7th largest country in the world in terms of land area and the 2nd largest country in terms of population. India—a land of diverse cultures and rich heritage—consists of 28 states and 8 union territories as of now. New Delhi is the capital of India. When it comes to the largest state in India in terms of area, Rajasthan stands first with 342,239 Km², followed by Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. However, Uttar Pradesh is the largest state of India in terms of population, followed by Maharashtra and Bihar. Many people don’t know about the largest state of India by population-wise and area-wise and the largest union territory of India by population-wise and area-wise. Here we have listed the states and union territories of the Republic of India by land area, ordered from largest to smallest according to the census of 2011. Scroll down to read the full article.
Table of Contents
States in India (Area-wise)
India consists of a total of 28 states and 8 union territories, including the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Among them, Rajasthan stands at the top in terms of area, while Goa is at the bottom of the list. The list of states in terms of area is given below:
S. No. |
State Name |
Area (km²) |
Region |
% total |
1 | Rajasthan | 342,239 | Western | 10.414 |
2 | Madhya Pradesh | 308,245 | Central | 9.376 |
3 | Maharashtra | 307,713 | Western | 9.359 |
4 | Uttar Pradesh | 240,928 | Northern | 7.328 |
5 | Gujarat | 196,024 | Western | 5.962 |
6 | Karnataka | 191,791 | Southern | 5.833 |
7 | Andhra Pradesh | 162,968 | Southern | 4.957 |
8 | Odisha | 155,707 | Eastern | 4.736 |
9 | Chhattisgarh | 135,191 | Central | 4.112 |
10 | Tamil Nadu | 130,058 | Southern | 3.956 |
11 | Telangana | 112,077 | Southern | 3.409 |
12 | Bihar | 94,163 | Eastern | 2.864 |
13 | West Bengal | 88,752 | Eastern | 2.700 |
14 | Arunachal Pradesh | 83,743 | Northeastern | 2.548 |
15 | Jharkhand | 79,714 | Eastern | 2.424 |
16 | Assam | 78,438 | Northeastern | 2.386 |
17 | Himachal Pradesh | 55,673 | Northern | 1.693 |
18 | Uttarakhand | 53,483 | Northern | 1.626 |
19 | Punjab | 50,362 | Northern | 1.531 |
20 | Haryana | 44,212 | Northern | 1.344 |
21 | Kerala | 38,863 | Southern | 1.182 |
22 | Meghalaya | 22,429 | Northeastern | 0.682 |
23 | Manipur | 22,327 | Northeastern | 0.680 |
24 | Mizoram | 21,081 | Northeastern | 0.642 |
25 | Nagaland | 16,579 | Northeastern | 0.505 |
26 | Tripura | 10,486 | Northeastern | 0.320 |
27 | Sikkim | 7,096 | Northeastern | 0.217 |
28 | Goa | 3,702 | Western | 0.112 |
Union Territories in India (Area-wise)
Among 8 special Union territories, Jammu and Kashmir is the largest union territory in India in terms of area which covers 125,535 km2 of land area. The list of union territories in terms of area is given below:
S. No. |
Union Territory Name |
Area (km2) |
Region |
% total |
1 | Ladakh | 59,146 (166,698) |
Northern | 1.800 (5.079) |
2 | Jammu and Kashmir | 42,241 (55,538) |
Northern | 1.285 (1.689) |
3 | Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 8,249 | Bay of Bengal | 0.251 |
4 | Delhi | 1,484 | Northern | 0.045 |
5 | Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu | 603 | Western | 0.018 |
6 | Puducherry | 479 | Southern | 0.015 |
7 | Chandigarh | 114 | Northern | 0.003 |
8 | Lakshadweep | 32.62 | Arabian Sea | 0.001 |
States in India (Population Wise)
The second most populated country in the World, India is the home of 1210.19 million or 1.2 billion people as per the 2011 census (however, according to Worldometer.com, the current population of India is 1,438,196,898). India has states that are denser in population than many of countries. Like, Uttar Pradesh is the largest state in India in terms of population with a total population of 199,812,341 (as per the 2011 census but 235.7 Million as per 2023 reports). Uttar Pradesh has 240,928 km2 of land. Sikkim is the shortest state in India with a population of 0.61 Million (0.69 Million in 2023). The list of states in terms of population is given below:
S. No. |
State Name |
Population (As per Census 2011) |
1 | Uttar Pradesh | 199,812,341 |
2 | Maharashtra | 112,374,333 |
3 | Bihar | 104,099,452 |
4 | West Bengal | 91,276,115 |
5 | Andhra Pradesh | 84,580,777 |
6 | Madhya Pradesh | 72,626,809 |
7 | Tamil Nadu | 72,147,030 |
8 | Rajasthan | 68,548,437 |
9 | Karnataka | 61,095,297 |
10 | Gujarat | 60,439,692 |
11 | Orissa | 41,974,218 |
12 | Kerala | 33,406,061 |
13 | Jharkhand | 32,988,134 |
14 | Assam | 31,205,576 |
15 | Punjab | 27,743,338 |
16 | Chhattisgarh | 25,545,198 |
17 | Haryana | 25,351,462 |
20 | Uttarakhand | 10,086,292 |
21 | Himachal Pradesh | 6,864,602 |
22 | Tripura | 3,673,917 |
23 | Meghalaya | 2,966,889 |
24 | Manipur | 2,855,794 |
25 | Nagaland | 1,978,502 |
26 | Goa | 1,458,545 |
27 | Arunachal Pradesh | 1,383,727 |
29 | Mizoram | 1,097,206 |
31 | Sikkim | 610,577 |
Union Territories in India (Population Wise)
In terms of population, Delhi is the largest union territory in India with a total population of 16,787,941 (As per the details from Census 2011; in 2023 it is 32,941,000). The list of states in terms of population is given below:
S. No. |
UT Name |
Population (as per 2011 Census) |
1 | Delhi | 16,787,941 |
2, 3 | Jammu and Kashmir + Ladakh | 12,541,302 |
4 | Puducherry | 1,247,953 |
5 | Chandigarh | 1,055,450 |
6 | Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu | 5,86,956 |
7 | Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 380,581 |
8 | Lakshadweep | 64,473 |
Distribution of Population by Age Group As Per Census 2011
India/ State/ Union Territory |
Population in the age group 0-6 |
Population aged 7 years and above |
||||
Persons |
Males |
Females |
Persons |
Males |
Females |
|
(M) |
(F) |
(M) | (F) | |||
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
INDIA | 158789287 | 82952135 | 75837152 | 1051404135 | 540772113 | 510632022 |
States: |
||||||
Andhra Pradesh | 8642686 | 4448330 | 4194356 | 76022847 | 38061551 | 37961296 |
Arunachal Pradesh | 202759 | 103430 | 99329 | 1179852 | 616802 | 563050 |
Assam | 4511307 | 2305088 | 2206219 | 26657965 | 13649839 | 13008126 |
Bihar | 18582229 | 9615280 | 8966949 | 85222408 | 44570067 | 40652341 |
Chhattisgarh | 3584028 | 1824987 | 1759041 | 21956168 | 11002928 | 10953240 |
Goa | 139495 | 72669 | 66826 | 1318228 | 668042 | 650186 |
Gujarat | 7494176 | 3974286 | 3519890 | 52889452 | 27507996 | 25381456 |
Haryana | 3297724 | 1802047 | 1495677 | 22055357 | 11703083 | 10352274 |
Himachal Pradesh | 763864 | 400681 | 363183 | 6092645 | 3073211 | 3019434 |
Jammu & Kashmir | 2008642 | 1080662 | 927980 | 10540284 | 5584899 | 4955385 |
Jharkhand | 5237582 | 2695921 | 2541661 | 27728656 | 14235767 | 13492889 |
Karnataka | 6855801 | 3527844 | 3327957 | 54274903 | 27529898 | 26745005 |
Kerala | 3322247 | 1695935 | 1626312 | 30065430 | 14325355 | 15740075 |
Madhya Pradesh | 10548295 | 5516957 | 5031338 | 62049270 | 32095963 | 29953307 |
Maharashtra | 12848375 | 6822262 | 6026113 | 99524597 | 51539135 | 47985462 |
Manipur | 353237 | 182684 | 170553 | 2368519 | 1187080 | 1181439 |
Meghalaya | 555822 | 282189 | 273633 | 2408185 | 1210479 | 1197706 |
Mizoram | 165536 | 83965 | 81571 | 925478 | 468374 | 457104 |
Nagaland | 285981 | 147111 | 138870 | 1694621 | 878596 | 816025 |
Odisha | 5035650 | 2603208 | 2432442 | 36911708 | 18598470 | 18313238 |
Punjab | 2941570 | 1593262 | 1348308 | 24762666 | 13041557 | 11721109 |
Rajasthan | 10504916 | 5580212 | 4924704 | 58116096 | 30039874 | 28076222 |
Sikkim | 61077 | 31418 | 29659 | 546611 | 290243 | 256368 |
Tamil Nadu | 6894821 | 3542351 | 3352470 | 65244137 | 32616520 | 32627617 |
Tripura | 444055 | 227354 | 216701 | 3226977 | 1644513 | 1582464 |
Uttar Pradesh | 29728235 | 15653175 | 14075060 | 169853242 | 88943240 | 80910002 |
Uttarakhand | 1328844 | 704769 | 624075 | 8787908 | 4449409 | 4338499 |
West Bengal | 10112599 | 5187264 | 4925335 | 81235137 | 41740125 | 39495012 |
Union Territory: |
||||||
A.& N.Islands | 39497 | 20094 | 19403 | 340447 | 182236 | 158211 |
Chandigarh | 117953 | 63187 | 54766 | 936733 | 517095 | 419638 |
D.& N.Haveli | 49196 | 25575 | 23621 | 293657 | 167603 | 126054 |
Daman & Diu | 25880 | 13556 | 12324 | 217031 | 136544 | 80487 |
Delhi | 1970510 | 1055735 | 914775 | 14782725 | 7920675 | 6862050 |
Lakshadweep | 7088 | 3715 | 3373 | 57341 | 29391 | 27950 |
Puducherry | 127610 | 64932 | 62678 | 1116854 | 545553 | 571301 |
Source: Office of Registrar General of India, Ministry of Home Affairs |
Purpose of this Article
Many people in the world and also Indians don’t know about the largest & smallest states and union territories in India in terms of area and population. This article is to help understand people the states and union territories of India.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. Which is the largest state in India by population?
Ans. Uttar Pradesh is the largest state in India by population. The total population of Uttar Pradesh is 199,812,341 as per the 2011 census, but currently, this city is home to 235.7 Million people.
Q2. Which is the largest state in India?
Ans. Rajasthan is the largest state in India in terms of area. It covers 342,239 km².
Q3. Which is the least populated state of India?
Ans. Sikkim is the least populated state in India. The total population of Sikkim is 610,577 as per 2011 census. In 2023, some reports show a small increase in population which is now 0.69 Million.
Q4. Which is the largest Union Territory of India by area?
Ans. Jammu & Kashmir, the newly constituted union territory is the largest UT in India which covers an area of 125,535 km².
Q5. Which is the smallest state of India in terms of area?
Ans. Goa (which became part of India in 1962) is the smallest state of India with 3,702 km2.
Q6. Which State has the largest Muslim Population?
Ans. Utter Pradesh is the largest state by Muslim population, consisting of 38,483,970, followed by West Bengal and Bihar. However, Jammu and Kashmir is the largest special Union territory with 68.31% (about 8.6 million) of total population.
Q6. Which State is the Smallest by Muslim Population?
Ans. Arunachal Pradesh is the smallest state by Muslim population, consisting of 1,383,727. Punjab and Sikkim are also top of the list.
Q6. Which State has the largest Sikh Population?
Ans. Out of the total Sikhs in India, 77% are concentrated in the state of Punjab. 16 million of Sikhs living in Punjab constituting 57.7% of the total population.