019 | |||
| 54 | Xinjiang | Ürümqi | Ürümqi | 25,230,000 | 1,664,900 | 15.15 | December 31, 2019 | |||
| 55 | Shanghai | Shanghai | Shanghai | 24,280,000 | 6,341 | 3,829.05 | December 31, 2019 | |||
| 56 | Beijing | Beijing | Beijing | 21,540,000 | 16,411 | 1,312.53 | December 31, 2019 | |||
| 57 | Florida | Tallahassee | Miami | 21,477,737 | 170,312 | 126.11 | July 1, 2019 | |||
| 58 | Minas Gerais | Belo Horizonte | Belo Horizonte | 21,292,666 | 586,528 | 36.30 | July 1, 2020 | |||
| 59 | Amhara | Bahir Dar | Bahir Dar | 21,134,988 | 154,709 | 136.61 | July 1, 2017 | |||
| 60 | Rajshahi Division | Rajshahi | Rajshahi | 20,412,000 | 18,174 | 1,123.14 | March 15, 2016 | |||
| 61 | Delhi | New Delhi | Delhi | 20,319,000 | 1,484 | 13,692.05 | July 1, 2020 |
Historic First Level subdivisions
Some large former first level subdivisions with former populations :- Ukrainian SSR peak of 53 million, now is the country Ukraine.
- Russian SFSR peak of 149 million, now is the country Russia.
- Sichuan Province peak of 114.73 million before Chongqing Municipality separated in 1997
- Huabei Area peak of 61.8 million, now split into Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, and Inner Mongolia
- Dongbei Area peak of 46.8 million, now split into Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang
- Huadong Area peak of 162.6 million, now split into Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi, and Shandong
- Zhongnan Area peak of 176.3 million, now split into Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Hainan, and Guangxi
- Xibei Area peak of 35.3 million, now split into Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, and Xinjiang
- Xinan Area peak of 98.4 million, now split into Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Tibet
- West Java, Indonesia had Banten split off in October 2000, and had a figure over 43.8 million shortly before it split off
- Rajshahi, Bangladesh had Rangpur split off in January 2010, and had a figure of 30.2 million before it split off
- Andhra Pradesh, India: peak of 84.7 million before Telangana split off
- East Bengal, a province of Pakistan is now an independent Bangladesh had 67.8 million people in 1971.
List of second-level administrative subdivisions by population
The table below is under construction, and only consists of certain Chinese prefectures, U.S. Counties, and Indian Divisions at the moment. Check back later for a full table.
| Rank | Subdivision | Country | First-level Subdivision | Type | Population | Area km² | Density per km² | Comparable country | Date | Ref. |
| 1 | Patna Division | Bihar | Division | 17,737,179 | 16,868 | 1,051.53 | March 01, 2011 | |||
| 2 | Chengdu | Sichuan | Prefecture | 16,044,700 | 14,378 | 1,115.92 | December 31, 2017 | |||
| 3 | Guangzhou | Guangdong | Prefecture | 14,498,400 | 7,434 | 1,950.28 | December 31, 2017 | |||
| 4 | Darbhanga Division | Bihar | Division | 12,686,330 | 8,684 | 1,460.89 | March 01, 2011 | |||
| 5 | Shenzhen | Guangdong | Prefecture | 12,528,300 | 2,050 | 6,111.37 | December 31, 2017 | |||
| 6 | Baoding | Hebei | Prefecture | 11,690,500 | 22,190 | 526.84 | December 31, 2017 | |||
| 7 | Lower Assam Division | Assam | Division | 11,252,365 | 20,228 | 556.28 | March 01, 2011 | |||
| 8 | Harbin | Heilongjiang | Prefecture | 10,929,000 | 53,068 | 205.94 | December 31, 2017 | |||
| 9 | Wuhan | Hubei | Prefecture | 10,892,900 | 8,494 | 1,282.42 | December 31, 2017 | |||
| 10 | Shijiazhuang | Hebei | Prefecture | 10,879,900 | 15,848 | 686.52 | December 31, 2017 | |||
| 11 | Suzhou | Jiangsu | Prefecture | 10,683,600 | 8,488 | 1,258.67 | December 31, 2017 | |||
| 12 | Linyi | Shandong | Prefecture | 10,563,400 | 17,191 | 614.47 | December 31, 2017 | |||
| 13 | Nanyang | Henan | Prefecture | 10,050,000 | 26,509 | 379.12 | December 31, 2017 | |||
| 14 | Los Angeles County | California | County | 10,039,107 | 12,310 | 815.52 | July 1, 2019 |