List of states and union territories of India by population


is a union of 28 states and 8 union territories. As of 2019, with an estimated population of 1.3 billion, India is the world's second-most populous country after the People's Republic of China. India occupies 2.4% of the world's area and is home to 17.5% of the world's population. The Indo-Gangetic plains have one of the world's biggest stretches of fertile flat-deep alluvium and are among the most densely populated areas of the world. The eastern and western coastal regions of Deccan Plateau are also densely populated regions of India. The Thar Desert in western Rajasthan is one of the most densely populated deserts in the world. The northern and north-eastern states along the Himalayas contain cold arid deserts with fertile valleys. These states have relatively less population density due to indomitable physical barriers.

Census of India

The first population census in British India was conducted in 1872. Since India's independence in 1947, a census has been conducted every 10 years, the first occurring in 1951. The census in India is conducted by the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner under the Ministry of Home Affairs, and is one of the largest administrative tasks conducted by a federal government.
The latest population figures are based on data from the 2011 census of India. During the decade of 2001-2011, India's annual population growth rate has slowed from 2.15 percent to 1.76 percent. Based on decennial census data, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu has the fastest growth rate of 55.1 percent, followed by Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh. Nagaland recorded the lowest growth rate of -0.5 percent.
India has 641,000 inhabited villages and 72.2 percent of the total population reside in these rural areas. Of them 145,000 villages have population size of 500-999 persons; 130,000 villages have population size of 1000-1999 and 128,000 villages have population size of 200-499. There are 3,961 villages that have a population of 10,000 persons or more. India's 27.8 percent urban population lives in more than 5,100 towns and over 380 urban agglomerations. In the decade of 1991-2001, migration to major cities caused rapid increase in urban population. On the basis of net migrants by last residence during the past decade, Maharashtra had most immigration with 2.3 million, followed by National Capital Territory of Delhi, Gujarat and Haryana. Uttar Pradesh and Bihar topped the list for interstate emigration. The five states of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh account for almost half of the total Indian population.
While the national average for sex ratio shows an increase from 933 in 2001 to 940 in 2011, the 2011 census shows a sharp decline in child sex ratio, the number of females per thousand males in a population between age group 0-6 years. States such as Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Mizoram and Andaman and Nicobar Islands recorded an increase in child sex ratio. National child sex ratio has declined from 927 in 2001 to 914 in 2011. Telangana census was separated from Andhra Pradesh state census figures, after Telangana was officially formed on 2 June 2014.

List

Data from Census 2011 as published by Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, Government of Telangana, and Planning Commission of India. Population density is rounded to the nearest integer.
RankState or union territoryPopulationPopulation Decadal growth
Rural populationPercent ruralUrban populationPercent urbanAreaDensitySex ratio
1Uttar Pradesh19981234120.2%15531727844495063912
2Maharashtra11237433320.0%6155607450818259929
3Bihar10409945225.4%9234143611758016918
4West Bengal9127611513.8%6218311329093002953
5Madhya Pradesh7262680916.3%5255740420069405931
6Tamil Nadu7214703015.6%3722959034917440996
7Rajasthan6854843721.3%5150035217048085928
8Karnataka6109529715.6%3746933523625962973
9Gujarat6043969219.3%3469460925745083919
10Andhra Pradesh4957710311.0%3496669314610410993
11Odisha4197421914.0%349705627003656979
12Telangana3500367413.58%2139500913608665988
13Kerala334060614.9%17471135159349261,084
14Jharkhand3298813422.4%250550737933061948
15Assam3120557617.1%268070344398542954
16Punjab2774333813.9%1734419210399146895
17Chhattisgarh2554519822.6%196079615937237991
18Haryana2535146219.9%165093598842103879
19Uttarakhand1008629218.8%70369543049338963
20Himachal Pradesh686460212.9%6176050688552972
21Tripura367391714.8%2712464961453960
22Meghalaya296688927.9%2371439595450989
23Manipur257039018.6%1793875776515992
24Nagaland1978502−0.6%1407536570966931
25Goa14585458.2%551731906814973
26Arunachal Pradesh138372726.0%1066358317369938
27Mizoram109720623.5%525435571771976
28Sikkim61057712.9%456999153578890
NCTDelhi1678794121.2%41904216368899868
UT1Jammu and Kashmir1226703223.6%90642203202812890
UT2Puducherry124795328.1%3952008527531,037
UT3Chandigarh105545017.2%289911026459818
UT4Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu55.1%243510342,254711
UT5Andaman and Nicobar Islands3805816.9%237093143488876
UT6Ladakh27400017.8%43840230160853
UT7Lakshadweep644736.3%1414150332946
TotalIndia1,210,569,573100%17.7%833,463,44868.84%377,106,12531.16%''940