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 (80.3% in England) and Pakistan (53.7% in Punjab). England appears on this list but does not have a single government because it is a constituent country.

Rank	Subdivision	Country	Capital	Largest Metro Area	Population	Area km²	Density per km²	Comparable country[1]	Date	Ref.
1	Uttar Pradesh	India	Lucknow		228,931,000	243,290	940.98	Pakistan	July 1, 2020	[2]
2	Maharashtra	India	Mumbai		123,676,000	307,713	401.92	Japan	July 1, 2020	[2]
3	Bihar	India	Patna		121,895,000	94,163	1,294.51	Japan	July 1, 2020	[2]
4	Guangdong	China	Guangzhou		115,210,000	179,800	640.77	Ethiopia	December 31, 2019	[3]
5	Punjab	Pakistan	Lahore		110,012,442	205,344	535.75	Philippines	April 15, 2017	[4]
6	Shandong	China	Jinan		100,700,000	157,100	640.99	Egypt	December 31, 2019	[3]
7	West Bengal	India	Kolkata		97,719,000	88,752	1,101.03	Vietnam	July 1, 2020	[2]
8	Henan	China	Zhengzhou		96,400,000	167,000	577.25	Vietnam	December 31, 2019	[3]
9	Madhya Pradesh	India	Bhopal	Indore	83,755,000	308,252	271.71	Germany	July 1, 2020	[2]
10	Sichuan	China	Chengdu		83,750,000	485,000	172.68	Germany	December 31, 2019	[3]
11	Jiangsu	China	Nanjing		80,700,000	102,600	786.55	Germany	December 31, 2019	[3]
12	Rajasthan	India	Jaipur		78,609,000	342,239	229.69	Germany	July 1, 2020	[2]
13	Tamil Nadu	India	Chennai		76,167,000	130,058	585.64	Thailand	July 1, 2020	[2]
14	Hebei	China	Shijiazhuang		75,920,000	188,800	402.12	Thailand	December 31, 2019	[3]
15	Hunan	China	Changsha		69,180,000	210,000	329.43	Thailand	December 31, 2019	[3]
16	Gujarat	India	Gandhinagar	Ahmedabad	69,171,000	196,024	352.87	Thailand	July 1, 2020	[2]
17	Karnataka	India	Bengaluru		66,496,000	191,791	346.71	France	July 1, 2020	[2]
18	Anhui	China	Hefei		63,660,000	140,200	454.07	France	December 31, 2019	[3]
19	Hubei	China	Wuhan		59,270,000	185,900	318.83	South Africa	December 31, 2019	[3]
20	Zhejiang	China	Hangzhou		58,500,000	101,800	574.66	South Africa	December 31, 2019	[3]
21	England	United Kingdom	London		56,286,961	130,279	432.05	Myanmar	June 30, 2019	[5]
22	Andhra Pradesh	India	Amaravati	Visakhapatnam	52,599,000	162,975	322.74	Kenya	July 1, 2020	[2]
23	Guangxi	China	Nanning		49,600,000	237,600	208.75	Colombia	December 31, 2019	[3]
24	West Java	Indonesia	Bandung	Bekasi	49,565,200	35,378	1,385.70	Colombia	July 1, 2020	[6]
25	Yunnan	China	Kunming		48,580,000	394,000	123.30	Spain	December 31, 2019	[3]
26	Sindh	Pakistan	Karachi		47,886,051	140,914	339.82	Spain	April 15, 2017	[4]
27	Jiangxi	China	Nanchang		46,660,000	166,900	279.57	Spain	December 31, 2019	[3]
28	São Paulo	Brazil	São Paulo		46,289,333	248,223	186.48	Uganda	July 1, 2020	[7]
29	Odisha	India	Bhubaneswar		43,913,000	155,707	282.02	Algeria	July 1, 2020	[2]
30	Liaoning	China	Shenyang		43,520,000	145,900	298.29	Ukraine	December 31, 2019	[3]
31	Dhaka Division	Bangladesh	Dhaka		40,171,000	20,551	1,954.70	Iraq	March 15, 2016	[8]
32	East Java	Indonesia	Surabaya		39,955,900	47,800	835.90	Iraq	July 1, 2020	[6]
33	Fujian	China	Fuzhou	Xiamen	39,730,000	121,400	327.27	Iraq	December 31, 2019	[3]
34	California	United States of America	Sacramento	Los Angeles	39,512,223	423,970	93.20	Iraq	July 1, 2019	[9]
35	Shaanxi	China	Xi'an		38,760,000	205,800	188.34	Afghanistan	December 31, 2019	[3]
36	Jharkhand	India	Ranchi	Jamshedpur	38,115,000	79,714	478.15	Poland	July 1, 2020	[2]
37	Telangana	India	Hyderabad		37,536,000	112,077	334.91	Canada	July 1, 2020	[2]
38	Heilongjiang	China	Harbin		37,510,000	454,800	82.48	Canada	December 31, 2019	[3]
39	Shanxi	China	Taiyuan		37,290,000	156,000	239.04	Morocco	December 31, 2019	[3]
40	Guizhou	China	Guiyang		36,230,000	176,200	205.62	Morocco	December 31, 2019	[3]
41	Khyber Pakhtunkhwa	Pakistan	Peshawar		35,525,047	101,741	349.17	Saudi Arabia	April 15, 2017	[4]
42	Oromia	Ethiopia	Addis Ababa		35,467,001	286,612	123.75	Saudi Arabia	July 1, 2017	[10]
43	Kerala	India	Thiruvananthapuram		35,368,000	38,863	910.07	Saudi Arabia	July 1, 2020	[2]
44	Assam	India	Dispur	Guwahati	34,793,000	78,438	443.57	Saudi Arabia	July 1, 2020	[2]
45	Central Java	Indonesia	Semarang		34,738,200	32,801	1,059.06	Saudi Arabia	July 1, 2020	[6]
46	Chittagong Division	Bangladesh	Chittagong		31,980,000	33,771	946.97	Malaysia	March 15, 2016	[8]
47	Chongqing	China	Chongqing		31,240,000	82,403	379.11	Mozambique	December 31, 2019	[3]
48	Punjab	India	Chandigarh	Ludhiana	30,179,000	50,362	599.24	Yemen	July 1, 2020	[2]
49	Chhattisgarh	India	Raipur		29,237,000	135,191	216.26	Nepal	July 1, 2020	[2]
50	Haryana	India	Chandigarh	Faridabad	29,213,000	44,212	660.75	Nepal	July 1, 2020	[2]
51	Texas	United States of America	Austin	Dallas-Fort Worth	28,995,881	695,662	41.68	Nepal	July 1, 2019	[9]
52	Jilin	China	Changchun		26,910,000	187,400	143.60	Cameroon	December 31, 2019	[3]
53	Gansu	China	Lanzhou		26,470,000	453,700	58.34	Côte d'Ivoire	December 31, 2019	[3]
53	Inner Mongolia	China	Hohhot	Baotou	25,400,000	1,183,000	21.47	Australia	December 31, 2019	[3]
54	Xinjiang	China	Ürümqi		25,230,000	1,664,900	15.15	Australia	December 31, 2019	[3]
55	Shanghai	China	Shanghai		24,280,000	6,341	3,829.05	Niger	December 31, 2019	[3]
56	Beijing	China	Beijing		21,540,000	16,411	1,312.53	Sri Lanka	December 31, 2019	[3]
57	Florida	United States of America	Tallahassee	Miami (metro)	21,477,737	170,312	126.11	Sri Lanka	July 1, 2019	[9]
58	Minas Gerais	Brazil	Belo Horizonte		21,292,666	586,528	36.30	Sri Lanka	July 1, 2020	[7]
59	Amhara	Ethiopia	Bahir Dar		21,134,988	154,709	136.61	Burkina Faso	July 1, 2017	[10]
60	Rajshahi Division	Bangladesh	Rajshahi		20,412,000	18,174	1,123.14	Mali	March 15, 2016	[8]
61	Delhi	India	New Delhi	Delhi	20,319,000	1,484	13,692.05	Mali	July 1, 2020	[2]

Historic First Level subdivisions

Some large former first level subdivisions with former populations (split off areas):

• Ukrainian SSR peak of 53 million, now is the country Ukraine (including Russian-annexed Crimea).
• Russian SFSR peak of 149 million, now is the country Russia (not including the annexed peninsula of Crimea).
• Sichuan Province peak of 114.73 million before Chongqing Municipality separated in 1997[11]
• 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 (Jun 2000 Census) shortly before it split off[12]
• 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

Second-level divisions are those subdivisions that are under the first level of administration(states, provinces, etc...) and they go by many names, such as counties, districts, divisions, and regions, but these names vary by country. The list below displays every single second-level subnational division in the world with a population over 10 million, as well as what they are called (a district, county, region?), area, density, the country and first-level subdivision they belong to, the date the population figure dates from, and a country of comparable population size. Only districts and divisions that have a unified administration or government of any kind are listed, so for example, non-governmental statistical regions, such as Media Markets or Combined Statistical Areas in the U.S., but does include Indian Divisions, as they involve some form of administration, mostly concerning revenue.

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[1]	Date	Ref.
1	Patna Division	India	Bihar	Division	17,737,179	16,868	1,051.53	Ecuador	March 01, 2011	[13]
2	Chengdu	China	Sichuan	Prefecture	16,044,700	14,378	1,115.92	Somalia	December 31, 2017	[14]
3	Guangzhou	China	Guangdong	Prefecture	14,498,400	7,434	1,950.28	Zimbabwe	December 31, 2017	[14]
4	Darbhanga Division	India	Bihar	Division	12,686,330	8,684	1,460.89	Rwanda	March 01, 2011	[13]
5	Shenzhen	China	Guangdong	Prefecture	12,528,300	2,050	6,111.37	Benin	December 31, 2017	[14]
6	Baoding	China	Hebei	Prefecture	11,690,500	22,190	526.84	Bolivia	December 31, 2017	[14]
7	Lower Assam Division	India	Assam	Division	11,252,365	20,228	556.28	South Sudan	March 01, 2011	[13]
8	Harbin	China	Heilongjiang	Prefecture	10,929,000	53,068	205.94	Dominican Republic	December 31, 2017	[14]
9	Wuhan	China	Hubei	Prefecture	10,892,900	8,494	1,282.42	Dominican Republic	December 31, 2017	[14]
10	Shijiazhuang	China	Hebei	Prefecture	10,879,900	15,848	686.52	Dominican Republic	December 31, 2017	[14]
11	Suzhou	China	Jiangsu	Prefecture	10,683,600	8,488	1,258.67	Czechia	December 31, 2017	[14]
12	Linyi	China	Shandong	Prefecture	10,563,400	17,191	614.47	Greece	December 31, 2017	[14]
13	Nanyang	China	Henan	Prefecture	10,050,000	26,509	379.12	Sweden	December 31, 2017	[14]
14	Los Angeles County	United States of America	California	County	10,039,107	12,310	815.52	Sweden	July 1, 2019	[15]

See also

• List of the largest country subdivisions by area
• Population density

References

1. United Nations. "World Population Prospects 2019".
2. "POPULATION PROJECTIONS FOR INDIA AND STATES 2011 – 2036 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL GROUP ON POPULATION PROJECTIONS November, 2019" (PDF). Report_Population_Projection_2019.pdf. NATIONAL COMMISSION ON POPULATION MINISTRY OF HEALTH & FAMILY WELFARE NIRMAN BHAWAN, NEW DELHI – 110011. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
3. "National Data; National Bureau of Statistics of China". National Data. National Bureau of Statistics of China. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
4. "TABLE - 1: PROVISIONAL PROVINCE WISE POPULATION BY SEX AND RURAL/URBAN CENSUS - 2017 PAKISTAN" (PDF). DISTRICT_WISE_CENSUS_RESULTS_CENSUS_2017.pdf. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
5. "Population estimates for the UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland - Office for National Statistics". Population estimates for the UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland: mid-2019. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
6. "Proyeksi Penduduk Indonesia/Indonesia Population Projection 2015-2045" (PDF). Proyeksi Penduduk 2015-2045_.pdf. Badan Pusat Statistik & UNFPA. 19 October 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 July 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
7. "Projeção da população do Brasil e das Unidades da Federação". IBGE | Projeção da população. Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistica. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
8. "BANGLADESH: Divisions and Urban Areas". Bangladesh: Divisions and Urban Areas with population statistics, maps, charts, weather and web information. citypopulation.de. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
9. "State Population Totals and Components of Change: 2010-2019". State Population Totals: 2010 - 2019. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
10. "Population projection of Ethiopia for all Regions at wereda level from 2014 - 2017.pdf". Archive of Central Statistical Agency. Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia. Archived from the original on 15 November 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
11. "National Statistics Agency Tables:4-3 Total Population and Birth Rate, Death Rate and Natural Growth Rate by Region (1997)". Retrieved 5 October 2014.
12. "Citypopulation.de:Indonesia". Retrieved 5 October 2014.
13. "India: Administrative Division". India: Administrative Division (States, Union Territories and Districts) with population statistics, charts and maps. citypopulation.de. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
14. "CHINA: Administrative Division". China: Administrative Division (Provinces and Prefectures) with population statistics, charts and maps. citypopulation.de. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
15. "QuickFacts". U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: United States. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 4 June 2020.

External links

• City Population
• The World Gazetteer at Archive.today (archived 2012-12-04)