Connect with us

Demographics

Mapped: The Population of India’s States Compared with Countries

Published

on

Infographic map showing the population of India's states and territories compared to countries

Can I share this graphic?
Yes. Visualizations are free to share and post in their original form across the web—even for publishers. Please link back to this page and attribute Visual Capitalist.
When do I need a license?
Licenses are required for some commercial uses, translations, or layout modifications. You can even whitelabel our visualizations. Explore your options.
Interested in this piece?
Click here to license this visualization.

The Population of India’s States Compared with Countries

In a world with eight billion people, even the numbers of the largest population centers like China and India can start to lose their impact.

The visualization above looks to give people a different frame of reference to think about the country’s massive population figures.

The Population Breakdown

Similar to other big countries, the gap between India’s largest and smallest states is quite wide.

Uttar Pradesh is the most populous country subdivision in the world at 232 million people, while Sikkim, in the northeast of the country, is the least populated state in India (0.7 million).

Here are India’s 28 states and 8 union territories compared to other countries and territories with comparable sizes:

State Population (2022)CountryPopulation (2022)
Uttar Pradesh232M🇧🇷 Brazil + 🇪🇨 Ecuador234M
Bihar129M🇲🇽 Mexico132M
Maharashtra125M🇯🇵 Japan126M
West Bengal101M🇪🇬 Egypt107M
Madhya Pradesh85M🇹🇷 Turkey87M
Tamil Nadu84M🇩🇪 Germany84M
Rajasthan80M🇺🇦 Ukraine + 🇵🇱 Poland81M
Gujarat70M🇹🇭 Thailand70M
Karnataka70M🇬🇧 UK69M
Andhra Pradesh54M🇲🇲 Myanmar55M
Odisha47M🇪🇸 Spain47M
Jharkhand40M🇮🇶 Iraq42M
Telangana38M🇲🇾 Malaysia + 🇸🇬 Singapore39M
Assam36M🇨🇦 Canada39M
Kerala35M🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia36M
Chhattisgarh32M🇵🇪 Peru34M
Punjab31M🇦🇺 Australia + 🇳🇿 New Zealand31M
Haryana29M🇻🇪 Venezuela28M
Delhi19M🇷🇴 Romania19M
Jammu and Kashmir15M🇿🇼 Zimbabwe15M
Uttarakhand12M🇧🇴 Bolivia12M
Himachal Pradesh7.5M🇭🇰 Hong Kong7.6M
Tripura4.2M🇭🇷 Croatia4.0M
Meghalaya3.8M🇪🇷 Eritrea3.7M
Manipur3.4M🇺🇾 Uruguay3.5M
Nagaland2.1M🇸🇮 Slovenia2.1M
Puducherry1.6M🇧🇭 Bahrain1.8M
Arunachal Pradesh1.7M🇱🇻 Latvia1.8M
Goa1.5M🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea1.5M
Mizoram1.3M🇪🇪 Estonia1.3M
Chandigarh1.2M🇨🇾 Cyprus1.3M
Dadra and Nagar Haveli
& Daman and Diu
0.8M🇬🇾 Guyana0.8M
Sikkim0.7M🇲🇴 Macao0.7M
Andaman & Nicobar Islands0.4M🇧🇸 Bahamas0.4M
Lakshadweep0.07M🇰🇾 Cayman Islands0.07M 

Hypothetically, if India’s states were to all became countries today, they would take up half the spots in a ranking of the world’s top 20 most populous countries.

A number of Indian states match up evenly against some very large countries, including Maharashtra (Japan), West Bengal (Egypt), and Tamil Nadu (Germany). Of course, the largest is Uttar Pradesh (Brazil+Chile), which also happens to measure up to neighboring Pakistan.

For people living in countries such as Canada or Australia, it may be humbling to know that these countries are equal to a smallish Indian state.

The Big Get Bigger

According to United Nations projections, India is on track to become the most populous country in the world in 2023.

The population of India’s growth is fueled by several factors, including declining mortality rates, increased life expectancy, and high birth rates. While India’s population growth has slowed in recent years due to factors such as urbanization and increasing access to contraception, the country’s population is still expected to continue growing at a significant rate for the foreseeable future.

Where does this data come from?

Source: Population projections for India are from indiacensus.net. Population figures for comparison countries are from the UN’s World Population Prospects: The 2019 Revision (medium-fertility variant), accessed via Worldometers‘ live tracker. All population figures shown are 2022 projections.

Data note: Because there are only so many countries, the populations of comparison countries may not perfectly match that of the various Indian states and union territories. Numbers are rounded.

Map note: A number of borders and regions in India are disputed with other countries. Our depiction of borders is a good faith, apolitical attempt at reflecting the “de facto” situation in each region.

Click for Comments

Demographics

Top 20 Countries Where Older People Are the Happiest

Advanced economies are the happiest countries for older people, likely due to their stronger social security systems.

Published

on

A cropped chart ranking the top 20 happiest countries, for those over 60 years old, sourced from the World Happiness Report 2024.

Top 20 Countries Where Older People Are the Happiest

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

The newest global happiness index doesn’t have any massive surprises from the ongoing trends of the last decade: Europe generally does the best, Africa is still finding its footing, and Asia and South America have vast rank disparities between constituent nations.

However, as the World Happiness Report notes, happiness levels differ across age groups, and countries’ overall ranks tend to obfuscate how the old and young feel separately. To counter this, the report also creates a happiness index by age.

We’ve visualized the top 20 happiest countries according to those aged above 60. For comparison, we have also included a country’s overall index rank.

Data and Takeaways

ℹ️ Gallup’s survey in Israel occurred after October 7th, but before much of the subsequent warfare. As a result, overall life evaluations in the country fell by 0.9 for 2023. Note that each country’s rank is based on a three-year average score.

The top two countries where the seniors are most satisfied—Denmark and Finland—also happen to be the top two countries on the overall happiness index.

As a general trend, advanced economies make up the bulk of this top 20 list, likely due to their stronger social security systems and financial security. Relatedly, they also tend to do well when it comes to the best countries to retire in.

CountryHappiness Rank
(Age 60+)
Overall Happiness
Rank (All ages)
Rank
Difference
🇩🇰 Denmark12-1
🇫🇮 Finland21+1
🇳🇴 Norway37-4
🇸🇪 Sweden440
🇮🇸 Iceland53+2
🇳🇿 New Zealand611-5
🇳🇱 Netherlands76+1
🇨🇦 Canada815-7
🇦🇺 Australia910-1
🇺🇸 U.S.1023-13
🇦🇪 UAE1122-11
🇱🇺 Luxembourg128+4
🇰🇼 Kuwait13130
🇨🇭 Switzerland149+5
🇦🇹 Austria1514+1
🇮🇪 Ireland1617-1
🇨🇷 Costa Rica1712+5
🇮🇱 Israel185+13
🇧🇪 Belgium1916+3
🇬🇧 UK20200

Norway, at third, has the first real discrepancy, with its elderly population ranking four places higher compared to its overall 7th place rank.

New Zealand (6th) and Canada (8th) also have gaps with their overall ranks: indicating that the older generation is happier than other generations within the country.

But for the U.S., (10th) and the UAE (11th), this rank discrepancy is in the double-digits.

In fact, when ranking only by those aged below 30, the U.S. ranks outside of the top 50, indicating that its younger residents are significantly unhappier than their older counterparts.

This is an interesting phenomenon mirrored in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. According to the report, as recently as a decade ago, the younger generation in these countries were about as happy as those aged over 60.

“In the West, the received wisdom was that the young are the happiest and that happiness thereafter declines until middle age, followed by substantial recovery.” –- World Happiness Report.

For other countries like Costa Rica (17) and Israel (18), this pattern reverses. Their overall rank is higher than their rank for older populations, indicating that the young are happier.

Continue Reading

Subscribe

Popular