“Kolkata does not merely have a population. It has a civilization.” — Amit Chaudhuri
Kolkata Population & Demographics
Census 2011 data, historical population, and socio-economic indicators for Kolkata
Kolkata is the only major Indian metro whose core city shrank. Between 2001 and 2011 the population inside the Kolkata Municipal Corporation boundary fell 1.7%, from 4,572,876 to 4,496,694. Every other large Indian city grew. The surrounding urban agglomeration kept expanding past 15 million — people did not leave the region, they left the 206 square kilometres at its centre.
What remains is dense: 24,252 people per square kilometre across 141 wards, 86.31% literate, and 31.35% — some 1.4 million people — living in areas classified as slums.
About this data
What this page shows
125 years of population history from 1901 to 2011, decadal growth rates, religious and linguistic composition, household amenities, worker participation, and projections to 2035. Kolkata speaks Bengali (61.45%), Hindi (22.19%) and Urdu (13.04%); it is 76.51% Hindu and 20.6% Muslim. The sex ratio is 908 women per 1,000 men, and 39.93% of residents are counted as workers.
Where the data comes from
Census of India 2011, Primary Census Abstract for Kolkata district, including ward-level tables for all 141 wards. Post-2011 agglomeration figures are UN World Urbanization Prospects estimates, which is why they are labelled separately from census counts.
Limitations worth knowing
India has not conducted a census since 2011. Everything on this page describing composition — religion, language, literacy, slum share, ward populations — is now well over a decade old, and there is no newer authoritative source to replace it. The projections beyond 2011 are estimates, not counts, and should be read as such. Note also the boundary distinction that runs through this whole dashboard: the KMC area holds about 4.5 million people, while the urban agglomeration commonly called “Kolkata” holds roughly 15 million. Mixing the two produces wildly different per-capita figures.
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