Kolkata, India’s former capital and oldest operating port, is located on the east bank of the Hooghly River. The city of joy which was formerly known as Calcutta is the third most populated city, with 15.3 million people, in India. It was the most populated city in the country till 1971. Obviously, it is the largest city of West Bengal in terms of population and area covered.
Do you know the second largest city in West Bengal or Karnataka? No problem if you don’t know because the fault is not yours. Historical reasons are there behind it, and our article will enable you to know some of those reasons. Less than ten percent of Kolkata’s population lives in Asansol, the second most populated city in West Bengal. In the case of the second most populated city of Karnataka, Mysore, the percentage is slightly more than the ten percent line. Let’s have a look at the population of seventeen major states along with the population counts of their largest and second largest cities.
Uttar Pradesh
State’s Population – 199,812,341
Kanpur’s Population – 2,920,496
Lucknow’s Population – 2,902,920
Kerala
State’s Population – 33,387,677
Kochi’s Population – 2,119,724
Kozhikode’s Population – 2,030,519
Chhattisgarh
State’s Population – 25,545,198
Raipur’s Population – 1,010,087
Durg-Bhilainagar’s Population – 956553
Jharkhand
State’s Population 32,988,134
Jamshedpur – 1,337,131
Dhanbad – 1,196,214
Madhya Pradesh
State’s Population – 72,626,809
Indore’s Population – 2,170,295
Bhopal’s Population – 1,917,051
Odisha
State’s Population – 41,974,218
Bhubaneswar’s Population – 881,988
Cuttack’s Population – 666,702
Punjab
State’s Population – 27,704,236
Ludhiana’s Population – 1,618,879
Amritsar’s Population – 1,183,705
Gujarat
State’s Population – 60,383,628
Ahmedabad’s Population – 55.7 lakhs
Surat’s Population – 44.6 lakhs
Andhra Pradesh
State’s Population – 49,386,799
Hyderabad’s Population – 7,749,334
Visakhapatnam’s Population – 5,340,000
Haryana
State’s Population – 25,353,081
Faridabad’s Population – 1,404,653
Gurugram’s Population – 876,824
Rajasthan
State’s Population – 68,548,437
Jaipur’s Population – 3,046,189
Jodhpur’s Population – 1,138,300
Maharashtra
State’s Population – 112,372,972
Mumbai’s Population – 20,748,395
Pune’s Population – 5,057,709
Tamil Nadu
State’s Population – 72,147,030
Chennai’s Population – 8,917,749
Coimbatore’s Population – 2,136,916
Assam
State’s Population – 31,205,576
Guwahati’s Population – 962,334
Silchar’s Population – 228,985
Bihar
State’s Population – 103,804,637
Patna’s Population – 2,046,652
Gaya’s Population – 470,839
Karnataka
State’s Population – 61,130,704
Bangalore’s Population – 12,339,447
Mysore’s Population – 1,281,768
West Bengal
State’s Population – 91.347 million
Kolkata’s Population – 14.057 million
Asansol’s Population – 1.243 million
| STATE | LARGEST CITY | SECOND LARGEST CITY | FRACTION OF LARGEST CITY’S POPULATION IN SECOND LARGEST CITY |
| Uttar Pradesh | Kanpur | Lucknow | 99.3% |
| Kerala | Kochi | Kozhikode | 95.7% |
| Chhattisgarh | Raipur | Durg-Bhilainagar | 94.8% |
| Jharkhand | Jamshedpur | Dhanbad | 90.3% |
| Madhya Pradesh | Indore | Bhopal | 88.3% |
| Odisha | Bhubaneswar | Cuttack | 71.4% |
| Punjab | Ludhiana | Amritsar | 74.1% |
| Gujarat | Ahmedabad | Surat | 80.2% |
| Andhra Pradesh | Hyderabad | Visakhapatnam | 68.9% |
| Haryana | Faridabad | Gurugram | 61.8% |
| Rajasthan | Jaipur | Jodhpur | 37.7% |
| Maharashtra | Mumbai | Pune | 24.5% |
| Tamil Nadu | Chennai | Coimbatore | 23.6% |
| Assam | Guwahati | Silchar | 22.7% |
| Bihar | Patna | Gaya | 22.5% |
| Karnataka | Bangalore | Mysore | 10.4% |
| West Bengal | Kolkata | Asansol | 8.4% |
The comparison between the population of largest and second largest cities of major Indian states brings some interesting facts of population distribution. Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and Haryana have at least two equally big cities where Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Bihar, Karnataka, and West Bengal lack behind. These seven Indian states have uneven population distribution between their largest and second largest cities.
