India is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the most populous country with over 1.4 billion people. India consists of twenty-eight states and nine union territories. It is home to 17.5 percent of the world's population.
The first population census in British India was conducted in 1872. Since 1951, a census has been carried out every 10 years. The census in India is carried out 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. 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. The number of Indians living in urban areas has grown by 31.2% between 1991 and 2001. Yet, in 2001, over 70% lived in rural areas. According to the 2011 census, there were 317 cities in India with population more than 100000, with Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata having populations over 10 million About 20 percent of the population of India lives in these cities.
The cities which are listed in bold are the capital of the respective state / union territory.
Rank UA State/territory Population (2025) Population (2011) Population (2001) Population (1991) 1 Delhi Delhi 30,222,405 16,349,831 12,877,470 8,419,084 2 Kolkata West Bengal 22,549,738 14,112,536 13,205,697 11,021,918 3 Mumbai Maharashtra 20,203,056 18,394,912 16,434,386 12,596,243 4 Bengaluru Karnataka 13,187,098 8,520,435 5,701,446 4,130,288 5 Chennai Tamil Nadu 11,153,205 8,696,010 6,560,242 5,421,985 6 Hyderabad Telangana 9,190,795 7,749,334 5,742,036 4,344,437 7 Ahmedabad Gujarat 7,632,408 6,361,084 4,525,013 3,312,216 8 Surat Gujarat 6,908,925 4,591,246 2,811,614 1,518,950 9 Pune Maharashtra 6,817,951 5,057,709 3,760,636 2,493,987 10 Kozhikode Kerala 6,123,872 2,030,519 880,247 801,190 11 Kochi Kerala 5,077,670 2,119,724 1,355,972 1,140,605 12 Lucknow Uttar Pradesh 5,052,444 2,902,920 2,245,509 1,669,204 13 Malappuram Kerala 4,487,920 1,699,060 170,409 142,204 14 Kanpur Uttar Pradesh 4,329,973 2,920,496 2,715,555 2,029,889 15 Jaipur Rajasthan 4,071,754 3,073,350 2,322,575 1,518,235 16 Varanasi Uttar Pradesh 3,858,863 1,435,113 1,203,961 1,030,863 17 Indore Madhya Pradesh 3,476,423 2,170,295 1,506,062 1,109,056 18 Patna Bihar 3,309,383 2,049,156 1,697,976 1,099,647 19 Nagpur Maharashtra 3,257,841 2,497,870 2,129,500 1,664,006 20 Ghaziabad Uttar Pradesh 2,375,820 968,256 511,759 21 Kollam Kerala 3,074,562 1,110,668 380,091 362,572 22 Thiruvananthapuram Kerala 2,946,119 1,687,406 889,635 826,225 23 Coimbatore Tamil Nadu 2,882,988 2,136,916 1,461,139 1,100,746 24 Visakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh 2,841,957 1,728,128 1,345,938 1,057,118 25 Agra Uttar Pradesh 2,786,762 1,760,285 1,331,339 948,063 26 Kannur Kerala 2,524,680 1,642,892 498,207 463,962 27 Bhopal Madhya Pradesh 2,487,205 1,886,100 1,458,416 1,062,771 28 Vijayawada Andhra Pradesh 2,409,770 1,491,202 1,039,518 845,756 29Ponnani Kerala 2,409,567 1,861,269 330,122 275,053 30Thrissur Kerala 2,382,988 1,861,269 330,122 275,053 31 Prayagraj Uttar Pradesh 2,347,869 1,216,719 1,042,229 844,546 32 Vadodara Gujarat 2,270,298 1,822,221 1,491,045 1,126,824 33 Ludhiana Punjab 2,245,106 1,618,879 1,398,467 1,042,740 34 Meerut Uttar Pradesh 2,209,886 1,420,902 1,161,716 849,799 35 Madurai Tamil Nadu 2,138,746 1,465,625 1,203,095 1,085,914 36 Dhanbad Jharkhand 2,020,181 1,196,214 1,065,327 815,005 37 Faridabad Haryana 1,414,050 1,055,938 617,717 38 Nashik Maharashtra 1,996,763 1,562,769 1,152,326 725,341 39 Jamshedpur Jharkhand 1,956,840 1,339,438 1,104,713 829,171 40 Rajkot Gujarat 1,581,235 1,390,933 1,003,015 654,490 37Srinagar Jammu and Kashmir 1,126,638 1,273,312 988,210 38 Jabalpur Madhya Pradesh 1,582,131 1,267,564 1,098,000 888,916 39 Asansol West Bengal 2,924,741 1,243,414 1,067,369 763,939 40 Vasai-Virar Maharashtra 1,542,177 1,222,390 43 Aurangabad Maharashtra 1,567,020 1,193,167 892,483 592,709 44 Amritsar Punjab 1,303,330 1,183,705 1,003,919 708,835 45 Jodhpur Rajasthan 1,515,910 1,138,300 860,818 666,279 46 Ranchi Jharkhand 1,819,944 1,126,741 863,495 614,795 47 Raipur Chhattisgarh 1,478,688 1,123,558 700,113 462,694 49 Gwalior Madhya Pradesh 1,554,246 1,102,884 865,548 717,780 50 Bhilai Chhattisgarh 1,064,222 927,864 685,474 51 Chandigarh Chandigarh 2,437,733 1,026,459 808,515 575,829 52 Tiruchirappalli Tamil Nadu 1,349,040 1,022,518 866,354 711,862 53 Kota Rajasthan 1,232,364 1,001,694 703,150 537,371 54 Mysuru Karnataka 1,342,126 990,900 799,228 653,345 55 Bareilly Uttar Pradesh 1,635,214 985,752 748,353 617,35056 Guwahati Assam 1,314,019 968,549 818,809 584,342 57 Tiruppur Tamil Nadu 1,242,837 963,173 550,826 306,237 58 Solapur Maharashtra 1,102,702 951,558 872,478 620,846 59 Hubli-Dharwad Karnataka 965,667 943,857 786,195 648,298 60 Salem Tamil Nadu 1,337,000 919,150 751,438 578,291 61 Aligarh Uttar Pradesh 1,729,663 911,223 669,087 480,520 62 Gurugram Haryana 902,112 228,820 135,884 63 Moradabad Uttar Pradesh 1,484,611 889,810 641,583 443,701 64 Bhubaneswar Odisha 1,146,434 885,363 658,220 411,542 65 Jalandhar Punjab 1,192,763 874,412 714,077 509,510 66 Warangal Telangana 837,561 759,594 579,216 467,757 67 Bhiwandi Maharashtra 737,411 621,427 392,214 68 Dehradun Uttarakhand 1,219,198 714,223 530,263 368,053 69 Siliguri West Bengal 658,183 705,579 472,374 216,950 70 Saharanpur Uttar Pradesh 1,275,279 705,478 455,754 374,945 71 Gorakhpur Uttar Pradesh 1,519,206 694,889 622,701 505,566 72 Guntur Andhra Pradesh 862,068 673,952 514,461 471,051 73 Cuttack Odisha 663,188 587,182 440,295 74 Jammu Jammu and Kashmir 1,154,466 657,314 612,163 75 Puducherry Puducherry 998,290 657,209 505,959 401,437 76 Amravati Maharashtra 771,610 647,057 549,510 421,576 77 Bikaner Rajasthan 882,222 647,804 529,690 416,289 78 Noida Uttar Pradesh 642,381 305,058 146,516 79 Mangaluru Karnataka 993,566 623,841 539,387 426,341 80 Belagavi Karnataka 800,130 610,350 506,480 402,412 81 Bhavnagar Gujarat 739,115 606,282 517,708 405,225 82 Firozabad Uttar Pradesh 878,282 604,214 432,866 270,536 83 Jamnagar Gujarat 680,589 600,943 556,956 381,646 84 Durgapur West Bengal 1222,089 581,409 493,405 425,836 85 Malegaon Maharashtra 618,133 576,642 497,780 398,890 86 Bokaro Jharkhand 862,593 564,319 505,541 418,538 87 Nellore Andhra Pradesh 732,235 564,148 404,775 316,606 88 Kolhapur Maharashtra 819,671 561,841 505,541 418,538 89 Rourkela Odisha 776,631 552,970 484,874 398,864 90 Ajmer Rajasthan 631,176 551,360 490,520 402,700 91 Nanded Maharashtra 770,215 550,564 430,733 309,316 92 Jhansi Uttar Pradesh 662,059 549,391 460,278 368,154 93 Kalaburagi Karnataka 753,963 543,147 430,265 310,920 94 Erode Tamil Nadu 892,758 521,891 389,906 361,755 95 Ujjain Madhya Pradesh 583,405 515,215 431,162 362,633 96 Sangli Maharashtra 761,451 513,961 447,774 363,751 97 Tirunelveli Tamil Nadu 376,005 498,984 433,352 366,869 98 Muzaffarnagar Uttar Pradesh 849,004 495,543 331,668 247,624 99 Vellore Tamil Nadu 820,103 484,690 386,746 310,776 100 Kurnool Andhra Pradesh 468,997 484,327 342,973 275,360
See also List of cities in India by population List of metropolitan areas in India List of million-plus urban agglomerations in India List of states and union territories of India by population Demographics of India
Notes
References
Further reading
External links Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India