(a) The most populous state in the country is Uttar Pradesh and the least state is Sikkim.
(b) The regional pattern of population distribution in India and its important features are as follows:
1. The distribution of population in India is very uneven. Population is very dense in river valleys and seaside plains, but the population is very sparse in the mountainous desert and scarcity areas. Only 3% of the population lives on 16 percent of the country’s land in the hilly regions of the north, while 40 percent of the population lives on 18 percent of the country’s land in the northern plains. In Rajasthan, 6 percent of the population lives on only 6 percent of the country’s land.
2. Majority of the population is settled in rural areas. About 71% of the total population of the country resides in rural areas, about 29% in cities. Large cities have a large population of urban population. Two thirds of the total urban population lives in first-tier cities with population of one lakh or more.
3. The concentration of minority communities in the country is in the most sensitive and important outer border areas. For example, the Sikhs in Punjab and the Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir are in abundance near the Indo-Pak border in north western India. Similarly there is a gathering of people of Christianity along the borders of China and Burma (Myanmar) in the northeast. Many social, economic and political difficulties arise from such distribution.
4. On the one hand, the population is dense in the coastal plains and valleys of the rivers. On the other hand, the population in the mountainous, plateau and desert parts is sparse. This distribution resembles a demographic divide.