Indian district
| District | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Category | Second-level administrative division |
| Location | States and union territories of India |
| Number | 707 (as of 2016) |
| Populations | Greatest: Thane, Maharashtra—11,060,148 (2011 census) Least: Dibang Valley, Arunachal Pradesh—8,004 (2011 census) |
| Areas | Largest: Kachchh, Gujarat—17,626 sq mi (45,650 km2) Smallest: Mahe, Puducherry—3.36 sq mi (8.7 km2) |
| Government | District Administration |
| Subdivisions |
Tehsil, Taluka, Mandal Blocks |
A district (zilā) is an administrative division of an Indian state or territory. In some cases districts are further subdivided into sub-divisions, and in others directly into tehsils or talukas. As of 2016[update] there are a total of 707 districts, up from the 640 in the 2011 Census of India and the 593 recorded in the 2001 Census of India.
District officials include:
Each of these officials is aided by officers from the appropriate branch of the state government.
Most districts have a distinct headquarters; Mumbai City district (MC) in Maharashtra (MH) is an example which, despite forming a district, does not have a clear headquarters, though it does have a District Collector.
Mahe of Puducherry is the smallest (9 km2) district of India by area while Kutch of Gujarat is the largest (45,652 km2) district of India by area.
The majority of districts are named after their administrative centre. Some are referred to by two names, a traditional one and one that uses the name of the town that is the headquarters. Since most of the districts are named after a town, the word "district" is appended to distinguish between the town and the district. Official websites very often use District with a capital D in this context.
The names of the 687 districts are mostly unique. There are some exceptions:
The following tables list the population details of various states. The columns include the hierarchical administrative subdivision codes, the district name, district headquarters, 2011 census population, area in square kilometres, and the population density per square kilometre.
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