Largest and smallest states of India: Rajasthan and Goa by area

The two extremes

Rajasthan, in north-western India, is the largest state by area at about 342,239 sq km, or roughly 10.41% of India's geographical area. Its capital is Jaipur. The state holds the Thar Desert and the ancient Aravalli Range, and it shares a long international border with Pakistan.

Goa, on the west coast, is the smallest state by area at 3,702 sq km, just 0.11% of India's area. Its capital is Panaji. Goa sits in the Konkan region at the foot of the Western Ghats, with a long coastline along the Arabian Sea. Dividing the two figures shows the scale of the gap: Rajasthan is more than 90 times larger than Goa.

The runners-up

After Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh is the second largest state by area at about 308,245 sq km, followed closely by Maharashtra at about 307,713 sq km. Together, the top three states cover nearly 30% of India's total geographical area.

The next states in order are Uttar Pradesh at about 240,928 sq km, Gujarat at about 196,024 sq km and Karnataka at about 191,791 sq km. Small differences in these figures between sources are normal: they come from different surveys and from whether certain water bodies and boundary areas are counted.

Area is not population

The most common exam trap is mixing up area and population. By population, the largest state is Uttar Pradesh, with about 19.98 crore people in the 2011 Census, while the smallest state by population is Sikkim, with about 6.1 lakh people. Rajasthan is large but only mid-ranked by population, and Goa is small in both measures.

The same distinction applies to union territories. India has 28 states and 8 union territories. Among the union territories, Ladakh is the largest by area at 59,146 sq km, while Lakshadweep, a coral island chain in the Arabian Sea, is the smallest at just 32 sq km.

How to remember it for exams

Six facts cover almost every question on this topic: largest state by area, Rajasthan; smallest state by area, Goa; second largest state by area, Madhya Pradesh; largest state by population, Uttar Pradesh; smallest state by population, Sikkim; and among union territories, largest Ladakh and smallest Lakshadweep.

Before an exam, check the figures against a current official source, since small revisions happen when boundaries or measurement methods change. The ranking itself, however, has been stable: Rajasthan and Goa have held the two ends of the state list for decades.

Editorial disclosure

This article was researched and published with AI assistance. No human prepublication review is claimed. Report factual errors through our contact page.