The Basics
Uttarakhand at a Glance
A young Himalayan state carved from Uttar Pradesh in 2000 — wholly mountainous, deeply forested and intensely sacred, the place where India's two holiest rivers begin.
- Dehradun Capital and largest city; Gairsain was declared the summer capital in 2020
- 9 Nov 2000 Carved from Uttar Pradesh as India's 27th state — first named Uttaranchal, renamed Uttarakhand in 2007
- 53,483 km² Area — around the 19th-largest state; ~86% mountainous
- 13 districts Across the two regions of Garhwal and Kumaon
- Hindi Official language; Uttarakhand was the first state to make Sanskrit a second official language (2010); Garhwali & Kumaoni are widely spoken
- Dev Bhoomi "Land of the Gods" — its epithet, anchored by the Char Dham shrines
- 70 seats Legislative Assembly (unicameral); 5 Lok Sabha & 3 Rajya Sabha seats
- Borders Tibet/China & Nepal across the international frontiers; Himachal Pradesh & Uttar Pradesh within India
- Ganga & Yamuna Both rivers rise here — the Bhagirathi at Gangotri, the Yamuna at Yamunotri; they meet the Alaknanda at Devprayag
- Nanda Devi At ~7,816 m, the highest peak lying entirely within India
- State symbols Animal: musk deer · Bird: Himalayan monal · Tree: burans (rhododendron) · Flower: brahma kamal
People
Population & Society
A people split between the plains of the Terai and the emptying hills — a high-literacy society now marked by heavy out-migration that has left hundreds of "ghost villages". Census 2011 is the last full count.
- 1.01 cr Population, 2011 (10,086,292) — India's 20th most populous; about 1.15 crore today (projected)
- 18.8% Decadal growth, 2001–2011 — close to the national average
- 189 /km² Population density, 2011 — low, reflecting the mountains
- 963 Sex ratio — females per 1,000 males, 2011 — above the national average
- 78.8% Literacy rate, 2011 — well above the national average
- 30.2% Urbanisation, 2011 — concentrated in Dehradun, Haridwar & the Terai plains
- 19% SC Scheduled Castes ~18.8%; Scheduled Tribes ~2.9% — the Tharu, Jaunsari, Bhotia, Buksa & Raji communities
- Ghost villages Heavy out-migration (palayan) from the hills has emptied hundreds of villages; the state set up a Migration Commission in 2017
- Faith Hindu ~83%, Muslim ~14% (in the plains), Sikh ~2.3% (2011)
Economy
Factories, Pilgrims & Power
An above-average-income economy built on the post-2000 industrial boom of the Terai plains, a huge pilgrimage-and-tourism trade, and Himalayan hydropower led by the Tehri dam.
- ₹4.29 L cr GSDP 2025-26 (budget estimate, current prices)
- ~13% Nominal GSDP growth, 2025-26 (budget estimate)
- Above average Per-capita income (~₹2.7 lakh, 2024-25) is well above the national average
- ~25% Outstanding debt as % of GSDP — moderate, within the state's fiscal targets
What the economy is made of — share of GSVA (2023-24)
- ~47% Industry — a notably high share, led by the Terai's manufacturing belt
- ~43% Services — tourism, pilgrimage, trade & government
- ~10% Agriculture & allied — a small share of output, but a large share of workers
The engines of the economy
- SIDCUL belt The 2003 industrial package built big estates at Haridwar, Pantnagar–Rudrapur, Sitarganj & Selaqui — autos, FMCG, electronics & pharma
- Pharma & Patanjali A major pharmaceutical-manufacturing state (the Haridwar–Selaqui belt); home of Patanjali at Haridwar
- Pilgrim economy The Char Dham yatra, Haridwar & Rishikesh and the hill stations make tourism a leading pillar
- Tehri Dam India's tallest dam (~261 m) on the Bhagirathi — the centre of the state's large Himalayan hydropower
- Two economies in one: the industrial Terai plains and the Doon valley are prosperous and fast-growing, while the high hills depend on farming, pilgrimage and remittances — the root of the migration challenge.
- Figures here are the latest Uttarakhand Budget estimates (2025-26). The India GDP page compares all states at FY2024-25, so its Uttarakhand figure is for that earlier year.
Agriculture & Horticulture
The Terai Bowl & Hill Crops
A grain bowl in the Terai plains and a basket of temperate fruits, millets and herbs in the hills — farmed on small terraced holdings, and the cradle of the Green Revolution.
- The Terai bowl Udham Singh Nagar's fertile plains grow rice (incl. basmati), wheat & sugarcane — the state's food bowl
- Pantnagar G.B. Pant University (1960) — India's first agricultural university, a cradle of the Green Revolution
- Temperate fruit Among India's leading producers of pear, peach, plum & apricot; apples in the hills (Harsil, the Kumaon orchards)
- Hill millets Mandua (ragi) and jhangora — traditional hill grains, both GI-tagged in 2023 amid the millet revival
- Herbal State A leader in aromatic & medicinal plants (jadi-buti) — the Centre for Aromatic Plants at Selaqui
- GI products Tejpat, Munsyari rajma, Berinag tea, Almora's Lakhori mirch and Aipan art — among 18 GIs granted in a single day in 2023
- Small holdings Average farm ~0.95 ha — terraced, fragmented hill plots; agriculture employs many but yields a modest share of output
Administrative
The Districts
Uttarakhand has 13 districts — seven in Garhwal in the west and six in Kumaon in the east, from the plains of Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar to the high border districts of Uttarkashi, Chamoli and Pithoragarh. 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. (Four further districts were announced in 2022 but are not yet officially notified.)
What Makes Uttarakhand Unique
The Char Dham & the Sacred Rivers
The four Himalayan shrines, the birthplaces of the Ganga and the Yamuna, the yoga ghats of Rishikesh, and India's first national park — the things found nowhere else.
Faith & the rivers
- Char Dham The four shrines — Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath (a Jyotirlinga of Shiva) and Badrinath (Vishnu) — drawing millions on the annual yatra
- River source The Ganga rises at the Gangotri glacier (Gaumukh) and the Yamuna at Yamunotri — India's two holiest rivers begin here
- Haridwar & Rishikesh Haridwar, a Kumbh Mela city and the Ganga Aarti at Har Ki Pauri; Rishikesh, the "Yoga Capital of the World"
- UNESCO site Nanda Devi & Valley of Flowers National Parks — a natural World Heritage site (1988, extended 2005)
Wild & adventurous
- Jim Corbett India's first national park (1936) — and the place where Project Tiger was launched in 1973
- Adventure White-water rafting at Rishikesh, skiing at Auli and high-Himalayan trekking — an adventure-tourism hub
- Nanda Devi At ~7,816 m, the highest peak entirely within India — sacred, and a biosphere reserve
- Valley of Flowers A famous alpine meadow that blooms in monsoon — part of the World Heritage site
Culture & Traditions
Aipan, the Raj Jat & the Hills
A twin Garhwali–Kumaoni culture of ritual folk art and sword dances, of a great once-in-a-generation Himalayan pilgrimage, and a distinctive mountain cuisine.
- Nanda Devi Raj Jat A grand ~280 km Himalayan pilgrimage held roughly once every 12 years — the "Himalayan Mahakumbh", honouring the goddess Nanda
- Fairs & festivals The Kumbh Mela at Haridwar, Harela (the green festival), Phool Dei, and the Bagwal stone-throwing fair at Devidhura
- Aipan The Kumaoni ritual folk art — white rice-paste geometric patterns drawn at thresholds for festivals
- Folk dance The Choliya sword dance of Kumaon, with Jhora and Chhapeli — and the Garhwali & Kumaoni folk music
- Crafts Aipan and Ringaal (bamboo) work, the Tamta copperware of Almora, and Thulma woollen blankets
- Cuisine Kafuli (a green-leaf curry), bhatt ki churkani, aloo ke gutke, mandua roti — and Almora's bal mithai & singori sweets
Places to Visit
Hill Stations & Pilgrim Trails
From the colonial hill stations of Mussoorie and Nainital to the ski slopes of Auli, the high Sikh shrine of Hemkund Sahib and the legendary trek to "Skeleton Lake".
- Mussoorie The "Queen of the Hills", above Dehradun — the most famous of Uttarakhand's colonial hill stations
- Nainital The Kumaon lake town built around the eye-shaped Naini Lake
- Auli India's premier ski slopes, near Joshimath, reached by a long cable car
- Kausani The "Switzerland of India" — Gandhi's window onto the Himalayas, in Kumaon
- Hemkund Sahib A high Sikh shrine at ~4,600 m by a glacial lake — among the world's highest gurdwaras
- Rishikesh The Ganga ghats, yoga ashrams and India's leading white-water rafting
- Roopkund The high glacial "Skeleton Lake", strewn with ancient human bones — a famous trek
- Corbett & Rajaji The tiger reserves of the Terai foothills — Jim Corbett and Rajaji national parks
Modern Uttarakhand
Tunnels, Tigers & a Fragile Range
A modern state of all-weather pilgrim highways, a mountain railway boring through the Himalayas, and top institutions — built against the hard reality of a young, fragile mountain range.
- Char Dham road The ~889 km all-weather Char Dham highway linking the four shrines — a major, still-ongoing project
- Tehri Dam India's tallest dam (~261 m) on the Bhagirathi — 1,000 MW of hydro plus a 1,000 MW pumped-storage plant
- IIT Roorkee Founded 1847 — India's oldest engineering institution; with FRI Dehradun and the Indian Military Academy
- AIIMS & more AIIMS Rishikesh, IIM Kashipur and G.B. Pant University anchor health, management & farm research
- Patanjali The Patanjali FMCG & ayurveda empire is headquartered at Haridwar
- Fragile hills The 2013 Kedarnath floods, the 2021 Chamoli flood and the 2023 Joshimath subsidence — the cost of building in a young Himalaya
Road, Rail & Air
Mountain Railways & Ropeways
A strategic new railway tunnelling toward the Char Dham, a main airport in the Doon valley, and ambitious ropeways climbing to the high shrines.
- Rishikesh–Karnaprayag A 125 km mountain railway under construction (target ~2026) — mostly in tunnels, including India's longest rail tunnel
- Jolly Grant Dehradun's Jolly Grant Airport is the main gateway; Pantnagar & Pithoragarh serve the plains and the far hills
- Char Dham highway The all-weather road network easing the pilgrim journey to Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri & Yamunotri
- Ropeways The Auli and Nainital cable cars run today; major ropeways to Kedarnath and Hemkund Sahib were approved in 2025
- Heli services Seasonal helicopter shuttles to Kedarnath and Char Dham heli-darshan
- Mountain roads A vast network of hill highways and the state bus fleet bind the scattered valley towns
People & Heritage
Kings, Movements & the Hills
Ancient hill dynasties, the women who launched a world-famous forest movement, and the long struggle that won a state — the people and moments bound to this land.
- Katyuri & Chand The medieval Katyuri kings, and the Chand dynasty of Kumaon (Champawat, later Almora)
- Garhwal kingdom The Panwar (Parmar) kings of Garhwal, who ruled from Srinagar on the Alaknanda
- Chipko The 1973 tree-hugging forest movement of Chamoli — Gaura Devi, Chandi Prasad Bhatt & Sunderlal Bahuguna
- Gaura Devi The Reni-village woman who, in 1974, led the villagers who saved their forest — the face of Chipko
- Statehood martyrs The activists of the Rampur Tiraha firing (1994) — remembered in the long fight for a separate hill state
- Cultural voices The Garhwali folk legend Narendra Singh Negi, and a rich tradition of hill poets & singers
Through the Ages
A Short History of Uttarakhand
From the Puranic hill kingdoms and the Gorkha wars to the Chipko movement and a state of its own — a few milestones that shaped Uttarakhand.
| When | Milestone |
|---|---|
| Puranic era | The region named Kedarkhand (Garhwal) and Manaskhand (Kumaon) in the old texts |
| c. 7th–11th c. | The Katyuri dynasty rules from the Katyur valley in Kumaon |
| Medieval | The Chand kingdom of Kumaon and the Panwar (Garhwal) kingdom at Srinagar |
| 1790–1803 | The Gorkhas of Nepal conquer Kumaon (1790) and Garhwal (1803) |
| 1814–1816 | The Anglo-Gorkha War and the Treaty of Sugauli — the British annex Kumaon and eastern Garhwal |
| 1862 | Nainital becomes the summer seat of the United Provinces |
| 1 Aug 1949 | The Tehri Garhwal princely state merges into India |
| 1973 | The Chipko movement begins in Chamoli (Reni, 1974) |
| 2 Oct 1994 | The Rampur Tiraha firing galvanises the statehood movement |
| 9 Nov 2000 | Statehood — India's 27th state, carved from UP as Uttaranchal (first CM Nityanand Swami) |
| 1 Jan 2007 | The state is renamed Uttarakhand |
| Jun 2013 | The Kedarnath floods devastate the shrine valley — a defining modern disaster |