West Bengal | ||
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State | ||
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Location of West Bengal in India |
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Country | India | |
Established | 26 January 1950 | |
Capital | Kolkata | |
Largest city / Largest metro |
Kolkata | |
Districts | 21 | |
Government | ||
• Body | Government of West Bengal | |
• Governor | Keshari Nath Tripathi | |
• Chief Minister | Mamata Banerjee (TMC) | |
• Legislature | West Bengal Legislative Assembly (295 seats) | |
• High Court | Calcutta High Court | |
Area | ||
• Total | 88,752 km2 (34,267 sq mi) | |
Area rank | 14th | |
Population (2011) | ||
• Total | 91,347,736 | |
• Rank | 4th | |
• Density | 1,000/km2 (2,700/sq mi) | |
Time zone | IST (UTC+05:30) | |
ISO 3166 code | IN-WB | |
HDI | 0.509 (medium) | |
HDI rank | 9th (2011) | |
Literacy | 77.08% | |
Official language |
Bangla, English Nepali (in three subdivisions of Darjeeling district) |
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Website | wb |
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^* 294 elected, 1 nominated |
Population Growth | |||
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Census | Pop. | %± | |
1951 | 26,300,000 |
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1961 | 34,926,000 | 32.8% | |
1971 | 44,312,000 | 26.9% | |
1981 | 54,581,000 | 23.2% | |
1991 | 68,078,000 | 24.7% | |
2001 | 80,176,000 | 17.8% | |
2011 | 91,348,000 | 13.9% | |
Source:Census of India |
West Bengal (/wɛst bɛŋˈɡɔːl/) is an Indian state, located in East India on the Bay of Bengal. It is India's fourth-most populous state, with over 91 million inhabitants. It has a total area of 34,267 sq mi (88,750 km2), making it similar in size to Serbia. A part of the ethno-linguistic Bengal region, it borders Bangladesh in the east and Nepal and Bhutan in the north. It also has borders with five Indian states, including Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Sikkim and Assam.
The state capital is Kolkata (Calcutta), the third-largest city in India. The geography of West Bengal includes the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region in its extreme north, the Ganges delta, the Rarh region and the coastal Sundarbans. The main ethnic group are the Bengali people, with Bengali Hindus forming the demographic majority.