TheWest Bengal is an Indianstate located in eastern portion of the country. As of year 2025, the state is divided into23 districts and5 administrative divisions.
TheHimalayas lies in the north of West Bengal and theBay of Bengal is at the south. Between them, the riverGanga flows eastwards and its maindistributary, theHooghly River, flows south to reach the Bay of Bengal. TheSiliguri Corridor, which connectsNorth-East India with rest of theIndia, lies in theNorth Bengal region of the state. Geographically,West Bengal is divided into a variety of regions—Darjeeling Himalayan hill region,Terai andDooars region,North Bengal plains,Rarh region,Western plateau and high lands, coastal plains,Sundarbans and theGanga Delta.[1]
In 1947, when India gained independence, the state of West Bengal was formed, with 14 districts, as perpartition plan of the thenBengal province ofBritish India.[2][3] The former princely stateKoch Bihar joined as a district on 26 January 1950,[4] and the former FrenchenclaveChandannagore joined as part of theHooghly district in 1954.[5] TheStates Reorganisation Act of 1956 led to addition ofPurulia district to the state and to enlargement of West Dinajpur district.[6] Later, larger districts such as West Dinajpur, 24 Parganas and Midnapore were bifurcated.
West Bengal is now divided into 23 districts which includes the newly formedAlipurduar district (formed on 25 June 2014),Kalimpong district (formed on 14 February 2017),Jhargram district (formed on 4 April 2017), and the splitting of the formerBardhaman district intoPurba Bardhaman district andPaschim Bardhaman district (formed on 7 April 2017). The districts are grouped into five divisions.[7][8]
Divisions are administered by Divisional Commissioners.[9]Kolkata, thecapital of the state, constitutes theKolkata district. Other districts are further divided into administrative units such as subdivisions and blocks, administered bySDO andBDO, respectively. ThePanchayati Raj has a three-tier structure in the state. The atomic unit is called aGram Panchayat, which is thePanchayat organisation for a collection of villages.[10] The block-level organisations are calledPanchayat Samiti,[11] and the district-level organisations are namedZilla Parishad.[12]
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West Bengal is bordered by three countries: Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh; and five Indian states: Sikkim, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Assam. Sikkim and Bhutan are located to the north of the state, Nepal to the northwest, Bihar and Jharkhand in the west, Odisha in the southwest, the Bay of Bengal to the south, and Bangladesh and Assam are in the east. West Bengal is the only state of India that has both snowy mountains (Himalayas in the north) and sea beaches (on the coast of the Bay of Bengal in the south). In between them, the river Ganga enters the state from west, before it branches off into its main distributaries: the Hooghly River, which flows southwards to reach the Bay of Bengal, and thePadma River, which flows eastwards into Bangladesh.
The districts that are located at the north of the Ganga—Darjeeling,Jalpaiguri,Cooch Behar,Malda,Uttar Dinajpur,Dakshin Dinajpur,Alipurduar andKalimpong — are often referred to collectively asNorth Bengal. Kalimpong is a newly added district of West Bengal.[1] Geographically, this area is divided into the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region, the Terai and Dooars region, and the North Bengal plains.[1] The Siliguri Corridor, also known as Chicken's Neck, which connects North-East India with rest of the India, lies in this region. TheIndo-Bangladesh enclaves are eitherenclaves orexclaves of the Cooch Behar district or the Jalpaiguri district.[13]
The districts on the south of the Ganges—Bankura,Paschim Bardhaman,Purba Bardhaman,Birbhum,Purulia,Murshidabad,Nadia,West Midnapore,Jhargram,East Midnapore,Hooghly,Howrah,Kolkata,North 24 Parganas andSouth 24 Parganas—constitute a variety of geographical regions such as the Rarh region, the Western plateau and high lands, the coastal plains, the Sunderbans and the Ganga Delta.[1] Kolkata, the capital of the state, constitutes the Kolkata district.
The uninhabitedSouth Talpatti Island, which surfaced in the Bay of Bengal in the 1970s near the Indo-Bangladesh border, is claimed by both India and Bangladesh.[14]
After Indiagained independence in 1947, the province of Bengal waspartitioned along religious lines. The western part remained in India (and was named West Bengal) while the eastern part joined newly formed Pakistan as a province calledEast Pakistan (later giving rise to Bangladesh in 1971).[2] At the time of its creation in 1947, the state of West Bengal was divided into 14 districts—Bankura, Birbhum, Burdwan, Calcutta (Kolkata), Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Hooghly, Howrah, Malda, Midnapore, Murshidabad, Nadia, West Dinajpur and 24 Parganas.[3] Cooch Behar district was aprincely state named Koch Bihar till 20 August 1949, when the state formally agreed to join India. Transfer of administration was started on 12 September 1949 and was completed on 19 January 1950, when Cooch Behar became a district of West Bengal.[4] Chandannagar, which was earlier part of theFrench India, had voted to join India in a plebiscite in 1949. Formally, it joined India in 1952 and finally became a part of the Hooghly district of West Bengal on 2 October 1954.[5] The States Reorganisation Act of 1956 reorganised boundaries of the Indian states along linguistic lines. As this act was implemented, the then West Dinajpur district was enlarged with the addition of some areas from Bihar, and the Purulia district was formed on 1 November 1956 from parts of the Manbhum district of Bihar.[6]
Later, some large districts were divided into smaller districts. On 1 March 1986, the district of24 Parganas was bifurcated into two districts—the North 24 Parganas district and the South 24 Parganas district.[15] On 1 April 1992, theWest Dinajpur district was bifurcated into the Uttar Dinajpur district and the Dakshin Dinajpur district.[16][17] On 1 January 2002, the erstwhileMidnapore district was bifurcated into the Purba Medinipur district and the Paschim Medinipur district.[18]
Since 2007, the demand for a separateGorkhaland state has been revived by theGorkha Janmukti Morcha and its supporters in the Darjeeling hills.[19] TheKamtapur People's Party and its supporters' movement for a separateKamtapur state that covers the North Bengal has also gained momentum in the 2000s.[20]
A district is governed by aDistrict Collector, who is better known as a District Magistrate (DM) in the state of West Bengal.[21] A DM is an officer from eitherIndian Administrative Service (IAS) orWest Bengal Civil Service (WBCS), and is appointed by the State Government of West Bengal.[21] Each district is divided into subdivisions, except the Kolkata district, which contains urban area only, administered byKolkata Municipal Corporation. A subdivision is governed by asub-divisional magistrate (SDM), better known as a Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO).[22] Other than urban units such as townmunicipalities, a subdivision contains 'community development blocks' (also known asCD blocks orblocks or Tehsil or Taluka). A block consists of urban units such ascensus towns and rural units calledgram panchayats. A block is administered by a Block Development Officer (BDO),who is similar as Tehsildar and who is appointed by the Government of West Bengal.[21]
A gram panchayat, which consists of a group of villages, is administered by a village council headed by aPradhan.[10] As per the West Bengal Panchayat Act, 1973, each Block has aPanchayat Samiti, whose members include thePradhans of the constituent gram panchayats, and theMLAs from the block.[11] APanchayat Samiti is headed by aSabhapati.[23] The third tier of the Panchayati Raj isZilla Parishad, a district level organisation with theSabhapatis of the constituentPanchayat Samitis and theMLAs from the district as its members.[12] AZilla Parishad is headed by aSabhadhipati.[24] For the Darjeeling district, theZilla Parishad has ceased to exist, but a similar organisation for theSiliguri subdivision exists, which is designated as aMahakuma Parishad.[25]
TheGorkha Hill Council, formed in 1988, administers three (out of four) subdivisions of the Darjeeling district:Darjeeling Sadar,Kalimpong andKurseong.[26] Gorkha Hill Council manages the departments of Public Health, Education, Public Works, Transport, Tourism, Market, Small scale industries, Agriculture, Agricultural waterways, Forest (except reserved forests), Water, Livestock, Vocational Training and Sports and Youth services.[27] District administration of Darjeeling, which is still responsible for election,panchayat, law and order, revenueetc., also acts as an interface between the Council and the State Government.[27]
ADistrict Superintendent of Police, better known as a Superintendent of Police, heads the District Police organisation ofWest Bengal Police. This is as per the Police Act of 1861, which is applicable to the whole of India.[28] The Superintendents of Police are officers of theIndian Police Service.[29] For every subdivision, there is a Subdivision Police, headed by a Police officer of the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police or Deputy Superintendent of Police.[30] Under subdivisions, there are Police Circles, each headed by an Inspector of Police.[30] A Police Circle consists of Police Stations, each headed by an Inspector of Police, or in case of rural areas, by a Sub-Inspector of Police.[30]
TheCalcutta High Court has the jurisdiction of the state of West Bengal. Though most of the districts have more courts other than a District Court, not every subdivision of the state has a Court.[31]
A group of districts forms a division, which is administered by a 'Divisional Commissioner'. West Bengal is now divided in twenty three districts, grouped under five divisions:[9]
| Malda division | Burdwan division | Jalpaiguri division | Presidency division | Medinipur division |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sl no. | Code[32] | District | Headquarters[33] | Established[34] | Subdivisions[9] | Area[35] | Population 2011[update][35] | Population Density | Map |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AD | Alipurduar | Alipurduar | 2014[18] | 3,136 km2 (1,211 sq mi) | 1,491,250 | 441/km2 (1,140/sq mi) | .svg) | |
| 2 | BN | Bankura | Bankura | 1947 | 6,882 km2 (2,657 sq mi) | 3,596,674 | 523/km2 (1,350/sq mi) | .svg) | |
| 3 | BR | Paschim Bardhaman | Asansol | 2017 | 1,603.17 km2 (618.99 sq mi) | 2,882,031 | 1,798/km2 (4,660/sq mi) | .svg) | |
| 4 | BR | Purba Bardhaman | Bardhaman | 2017 | 5,432.69 km2 (2,097.57 sq mi) | 4,835,532 | 890/km2 (2,300/sq mi) | .svg) | |
| 5 | BI | Birbhum | Suri | 1947 | 4,545 km2 (1,755 sq mi) | 3,502,404 | 771/km2 (2,000/sq mi) | .svg) | |
| 6 | KB | Cooch Behar | Cooch Behar | 1950[4] | 3,387 km2 (1,308 sq mi) | 2,819,086 | 833/km2 (2,160/sq mi) | .svg) | |
| 7 | DA | Darjeeling | Darjeeling | 1947 | 3,149 km2 (1,216 sq mi) | 1,595,181 | 732/km2 (1,900/sq mi) | .svg) | |
| 8 | DD | Dakshin Dinajpur | Balurghat | 1992[17] | 2,219 km2 (857 sq mi) | 1,676,276 | 755/km2 (1,960/sq mi) | .svg) | |
| 9 | HG | Hooghly | Chinsura | 1947 | 3,149 km2 (1,216 sq mi) | 5,519,145 | 1,753/km2 (4,540/sq mi) | .svg) | |
| 10 | HR | Howrah | Howrah | 1947 | 1,467 km2 (566 sq mi) | 4,850,029 | 3,306/km2 (8,560/sq mi) | .svg) | |
| 11 | JP | Jalpaiguri | Jalpaiguri | 1947 | 3,386 km2 (1,307 sq mi) | 2,381,596 | 837/km2 (2,170/sq mi) | .svg) | |
| 12 | JH | Jhargram | Jhargram | 2017[4] | 3,037.64 km2 (1,172.84 sq mi) | 1,136,548 | 374/km2 (970/sq mi) | .svg) | |
| 13 | KO | Kolkata | Kolkata | 1947 | Kolkata | 206.08 km2 (79.57 sq mi) | 4,496,694 | 24,306/km2 (62,950/sq mi) | .svg) |
| 14 | KA | Kalimpong | Kalimpong | 2017[18] | 1,044 km2 (403 sq mi) | 251,642 | 241/km2 (620/sq mi) | .svg) | |
| 15 | MA | Malda | English Bazar | 1947 | 3,733 km2 (1,441 sq mi) | 3,988,845 | 1,069/km2 (2,770/sq mi) | .svg) | |
| 16 | ME | Paschim Medinipur | Medinipur | 2002[18] | 6,308 km2 (2,436 sq mi) | 4,776,909 | 757/km2 (1,960/sq mi) | .svg) | |
| 17 | ME | Purba Medinipur | Tamluk | 2002[18] | 4,785 km2 (1,847 sq mi) | 5,095,875 | 1,076/km2 (2,790/sq mi) | .svg) | |
| 18 | MU | Murshidabad | Baharampur | 1947 | 5,324 km2 (2,056 sq mi) | 7,103,807 | 1,334/km2 (3,460/sq mi) | .svg) | |
| 19 | NA | Nadia | Krishnanagar | 1947 | 3,927 km2 (1,516 sq mi) | 5,167,601 | 1,316/km2 (3,410/sq mi) | .svg) | |
| 20 | PN | North 24 Parganas | Barasat | 1986[15] | 4,094 km2 (1,581 sq mi) | 10,009,781 | 2,445/km2 (6,330/sq mi) | .svg) | |
| 21 | PS | South 24 Parganas | Alipore | 1986[15] | 9,960 km2 (3,850 sq mi) | 8,161,961 | 819/km2 (2,120/sq mi) | .svg) | |
| 22 | PU | Purulia | Purulia | 1956[6] | 6,259 km2 (2,417 sq mi) | 2,930,115 | 468/km2 (1,210/sq mi) | .svg) | |
| 23 | UD | Uttar Dinajpur | Raiganj | 1992[16] | 3,140 km2 (1,210 sq mi) | 3,007,134 | 958/km2 (2,480/sq mi) | .svg) | |
| — | Total | 23 | — | — | 69 | 88,752 km2 (34,267 sq mi) | 91,347,736 | 1,029/km2 (2,670/sq mi) |  |
The following is a list of the basic demographic data for the districts of West Bengal at the time of the 2011 census by their population rank inIndia[37]
| Rank | District (West Bengal) | Population (2011 census) | Bengali (Bangla) Speakers | Percentage (%) of Bengali Speakers | Growth Rate | Sex Ratio | Literacy | Density/KM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Uttar 24 Parganas | 10,009,781 | 8,899,696 | 88.91% | 12.86 | 955 | 84.53 | 2,445 |
| 2 | Dakshin 24 Parganas | 8,161,961 | 7,984,030 | 97.82% | 18.17 | 956 | 77.51 | 819 |
| 3 | Murshidabad | 7,103,807 | 6,996,539 | 98.49% | 21.09 | 958 | 66.59 | 1,334 |
| 4 | Paschim Medinipur | 5,913,457 | 5,153,577 | 87.15% | 14.44 | 960 | 79.04 | 636 |
| 5 | Hooghly | 5,519,145 | 4,828,699 | 87.49% | 9.49 | 958 | 82.55 | 1,753 |
| 6 | Nadia | 5,167,600 | 5,065,281 | 98.02% | 12.24 | 947 | 75.58 | 1,316 |
| 7 | Purba Medinipur | 5,095,875 | 5,009,754 | 98.31% | 15.32 | 936 | 87.66 | 1,076 |
| 8 | Howrah | 4,850,029 | 4,122,039 | 84.99% | 13.31 | 935 | 83.85 | 3,300 |
| 9 | Purba Bardhaman | 4,841,632 | 4,495,939 | 92.86% | 11.92 | 945 | 76.21 | 1,099 |
| 10 | Kolkata | 4,496,694 | 2,763,218 | 61.45% | −1.67 | 908 | 86.31 | 24,306 |
| 11 | Malda | 3,988,845 | 3,631,444 | 91.04% | 21.50 | 939 | 62.71 | 1,071 |
| 12 | Jalpaiguri | 3,872,846 | 2,539,037 | 65.56% | 13.77 | 954 | 73.79 | 621 |
| 13 | Bankura | 3,596,674 | 3,261,463 | 90.68% | 12.64 | 954 | 70.95 | 523 |
| 14 | Birbhum | 3,502,404 | 3,235,520 | 92.38% | 16.15 | 956 | 70.90 | 771 |
| 15 | Uttar Dinajpur | 3,007,134 | 2,046,655 | 68.06% | 22.90 | 936 | 60.13 | 956 |
| 16 | Purulia | 2,930,115 | 2,360,500 | 80.56% | 15.43 | 955 | 65.38 | 468 |
| 17 | Paschim Bardhaman | 2,882,031 | 1,676,765 | 58.18% | 11.92 | 945 | 76.21 | 1,099 |
| 18 | Cooch Behar | 2,819,086 | 2,672,211 | 94.79% | 13.86 | 942 | 75.49 | 833 |
| 19 | Darjeeling | 1,846,823 | 489,592 | 26.51% | 14.47 | 971 | 79.92 | 585 |
| 20 | Dakshin Dinajpur | 1,676,276 | 1,414,944 | 84.41% | 11.16 | 954 | 73.86 | 753 |
The following is a list of basic economic data for the districts of West Bengal as of 2023–2024, the latest year for which data is available:[38]
| District | Real Economy (Nominal GDP Per Capita in 2023–2024) |
|---|---|
| Paschim Bardhaman | $3,500 |
| Purba Bardhaman | $2,200 |
| Birbhum | $1,600 |
| Bankura | $1,900 |
| Purba Medinipur | $2,800 |
| Paschim Medinipur | $1,700 |
| Howrah | $2,500 |
| Hooghly | $2,400 |
| Uttar 24 Parganas | $2,400 |
| Dakshin 24 Parganas | $1,900 |
| Kolkata | $4,400 |
| Nadia | $1,900 |
| Murshidabad | $1,600 |
| Jalpaiguri | $1,900 |
| Darjeeling | $3,000 |
| Uttar Dinajpur | $1,200 |
| Dakshin Dinajpur | $1,500 |
| Malda | $1,600 |
| Cooch Behar | $1,600 |
| Purulia | $1,600 |
| West Bengal | $2,400 |
The West Bengal cabinet has approved the creation of seven new districts on 1 August 2022. This will number district from 23 to 30.[39]
NewSundarban District from existing South 24 Parganas District, newIchhamati District andBasirhat District from existing North 24 Parganas District. NewRanaghat District from existing Nadia District andBishnupur District from existing Bankura district. While newJangipur District andBerhampore district from existing Murshidabad District will be carved out.
