We have all seen pictures like this of India. Some of us know statistics like India being the second most populous country on earth with 1.2 billion souls just behind China at 1.3 billion. India is on track to surpass China in world population by 2050, because of the Chinese family planning program.
I would like to try and help you understand what these numbers mean because it all is very hard for me to get my head around just how many people that is. India has 2000 ethnic groups, every major religion, 4 major language groups and many languages. I remember flying into Chennai and in the airport we saw signs in two languages in two different alphabets. In Gujarat, where we lived, people need to speak Gujarati, probably a tribal or village language, Hindi and if they are well educated, English. I asked a woman blogger from India, how many languages she spoke and she said 6 with a “touch” of Spanish. . . . making the total of 7!
The statistics often quoted about India having the most youth in the world is true according to Wikipedia. 50% of the population of India is younger than 25 and 65% is below 35 years of age! No wonder the college and universities grew just in Gujurat from 11 to 42 sites in the last 10 years.
I remember David telling his students that the population of India is more than all the people in North America, Central America, and South America put together. I asked an Indian friend about where his family was from. He said, a village. I asked how many people and he said 75,000! Seventy-five thousand in a village? Only in India!
So today, I thought I would show you the list of the 53 Indian cities with population of 1,000,000 or more. Yest there are 53 according to Wikipedia.So we can have a tiny understanding of the challenges in India….food, housing, jobs, medical care, education, transportation, and remember the new, independent India is only 60 years old!
- The cities which are listed in bold are the capital of the respective state / union territory.
| Rank | UA | State/Territory | Population (2011)[14] | Population (2001)[15] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mumbai | Maharashtra | 18,414,288 | 16,434,386 |
| 2 | Delhi | Delhi | 16,314,838 | 12,877,470 |
| 3 | Kolkata | West Bengal | 14,112,536 | 13,205,697 |
| 4 | Chennai | Tamil Nadu | 8,696,010 | 6,560,242 |
| 5 | Bangalore | Karnataka | 8,499,399 | 5,701,446 |
| 6 | Hyderabad | Andhra Pradesh | 7,749,334 | 5,742,036 |
| 7 | Ahmedabad | Gujarat | 6,240,201 | 4,525,013 |
| 8 | Pune | Maharashtra | 5,049,968 | 3,760,636 |
| 9 | Surat | Gujarat | 4,585,367 | 2,811,614 |
| 10 | Jaipur | Rajasthan | 3,073,350 | 2,322,575 |
| 11 | Kanpur | Uttar Pradesh | 2,920,067 | 2,715,555 |
| 12 | Lucknow | Uttar Pradesh | 2,901,474 | 2,245,509 |
| 13 | Nagpur | Maharashtra | 2,583,911 | 2,129,500 |
| 14 | Ghaziabad | Uttar Pradesh | 2,358,525 | 968,256 |
| 15 | Indore | Madhya Pradesh | 2,210,447 | 1,506,062 |
| 16 | Coimbatore | Tamil Nadu | 2,151,466 | 1,461,139 |
| 17 | Kochi | Kerala | 2,117,990 | 1,355,972 |
| 18 | Patna | Bihar | 2,046,652 | 1,697,976 |
| 19 | Kozhikode | Kerala | 2,030,519 | 880,247 |
| 20 | Bhopal | Madhya Pradesh | 1,883,381 | 1,458,416 |
| 21 | Thrissur | Kerala | 1,854,783 | 330,122 |
| 22 | Vadodara | Gujarat | 1,817,191 | 1,491,045 |
| 23 | Agra | Uttar Pradesh | 1,746,467 | 1,331,339 |
| 24 | Visakhapatnam | Andhra Pradesh | 1,730,320 | 1,345,938 |
| 25 | Malappuram | Kerala | 1,698,645 | 170,409 |
| 26 | Thiruvananthapuram | Kerala | 1,687,406 | 889,635 |
| 27 | Kannur | Kerala | 1,642,892 | 498,207 |
| 28 | Ludhiana | Punjab | 1,613,878 | 1,398,467 |
| 29 | Nashik | Maharashtra | 1,562,769 | 1,152,326 |
| 30 | Vijayawada | Andhra Pradesh | 1,491,202 | 1,039,518 |
| 31 | Madurai | Tamil Nadu | 1,462,420 | 1,203,095 |
| 32 | Varanasi | Uttar Pradesh | 1,435,113 | 1,203,961 |
| 33 | Meerut | Uttar Pradesh | 1,424,908 | 1,161,716 |
| 34 | Rajkot | Gujarat | 1,390,933 | 1,003,015 |
| 35 | Faridabad | Haryana | 1,404,653 | 1,055,938 |
| 36 | Jamshedpur | Jharkhand | 1,337,131 | 1,104,713 |
| 37 | Srinagar | Jammu and Kashmir | 1,273,312 | 988,210 |
| 38 | Jabalpur | Madhya Pradesh | 1,267,564 | 1,098,000 |
| 39 | Asansol | West Bengal | 1,243,008 | 1,067,369 |
| 40 | Allahabad | Uttar Pradesh | 1,216,719 | 1,042,229 |
| 41 | Dhanbad | Jharkhand | 1,195,298 | 1,065,327 |
| 42 | Vasai-Virar | Maharashtra | 1,221,233 | NA |
| 43 | Aurangabad | Maharashtra | 1,189,376 | 892,483 |
| 44 | Amritsar | Punjab | 1,183,705 | 1,003,917 |
| 45 | Jodhpur | Rajasthan | 1,137,815 | 860,818 |
| 46 | Ranchi | Jharkhand | 1,126,741 | 863,495 |
| 47 | Raipur | Chhattisgarh | 1,122,555 | 700,113 |
| 48 | Kollam | Kerala | 1,110,005 | 380,091 |
| 49 | Gwalior | Madhya Pradesh | 1,101,981 | 865,548 |
| 50 | Durg-Bhilainagar | Chhattisgarh | 1,064,077 | 927,864 |
| 51 | Chandigarh | Chandigarh | 1,025,682 | 808,515 |
| 52 | Tiruchirappalli | Tamil Nadu | 1,021,717 | 866,354 |
| 53 | Kota | Rajasthan | 1,001,365 | 703,150 |
TalesAlongTheWay 
Very informative article, Anne. Thanks for sharing!
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Thanks Deo!!!!! Namaste. . . . .
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Thanks Deo. Good to hear groom you! Namaste
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Thanks so much. Glad to see you ! Namaste. . . .
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Same over here. Long time no see. 🙂
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I have been stirring up things in posting about Mr. Modi! Namaste. . . . There are three posts if you are interested ,but if not…no problem!
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I will surely check those out. Thanks for the heads-up.
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Mr. Modi is first, Mr. Modi 2 is second and Response to Mr. Modi is third. Important to read them in order! Pretty interesting…and fun. You will get a kick out of what my husband calls me! Namaste. . . .
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Reblogged this on Deo Optimo Maximo and commented:
Excellent article by my fellow blogger annetbell. Enjoy!
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Thanks for the reblog! Namaste. . . . .
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Thanks!
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Reblogged this on Oyia Brown.
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Many thanks Oyia for the reblog! Namaste. . . .
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Thank you for giving us more of an understanding of the challenges in India!
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It is an incredible , amazing place! Namste. . . . .
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It was my pleasure. Thanks for the comment. Namaste. . .
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Ahhhh….My city is placed 31…. That’s really informative… 🙂
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Sort of in the middle of the pack!!! Million Man! It is fun, isn’t it? Thanks for the comment! Namaste. . . .
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LOL 😛 yeah.
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Madurai Man!! And you beat Varanasi #31 It is one of my very favorite places in India. . . . . Have you been there? Namaste. . . ..
Haven’t been to Madurai…but I am sure it is great! 😎
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Great! Fun information! Namaste. . . .
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Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to visit Varanasi….You might like Madurai as well. If possible have a look into this blog of krista keenan about her journey in India.http://3monthsinindia.wordpress.com/the-journey/
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Wow! I checked it out and now I am following her blog. Thanks so much for the tip! Namaste. . . . .
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Nice to hear. It seems like NaMo’s american campaign manager started counting votes 😛 😛
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LOL! I wish.. . . . .Did you meet that blogger on her trip for find her on the blog?
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Oh my goodness… MY BAD! I asked the architect and we did go to Maduri because that was the site of one of the awesome temples we say in the South. Tell you the truth, after awhile, they tend to run together…..So there you go! Still go to Veranasi!
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I would love to be in Varanasi as well…I came to know about her visit only this year via wordpress which I started last year.Her visit was in 2008.
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We were in Varanasi at the end of the huge Kumbh Mela this year. Even if that was not the center site, it defies word! Way stronger than incredible
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Thanks a lot for this research. I thought I would try and put some further context around these numbers. I currently live in Houston, the 4th or 5th largest city in the US depending on where you look it up. According to Wikipedia, the population of Greater Houston is 6.18 million, about the same as Ahmedabad. Although New York City, the most populous US city ‘only’ has about 8 million residents, nowhere near Mumbai’s 18 million!
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Wow, wish I had thought to include this information for contrast. Has Houston passed Phoenix and Philadelphia? I loved in the Phoenix area for 7 years before going to India! Thanks for taking time to send me this! It is fun! Namaste. . . .
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I have heard or read 20 million for NYC which would include surrounding area. Maybe to inflate our numbers. 😎
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Informative & important post. Thank you~
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It puts a new light on things, doesn’t?
Namaste
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Wow!
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Very different from where you live!
Namaste
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holy mud! not a single one of those cities saw a reduction in their numbers, and so many of them did more than double their numbers in about 10 years! the first thing that comes to mind is “water.” then i remembered… http://photoblog.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/02/16/10427642-solar-panels-atop-a-canal-in-india-aim-to-make-power-while-preventing-evaporation?lite not a cure-all, but pretty ingenious, yes?
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This is amazing. Ahmedabad was our home in India and this is very near. The Chief Minister is the forward looking leader Mr. Modi who may be the new Prime Minister for all of India….I hope so. You have an incredible memory if you remembered reading this after so many months!
Namaste. . .
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