List of country subdivisions by population

This is a list of the most populous first-level administrative country subdivisions in the world, in order of population; most estimates are from 2004, some from 2008. Excluded are regions defined for convenience, that do not have their own single government: e.g. Northeast USA, Kanto region, CALABARZON. Those subdivisions which are the largest in their respective countries are shown in bold. Countries which have a high proportion of their population enumerated in the largest sub-division include the Kingdom of the Netherlands (98.3% in the Netherlands), the United Kingdom (80.3% in England) and Pakistan (53.7% in Punjab). England appears on this list, but does not have a single government.

Some large former first level subdivisions with former populations (split off areas):

Second-level divisions are those under first level (states and provinces) and they are counties or districts, but the names vary by country.

...
Wikipedia