Largest Indian Cities by Decade

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First published: Wednesday March 22nd, 2023

What were the most populous cities in India in every decade, from 1901, to 2011?

According to the Hindustan Times.

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Year	Mumbai	Delhi	Kolkata	Chennai	Bengaluru	Hyderabad	Ahmedabad	Pune	Surat	Jaipur
1901	839672	214115	1520721	594396	163091	448466	204753	164117	129500	160167
1911	1046579	237944	1756805	604034	189485	502104	233339	172884	125220	137098
1921	1285402	304420	1872737	627824	240054	405630	293213	198543	128400	123896
1931	1316413	447442	2123128	774153	309785	466894	335842	250187	111928	148755
1941	1747234	695686	3597595	930356	410967	739159	627009	324286	187271	180940
1951	3216904	1437134	4685869	1542333	786343	1135758	924564	608634	237394	304380
1961	4515495	2359508	6008656	1944502	1206961	1254941	1265081	790798	317519	410376
1971	6596370	3647023	7447429	3155944	1664208	1815117	1871006	1135034	493001	636768
1981	9241962	5760811	9232103	4273329	2921751	2607770	2733952	1772186	930246	1015160
1991	12596243	8471625	11110314	5416903	4137314	4344437	3631233	2494987	1514545	1518235
2001	16434386	12895547	13251339	6686140	5701446	5756729	4912912	3768612	2820373	2322575
2011	18394912	16349831	14057991	8653521	8520435	7677018	6357693	5057709	4591246	3046163

2 Comments

Level 83

Mar 22, 2023

Interesting chart. I wonder how reliable it’d be to go back a couple hundred years or even a couple thousand years. I’d love to see one of those quizzes that has the biggest five or ten cities over time for Indian cities. Anyway, I’m enjoying all the charting!

Level 63

Mar 22, 2023

The oldest reliable would be 1871 (British Census), at least in my opinion.

As for your proposed quiz, tis what made me want to make this chart. The quiz is

https://www.jetpunk.com/user-quizzes/235880/biggest-indian-cities-by-decade

by TheNatureThread. My source is the same as well.

And as for 1871:

https://www.jetpunk.com/user-quizzes/1744710/biggest-cities-in-india-in-1871

Thanks! :)