Largest and Smallest State in India: Our country India has a federal form of government. It is a union of 28 states and 8 union territories. Some states/ union territories are small in size while others are big. Similarly, a few states are densely populated than others. Various questions in different competitive exams are asked about Largest and Smallest States/ Union Territories of India. We classify the largest and Smallest States/ UT in India on the basis of their areas and population. Go through this post to check the list of largest and smallest states/ UT in India in 2023 on the basis of both Area and Population.
Area wise Largest and Smallest States in India in 2023
If we talk about the area, Rajasthan is the largest state in India and Ladakh is the smallest state in India. On the other hand, Goa is the smallest state and Lakshadweep is the smallest Union Territory in India. The complete list of states and UT on the basis of their area is given below.
| Rank | State/ Union Territory | Area in KM sq. | National share in percentage |
| 1 | Rajasthan | 342,239 Km sq. | 10.41 |
| 2 | Madhya Pradesh | 308,252 Km sq. | 9.38 |
| 3 | Maharashtra | 307,713 Km sq. | 9.36 |
| 4 | Uttar Pradesh | 240,928 Km sq. | 7.33 |
| 5 | Gujarat | 196,024 Km sq. | 5.96 |
| 6 | Karnataka | 191,791 Km sq. | 5.83 |
| 7 | Andhra Pradesh | 160,205 Km sq. | 4.87 |
| 8 | Odisha | 155,707 Km sq. | 4.74 |
| 9 | Chhattisgarh | 135,191 Km sq. | 4.11 |
| 10 | Tamil Nadu | 130,058 Km sq. | 3.96 |
| 11 | Telangana | 112,077 Km sq. | 3.41 |
| 12 | Bihar | 94,163 Km sq. | 2.86 |
| 13 | West Bengal | 88,752 Km sq. | 2.70 |
| 14 | Arunachal Pradesh | 83,743 Km sq. | 2.55 |
| 15 | Jharkhand | 79,714 Km sq. | 2.42 |
| 16 | Assam | 78,438 Km sq. | 2.39 |
| 17 | Ladakh (Largest Union Territory by Area) | 59,146 Km sq. | 1.80 |
| 18 | Himachal Pradesh | 55,673 Km sq. | 1.70 |
| 19 | Uttarakhand | 53,483 Km sq. | 1.63 |
| 20 | Punjab | 50,362 Km sq. | 1.53 |
| 21 | Haryana | 44,212 Km sq. | 1.34 |
| 22 | Jammu and Kashmir | 42,241 Km sq. | 1.28 |
| 23 | Kerala | 38,863 Km sq. | 1.18 |
| 24 | Meghalaya | 22,429 Km sq. | 0.682 |
| 25 | Manipur | 22,327 Km sq. | 0.679 |
| 26 | Mizoram | 21,081 Km sq. | 0.641 |
| 27 | Nagaland | 16,579 Km sq. | 0.504 |
| 28 | Tripura | 10,486 Km sq. | 0.319 |
| 29 | Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 8,249 Km sq. | 0.251 |
| 30 | Sikkim | 7,096 Km sq. | 0.216 |
| 31 | Goa | 3,702 Km sq. | 0.113 |
| 32 | Delhi | 1,483 Km sq. | 0.045 |
| 33 | Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu | 603 Km sq. | 0.018 |
| 34 | Puducherry | 479 Km sq. | 0.015 |
| 35 | Chandigarh | 114 Km sq. | 0.003 |
| 36 | Lakshadweep | 32 Km sq. | 0.001 |
Population-wise Largest and Smallest States and Union Territories in India in 2023
Uttar Pradesh is the Largest State in India on the basis of the population. Sikkim is the smallest state in India in terms of population. Talking about Union Territories, NCT of Delhi is the largest Union Territory in India and Lakshadweep is the smallest. The Ranks of each state and UT are given in the following table.
Note: The data has been updated according to the 2011 Census report of India.
| Rank | State/ Union Territory | Population | National share in percentage |
| 1 | Uttar Pradesh | 199,812,341 | 16.51% |
| 2 | Maharashtra | 112,374,333 | 9.28% |
| 3 | Bihar | 104,099,452 | 8.6% |
| 4 | West Bengal | 91,276,115 | 7.54% |
| 5 | Madhya Pradesh | 72,626,809 | 6% |
| 6 | Tamil Nadu | 72,147,030 | 5.96% |
| 7 | Rajasthan | 68,548,437 | 5.66% |
| 8 | Karnataka | 61,095,297 | 5.05% |
| 9 | Gujarat | 60,439,692 | 4.99% |
| 10 | Andhra Pradesh | 49,577,103 | 4.1% |
| 11 | Odisha | 41,974,219 | 3.47% |
| 12 | Telangana | 35,003,674 | 2.89% |
| 13 | Kerala | 33,406,061 | 2.76% |
| 14 | Jharkhand | 32,988,134 | 2.73% |
| 15 | Assam | 31,205,576 | 2.58% |
| 16 | Punjab | 27,743,338 | 2.29% |
| 17 | Chhattisgarh | 25,545,198 | 2.11% |
| 18 | Haryana | 25,351,462 | 2.09% |
| 19 | NCT of Delhi (Most populous Union Territory in India) | 16,787,941 | 1.39% |
| 20 | Jammu and Kashmir | 12,267,032 | 1.01% |
| 21 | Uttarakhand | 10,086,292 | 0.83% |
| 22 | Himachal Pradesh | 6,864,602 | 0.57% |
| 23 | Tripura | 3,673,917 | 0.3% |
| 24 | Meghalaya | 2,966,889 | 0.25% |
| 25 | Manipur | 2,570,390 | 0.21% |
| 26 | Nagaland | 1,978,502 | 0.16% |
| 27 | Goa | 1,458,545 | 0.12% |
| 28 | Arunachal Pradesh | 1,383,727 | 0.11% |
| 29 | Puducherry | 1,247,953 | 0.1% |
| 30 | Mizoram | 1,097,206 | 0.09% |
| 31 | Chandigarh | 1,055,450 (estimated) | 0.09% |
| 32 | Sikkim | 610,577 (estimated) | 0.05% |
| 33 | Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu | 585,764 | 0.05% |
| 34 | Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 380,581 | 0.03% |
| 35 | Ladakh | 274,000 | 0.02% |
| 36 | Lakshadweep | 64,473 | 0.01% |
Frequently Asked Questions
Rajasthan (342,239 Km2) is the largest state in India by area.
Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state in India.
Ladakh is the largest Union Territory in India by Area
Goa (3702 Km sq.) is the smallest state in India by Area.
Sikkim is the least populous state in India.
It is a Union Territory.
Lakshadweep
