West Bengal is now divided into 23 districts. These includes the newly formed Jhargram district, Alipurduar district and the Kalimpong district, Purba Bardhaman district under five divisions.[1][2] Alipurduar Bankura Birbhum Cooch Behar Dakshin Dinajpur (South Dinajpur) Darjeeling Hooghly Howrah Jalpaiguri Jhargram Kalimpong Kolkata Malda Murshidabad Nadia North 24 Parganas Paschim Medinipur (West Medinipur) Paschim (West) Burdwan (Bardhaman) Purba Burdwan (Bardhaman) Purba Medinipur (East Medinipur) Purulia South 24 Parganas Uttar Dinajpur (North Dinajpur
A group of districts forms a division. Divisions are administered by a 'Divisional Commissioner'. West Bengal is now divided in twenty three districts, grouped under five divisions:[3]
Malda division | Burdwan division | Jalpaiguri division | Presidency division | Medinipur division |
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Code[4] | District | Headquarters[5] | Established[6] | Subdivisions[3] | Area[7] | Population As of 2011[update][7] | Population Density | Map |
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AD | Alipurduar | Alipurduar | 2014 |
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3,383 km2 (1,306 sq mi) | 1,700,000 | 400/km2 (1,000/sq mi) | ![]() |
BN | Bankura | Bankura | 1947 |
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6,882 km2 (2,657 sq mi) | 3,596,292 | 523/km2 (1,350/sq mi) | ![]() |
BR | Purba Bardhaman | Bardhaman | 2017 |
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7,024 km2 (2,712 sq mi) | 7,723,663 | 1,100/km2 (2,800/sq mi) | ![]() |
Paschim Bardhaman | Asansol | 2017 |
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1,603.17 km2 (618.99 sq mi) | 2,882,031 | 1,800/km2 (4,700/sq mi) | ||
BI | Birbhum | Suri | 1947 |
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4,545 km2 (1,755 sq mi) | 3,502,387 | 771/km2 (2,000/sq mi) | ![]() |
KB | Cooch Behar | Cooch Behar | 1950 |
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3,387 km2 (1,308 sq mi) | 2,822,780 | 833/km2 (2,160/sq mi) | ![]() |
DA | Darjeeling | Darjeeling | 1947 |
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2,092.5 km2 (807.9 sq mi) | 1,797,422 | 859/km2 (2,220/sq mi) | ![]() |
ME | Purba Medinipur | Tamluk | 2002 |
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4,736 km2 (1,829 sq mi) | 5,094,238 | 1,076/km2 (2,790/sq mi) | ![]() |
HG | Hooghly | Chinsura | 1947 |
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3,149 km2 (1,216 sq mi) | 5,520,389 | 1,753/km2 (4,540/sq mi) | ![]() |
HR | Howrah | Howrah | 1947 |
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1,467 km2 (566 sq mi) | 1,072,161 | - | ![]() |
JP | Jalpaiguri | Jalpaiguri | 1869 |
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2,844 km2 (1,098 sq mi) | 2,172,846 | 621/km2 (1,610/sq mi) | ![]() |
JH | Jhargram | Jhargram | 2017[8] |
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3,037.64 km2 (1,172.84 sq mi) | 1,136,548 | 833/km2 (2,160/sq mi) | |
KO | Kolkata | Kolkata | 1947 | — | 185 km2 (71 sq mi) | 4,486,679 | 24,252/km2 (62,810/sq mi) | ![]() |
KA | Kalimpong | Kalimpong | 2017[9] |
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1,044 km2 (403 sq mi) | 251,642 | ||
MA | Malda | English Bazar | 1947 |
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3,733 km2 (1,441 sq mi) | 3,997,970 | 1,071/km2 (2,770/sq mi) | ![]() |
MU | Murshidabad | Baharampur | 1947 |
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5,324 km2 (2,056 sq mi) | 7,102,430 | 1,334/km2 (3,460/sq mi) | ![]() |
NA | Nadia | Krishnanagar | 1947 |
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3,927 km2 (1,516 sq mi) | 5,168,488 | 1,316/km2 (3,410/sq mi) | ![]() |
PN | North 24 Parganas | Barasat | 1986[10] |
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4,094 km2 (1,581 sq mi) | 10,082,852 | 2,463/km2 (6,380/sq mi) | ![]() |
UD | Uttar Dinajpur | Raiganj | 1992[11] |
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3,140 km2 (1,210 sq mi) | 3,000,849 | 956/km2 (2,480/sq mi) | ![]() |
PU | Purulia | Purulia | 1956[12] |
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6,259 km2 (2,417 sq mi) | 2,927,965 | 468/km2 (1,210/sq mi) | ![]() |
PS | South 24 Parganas | Alipore | 1986[10] |
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9,960 km2 (3,850 sq mi) | 8,153,176 | 819/km2 (2,120/sq mi) | ![]() |
DD | Dakshin Dinajpur | Balurghat | 1992[13] |
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2,219 km2 (857 sq mi) | 1,670,931 | 753/km2 (1,950/sq mi) | ![]() |
ME | Paschim Midnapore | Medinipur | 2002[9] |
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9,345 km2 (3,608 sq mi) | 5,943,300 | 636/km2 (1,650/sq mi) | ![]() |
Total | 23 | — | — | 74 | 88,752 km2 (34,267 sq mi) | 91,347,736 | 1,029/km2 (2,670/sq mi) | ![]() |
The following is a list of the basic demographic data for the districts of West Bengal by their population rank in India[14]
Rank | District | Population | Growth Rate | Sex Ratio | Literacy | Density/KM | Comparable Country (by population) |
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2 | North 24 Parganas | 11,060,148 | 12.86 | 955 | 84.53 | 2,445 | Bolivia |
6 | South 24 Parganas | 9,161,961 | 18.17 | 956 | 77.51 | 819 | Honduras |
7 | Bardhaman | 7,717,563 | 11.92 | 945 | 76.21 | 1,099 | Togo |
9 | Murshidabad | 7,103,807 | 21.09 | 958 | 66.59 | 1,334 | Bulgaria |
14 | West Midnapore | 5,943,300 | 14.44 | 960 | 79.04 | 636 | Kyrgyzstan |
16 | Hooghly | 5,520,389 | 9.49 | 958 | 82.55 | 1,753 | Finland |
18 | Nadia | 5,168,488 | 12.24 | 947 | 75.58 | 1,316 | Congo |
20 | East Midnapore | 5,094,238 | 15.32 | 936 | 87.66 | 1,076 | Eritrea |
23 | Howrah | 4,841,638 | 13.31 | 935 | 83.85 | 3,300 | Ireland |
35 | Kolkata | 4,496,694 | -1.67 | 908 | 86.31 | 24,306 | Mauritania |
58 | Malda | 3,997,970 | 21.50 | 939 | 62.71 | 1,071 | Moldova |
66 | Jalpaiguri | 3,869,675 | 13.77 | 954 | 73.79 | 621 | Georgia |
80 | Bankura | 3,596,292 | 12.64 | 954 | 70.95 | 523 | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
84 | Birbhum | 3,502,387 | 16.15 | 956 | 70.90 | 771 | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
124 | North Dinajpur | 3,000,849 | 22.90 | 936 | 60.13 | 956 | Mongolia |
129 | Purulia | 2,927,965 | 15.43 | 955 | 65.38 | 468 | Albania |
136 | Cooch Behar | 2,822,780 | 13.86 | 942 | 75.49 | 833 | Lithuania |
257 | Darjeeling | 1,842,034 | 14.47 | 971 | 79.92 | 585 | Guinea-Bissau |
295 | South Dinajpur | 1,670,931 | 11.16 | 954 | 73.86 | 753 | Bahrain |