How Many States in India? 28 States, 8 UTs, 10 Changes Since 1956

India has 28 states and 8 union territories in 2026, 36 in all. The count has not changed since 26 January 2020, when Dadra and Nagar Haveli merged with Daman and Diu. But it moved often before that: the number of states has changed ten times since the 1956 reorganisation, rising from 14 to a peak of 29 in 2014 and falling back to 28 in 2019, when Jammu and Kashmir became a union territory.

States vs union territories: the difference

A state has its own elected government with powers the Constitution guarantees. A union territory is run by the central government through a Lieutenant Governor or Administrator. Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir are union territories that also have elected legislatures, which is why they sit in between. Chandigarh is a union territory that serves as the capital of two states, Punjab and Haryana.

All 28 states of India

#	State	Capital	Statehood	Population (2011)	Area (sq km)
1	Andhra Pradesh	Amaravati	1 November 1956	49,506,799	162,975
2	Arunachal Pradesh	Itanagar	20 February 1987	1,383,727	83,743
3	Assam	Dispur	26 January 1950	31,205,576	78,438
4	Bihar	Patna	26 January 1950	104,099,452	94,163
5	Chhattisgarh	Raipur	1 November 2000	25,545,198	135,194
6	Goa	Panaji	30 May 1987	1,458,545	3,702
7	Gujarat	Gandhinagar	1 May 1960	60,439,692	196,024
8	Haryana	Chandigarh	1 November 1966	25,351,462	44,212
9	Himachal Pradesh	Shimla (Summer), Dharamshala (Winter)	25 January 1971	6,864,602	55,673
10	Jharkhand	Ranchi	15 November 2000	32,988,134	79,714
11	Karnataka	Bengaluru (Summer), Belagavi (Winter)	1 November 1956	61,095,297	191,791
12	Kerala	Thiruvananthapuram	1 November 1956	33,406,061	38,863
13	Madhya Pradesh	Bhopal	1 November 1956	72,626,809	308,252
14	Maharashtra	Mumbai (Summer), Nagpur (Winter)	1 May 1960	112,374,333	307,713
15	Manipur	Imphal	21 January 1972	2,855,794	22,327
16	Meghalaya	Shillong	21 January 1972	2,966,889	22,429
17	Mizoram	Aizawl	20 February 1987	1,097,206	21,081
18	Nagaland	Kohima	1 December 1963	1,978,502	16,579
19	Odisha	Bhubaneswar	26 January 1950	41,974,218	155,707
20	Punjab	Chandigarh	1 November 1966	27,743,338	50,362
21	Rajasthan	Jaipur	26 January 1950	68,548,437	342,239
22	Sikkim	Gangtok	16 May 1975	610,577	7,096
23	Tamil Nadu	Chennai	1 November 1956	72,147,030	130,058
24	Telangana	Hyderabad	2 June 2014	35,193,978	112,077
25	Tripura	Agartala	21 January 1972	3,673,917	10,491
26	Uttar Pradesh	Lucknow	26 January 1950	199,812,341	240,928
27	Uttarakhand	Gairsain (Bhararisain) (Summer), Dehradun (Winter)	9 November 2000	10,086,292	53,483
28	West Bengal	Kolkata	26 January 1950	91,276,115	88,752

All 8 union territories

#	Union territory	Capital	Formed	Population (2011)	Area (sq km)
1	Andaman and Nicobar Islands	Sri Vijaya Puram (formerly Port Blair)	1 November 1956	380,581	8,249
2	Chandigarh	Chandigarh	1 November 1966	1,055,450	114
3	Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu	Daman	26 January 2020	587,106	603
4	Delhi	New Delhi	1 November 1956	16,787,941	1,484
5	Jammu and Kashmir	Srinagar (Summer), Jammu (Winter)	31 October 2019	12,258,433	42,241
6	Ladakh	Leh (Summer), Kargil (Winter)	31 October 2019	290,492	59,146
7	Lakshadweep	Kavaratti	1 November 1956	64,473	32
8	Puducherry	Pondicherry	16 August 1962	1,247,953	479

How the number of states changed

Date	Change	States after
1 November 1956	States Reorganisation Act redraws India on linguistic lines	14
1 May 1960	Bombay State splits into Gujarat and Maharashtra	15
1 December 1963	Nagaland becomes a state	16
1 November 1966	Haryana carved out of Punjab	17
25 January 1971	Himachal Pradesh becomes a state	18
21 January 1972	Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura become states	21
16 May 1975	Sikkim joins as the 22nd state	22
February and May 1987	Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Goa become states	25
November 2000	Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand created	28
2 June 2014	Telangana created from Andhra Pradesh	29
31 October 2019	Jammu and Kashmir becomes two union territories	28

The union territory count moved too. The Jammu and Kashmir reorganisation added two territories in October 2019, taking the total to nine, and the January 2020 merger of Dadra and Nagar Haveli with Daman and Diu brought it to the current eight.

What the state data shows

Only 6 of today’s 28 states date their statehood to 26 January 1950, when the Constitution came into force, and another 5 date from the 1956 reorganisation; several of those have since lost territory to newer states. The other 17, more than half, were created later. The states are also very uneven:

• Uttar Pradesh alone holds 17.0% of the population of all 28 states, about 20.0 crore people in 2011. Sikkim, the least populous, had about 6.1 lakh.
• Rajasthan is the largest state at 342,239 sq km, 11.2% of the states’ land, and about 92 times the size of Goa, the smallest at 3,702 sq km.
• The 28 states hold 97.3% of India’s 2011 population. The 8 union territories share the rest, and Delhi alone accounts for 51.4% of that.
• 4 states have separate summer and winter capitals: Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand.

For live numbers by state rather than census figures, IndiaRealTime tracks petrol and diesel prices in every state and bank holidays state by state, and each state page linked in the tables above carries current weather and air quality.

Elsewhere on IndiaRealTime this week: where to watch the India vs West Indies 4th T20I free, and the dollar-rupee rate for every year since 1947.

FAQs

How many states are there in India in 2026? 28 states and 8 union territories.

Which is the newest state of India? Telangana, formed on 2 June 2014 from Andhra Pradesh.

Is Jammu and Kashmir a state? Not at present. Since 31 October 2019 it has been a union territory with its own legislature, and Ladakh is a separate union territory.

Which is the largest state of India? Rajasthan by area (342,239 sq km) and Uttar Pradesh by population.

Which is the smallest state of India? Goa by area (3,702 sq km) and Sikkim by population.

How many union territories have legislatures? Three: Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir.

Sources

• Wikipedia: States and union territories of India
• Wikipedia: Union territory
• Census of India
• Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India

Updated 12 October 2026. Population and area figures are from Census 2011; they will be replaced when the next census is published.