The Basics
Delhi at a Glance
India's capital territory — a city-state on the Yamuna, wrapped by Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, that has been the seat of empires for a thousand years and the heart of the nation today.
- New Delhi Capital of India and the seat of the NCT government — a district within the larger Territory of Delhi
- NCT A Union Territory with its own Legislative Assembly since 1991 (Article 239AA) — not a full state
- 1,483 km² Area of the NCT; the wider National Capital Region (NCR) spreads far into neighbouring states
- 11 districts Revenue districts (Census 2011 had 9; two more were added in 2012)
- Hindi Official language; Punjabi and Urdu are additional official languages; English is widely used
- The Yamuna The river along the east; the rocky Delhi Ridge, a spur of the Aravallis, runs through the city
- 70 seats Legislative Assembly; 7 Lok Sabha & 3 Rajya Sabha seats
- Borders Haryana on three sides; Uttar Pradesh to the east, across the Yamuna
- Governance A Lieutenant Governor and an elected Chief Minister share power; police, land & public order rest with the Centre
- Civic bodies The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (unified in 2022), the NDMC and the Delhi Cantonment Board
- Mini-India A cosmopolitan capital, home to people from every part of the country
People
Population & Society
One of the most densely settled and almost wholly urban territories in India — a magnet for migrants from across the country, reshaped by the Partition of 1947. Census 2011 is the last full count.
- 1.68 cr Population, 2011 (16,787,941) — the most populous UT; about 2 crore today (projected)
- 2nd metro The Delhi urban agglomeration (~1.63 cr in 2011) was India's second-largest after Greater Mumbai
- 21.2% Decadal growth, 2001–2011 — swollen by heavy in-migration
- 11,320 /km² Population density, 2011 — among the highest of any Indian state or UT
- 868 Sex ratio — females per 1,000 males, 2011 — low
- 86.2% Literacy rate, 2011 — well above the national average
- 97.5% Urban — Delhi is almost entirely a city; very little remains rural
- A magnet A top destination for migrants from UP, Bihar & beyond; after 1947 a huge influx of Punjabi refugees remade the city
- Faith Hindu ~81.7%, Muslim ~12.9%, Sikh ~3.4%, Jain ~1% (2011); SC ~16.7%, with no notified Scheduled Tribes
Economy
A Services Powerhouse
One of India's richest territories per head — an almost entirely services economy of trade, finance, government and IT, fiscally healthy with very little debt.
- ₹13.27 L cr GSDP 2025-26 (advance estimate, current prices)
- ~9.4% Nominal GSDP growth, 2025-26
- ~₹5.3 lakh Per-capita income (2025-26) — about 2.5× the national average; among India's highest
- ~2.3% Outstanding debt as % of GSDP — strikingly low; a revenue-surplus territory
What the economy is made of — share of GSVA (2025-26)
- ~86% Services — trade, finance & business services, IT, government & tourism
- ~13% Industry — small-scale manufacturing, construction & utilities
- ~1% Agriculture — tiny, as the territory is almost fully urbanised
The engines of the economy
- Trade & markets From the corporate hub of Connaught Place to Chandni Chowk, Sadar Bazaar and Khari Baoli — Asia's largest wholesale spice market
- Services & IT Finance, professional & business services, IT/ITeS and a vast public administration — the seat of the central government
- The informal city A huge base of small-scale manufacturing, wholesale trade and informal enterprise
- Tourism Heritage, business & medical tourism draw millions to the capital each year
- Wealthy, but unequal: Delhi's per-capita income is among the highest in India, yet great affluence sits beside extensive slums and unauthorised colonies.
- Figures here are from the latest Economic Survey of Delhi / Delhi Budget (2025-26). The India GDP page compares all states at FY2024-25, so its Delhi figure is for that earlier year.
The Seat of Power
The Capital of India
Delhi holds all three branches of the Union government — the Parliament, the President's house and the Supreme Court — across Lutyens' grand New Delhi.
- Parliament The Sansad — the old 1927 Council House and the new Parliament building, inaugurated in May 2023
- Rashtrapati Bhavan The President's residence on Raisina Hill — Lutyens' masterpiece, completed in 1929 as the Viceroy's House
- Supreme Court India's apex court sits in New Delhi, alongside the central ministries of North & South Block
- Lutyens' Delhi Planned by Edwin Lutyens & Herbert Baker after the capital moved here in 1911; New Delhi was inaugurated in 1931
- Kartavya Path The ceremonial axis (the former Rajpath) running to India Gate — the route of the Republic Day parade
- Chanakyapuri The diplomatic enclave that houses the world's embassies; the Central Vista revamp is reshaping the government district
Administrative
The Districts
Delhi is divided into 11 revenue districts — from New Delhi and Central at its heart to the populous outer districts of North West, South and West. Pick a district on the interactive map to highlight it above.
The map and this list share the same data. Clicking a district highlights it on the interactive map in the hero. (Census 2011 recorded 9 districts; South East and Shahdara were added in 2012.)
What Makes Delhi Unique
A Thousand Years in Stone
Three UNESCO World Heritage sites, the ruins of seven historic cities, and one of the greatest concentrations of monuments of any city on earth.
The UNESCO three
- Qutub Minar The world's tallest brick minaret (~72.5 m), begun around 1199 — with the famous rust-resistant Iron Pillar (4th c.) nearby. UNESCO, 1993
- Humayun's Tomb The first grand Mughal garden-tomb (1560s) — the precursor that inspired the Taj Mahal. UNESCO, 1993
- Red Fort Shah Jahan's great fort (1638–1648); the Prime Minister addresses the nation from its ramparts each Independence Day. UNESCO, 2007
- Jama Masjid Shah Jahan's grand mosque (1656) — one of the largest in India, its courtyard holding tens of thousands
The layered city
- Seven cities Delhi was built and rebuilt across the centuries — Lal Kot, Siri, Tughlaqabad, Jahanpanah, Firozabad, Purana Qila & Shahjahanabad
- The capital The seat of the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughals and modern India — power has lived here for a thousand years
- Monument city Among the largest concentrations of protected monuments of any Indian city — forts, tombs, mosques & gardens
- Learning hub A national centre of education & research — DU, JNU, IIT, AIIMS & the country's great institutions
Culture & Food
Chaat, Qawwali & the Tehzeeb
The food capital of the north, the home of the qawwali and the mushaira, and a composite "Ganga–Jamuni" culture deepened by waves of migration.
- Old Delhi food Chandni Chowk's street food — chaat, chole bhature, jalebi, kebabs and the famous Paranthe Wali Gali
- Butter chicken Butter chicken & dal makhani were invented at Moti Mahal in Daryaganj after Partition — now eaten the world over
- Nizamuddin The dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya and the poet Amir Khusrau — the heart of Delhi's Sufi qawwali tradition
- Republic Day The grand Republic Day parade down Kartavya Path each 26 January; the Ramlila at Ramlila Maidan; Phool Walon Ki Sair
- Arts hub The National Museum, the theatres of Mandi House, and a deep Urdu–Hindi tradition of poetry and the mushaira
- Bazaars Chandni Chowk, Connaught Place, Dilli Haat, Khan Market and Sarojini Nagar — the city's great markets
Places to Visit
Forts, Tombs & Temples
From the Mughal forts and the Lutyens vistas to a marble lotus and a record-breaking modern temple — Delhi is a thousand years of monuments in one city.
- Red Fort Shah Jahan's red-sandstone fort and the lanes of Old Delhi around it
- Qutub Minar The soaring victory tower and the Mehrauli archaeological park
- Humayun's Tomb The garden-tomb that set the template for Mughal architecture
- India Gate Lutyens' war memorial arch (1931) at the end of Kartavya Path
- Lotus Temple The Bahá'í House of Worship (1986), a marble lotus open to all faiths
- Akshardham The vast Swaminarayan temple complex (2005) — a Guinness-listed "largest Hindu temple"
- Lodi & Hauz Khas The tombs of Lodi Gardens and the medieval ruins of Hauz Khas village
- Raj Ghat The riverside memorial to Mahatma Gandhi, with Purana Qila nearby
Modern Delhi
Metros, Universities & Smog
A world-class metro and top institutions sit alongside Delhi's hardest modern problem — the winter air that makes it one of the world's most polluted capitals.
- Delhi Metro India's largest metro and among the world's biggest — ~390+ km, opened in 2002, carrying millions a day; Phase IV is under construction
- AIIMS & IITs AIIMS Delhi (India's top medical institute), IIT Delhi, Delhi University, JNU & Jamia — a national education hub
- Namo Bharat India's first RRTS — the Delhi–Meerut rapid-rail corridor — opened fully in February 2026
- A greener capital For a megacity, Delhi keeps unusually high tree & forest cover — the Ridge and the leafy Lutyens zone
- The smog Among the world's most air-polluted capitals each winter — stubble smoke, traffic & dust trigger the emergency GRAP curbs
- The Yamuna A badly polluted river and recurring summer water shortages are the capital's other standing challenges
Road, Rail & Air
India's Transport Hub
The country's busiest airport, its biggest metro, a web of national rail lines and a ring of new expressways all converge on the capital.
- IGI Airport Indira Gandhi International — India's busiest airport (~7.9 crore passengers a year) and among the world's busiest
- Metro The Delhi Metro's ~390+ km network — India's largest urban-rail system, with the Airport Express line
- Rail hub New Delhi, Old Delhi, Hazrat Nizamuddin & Anand Vihar — the headquarters of Northern Railway
- Namo Bharat The Delhi–Meerut RRTS — India's first regional rapid-rail — fully open since February 2026
- Expressways The Delhi–Meerut & Dwarka expressways are open; peripheral expressways ring the city to divert through-traffic
- Ring roads The inner Ring Road and Outer Ring Road carry the city's heavy traffic — Delhi has among India's highest vehicle counts
People & Heritage
Voices of Delhi
Poets and emperors, saints and architects — a few of the figures whose lives are bound to the city of Delhi.
- Mirza Ghalib The towering 19th-century Urdu & Persian poet of Delhi, whose haveli in Old Delhi still stands
- Amir Khusrau The 13th–14th-century poet and musician, disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya — a father of the qawwali
- Bahadur Shah Zafar The last Mughal emperor, poet and reluctant figurehead of the Revolt of 1857
- Edwin Lutyens The architect who, with Herbert Baker, planned imperial New Delhi and its great buildings
- Shah Jahan The Mughal emperor who built Shahjahanabad — the Red Fort and the Jama Masjid that anchor Old Delhi
- The refugees The Partition migrants of 1947, whose enterprise and cuisine remade modern Delhi
Through the Ages
A Short History of Delhi
From the legendary Indraprastha and the seven cities to the imperial capital and a territory of its own — a few milestones that shaped Delhi.
| When | Milestone |
|---|---|
| Legendary | Indraprastha — the Pandavas' capital of the Mahabharata, by tradition near Purana Qila |
| c. 1052–1180 | Lal Kot / Qila Rai Pithora — the Tomar and Chauhan Rajput city, the first of Delhi's cities |
| 1206 | The Delhi Sultanate is founded; the Qutub Minar is begun |
| 1321 | Tughlaqabad is founded by Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq |
| 1638–1648 | Shah Jahan builds Shahjahanabad — the Red Fort & Jama Masjid (Old Delhi) |
| 1739 | Nadir Shah sacks Delhi and carries off the Peacock Throne |
| 1857–1858 | The Revolt of 1857 centres on Delhi; the Mughal Empire is ended |
| 1911 | British India's capital is moved from Calcutta to Delhi |
| 1931 | New Delhi, planned by Lutyens, is inaugurated |
| 1947 | Independence & Partition — a vast refugee influx reshapes the city |
| 1956 | Delhi becomes a Union Territory |
| 1991 | National Capital Territory of Delhi — a UT with its own Legislative Assembly (first polls 1993) |