Have you ever pictured a spot with almost 250 million people that isn’t even a country?
Five countries worldwide break the 250 million mark: China, India, the United States, Indonesia, and Pakistan. India has 1.46 billion people, making it the most populous country. But there’s a single Indian state that, if independent, would be the world’s sixth most populous country.
We’re looking at Uttar Pradesh—241 million people in 2025. More people live there than in Brazil, which has around 213 million, or Nigeria with about 230 million. It’s even got more than all of South America combined, or Europe minus Russia.
Located in northern India, Uttar Pradesh borders Nepal on one side and states likeBihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Uttarakhand on the others. The capital, Lucknow, has a population of roughly 4 million.
You might expect massive urban centers with all those people, but that’s not the case. Only 22.3% lived in cities according to the 2011 census. Most live in villages and smaller towns.
So why here? Look at the soil. For millennia, Himalayan rivers have been dumping sediment onto the Indo-Gangetic plain. The Ganges and Yamuna wash down minerals from melting glaciers and deposit them across the land. Fresh nutrients arrive constantly, keeping the soil productive. Agriculture has thrived here since ancient times.
The number of people has exploded over the past century, jumping from around 47 million in 1901 to over five times that now, making up about 17% of India’s population!
The 3D map below, created by themapsdaily, shows where people live in Uttar Pradesh.
People cluster along the river valleys Hinduism is the religion of about 80% of people, Islam of 19%. In rural areas, Hinduism dominates even more.
It’s got the third biggest economy in India, around $370 billion. Farming is huge here. In 2020-21, the state grew 58.10 million tonnes of food grain—that’s nearly 19% of India’s total. Services are 47% of the economy, farming is 27%, and industry takes up 26.5% (source). Cities hold a surprisingly small share of the population:
City
Population (2011 Census – Urban Agglomeration)
% of UP Total Population
Kanpur
2,920,496
1.46%
Lucknow
2,902,920
1.45%
Ghaziabad
2,375,820
1.19%
Agra
1,760,285
0.88%
Varanasi
1,432,280
0.72%
Meerut
1,420,902
0.71%
Prayagraj
1,216,719
0.61%
These seven together have about 14 million residents. That’s only 7% of the state. Kanpur, the largest, holds less than 1.5%. In most heavily populated regions, big cities capture much larger shares. Here, people live spread across thousands of small towns and villages, working farms.
Kanpur does a lot with leather and clothes, Lucknow runs the government side, Agra pulls in tourists for the Taj Mahal, and Ghaziabad benefits from being near Delhi. No single city dominates.
Feeding and housing nearly 250 million creates strain. Fertilizer use runs high to keep farms productive. Housing can’t keep pace with urban growth. Traffic clogs roads. About 14.7% migrated out by 2011 hunting for jobs. Schools continue expanding, highways get built, metro systems connect more areas. Uttar Pradesh shows what productive farmland can do across millennia. River valleys that drew the first farmers continue supporting enormous populations.
