The 100 Million Club
Five states or provinces worldwide are home to more than 100 million people.
June 8, 2016
1. India’s Uttar Pradesh (UP) state is the most populous state or province in any country in the world. It is well in the lead with more than 200 million people.
2. All told, there are five states or provinces around the globe that each exceed 100 million people.
3. Three of the most populous states / provinces in the world are Indian states. Beyond UP, they are Maharashtra and Bihar.
4. The third most populous state or province in the world is China’s Guangdong province – 104 million in 2010 national data.
5. The fifth most populous state or province in the world is Pakistan’s Punjab province (101 million in 2015 provincial data).
6. While Guangdong province represents less than 8% of the total Chinese population, some 53% of all Pakistanis live in Punjab province.
7. Guangdong may be better known to Westerners by its mercantile-era name “Canton.”
8. Guangdong includes the mainland’s nexus point with neighboring Hong Kong, another former British colony like India.
9. Punjab province might even be more populous today, but for the 1947 British partition line.
10. That line cut through the wider region and assigned part to India and part to Pakistan. The Indian state of Punjab has nearly 30 million more people.
Sources: The Globalist Research Center, Britannica, Government of Punjab