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).
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.