District of Bihar

Darbhanga District Population 2026

Q: What is the population of Darbhanga district in 2026?

Our estimate for 1 March 2026 is ≈48,09,000 (48.09 lakh). It is not an official figure: it applies Darbhanga's 2001–2011 trend, damped, to the official Bihar projection (method M1). Census 2011 counted 39,27,113.

Q: What was the population of Darbhanga district in Census 2011?

39,27,113: 20,54,607 males and 18,72,506 females, of whom 3,83,328 lived in towns and 35,43,785 in villages. These figures are on the district’s current boundaries, rebuilt from Census 2011 village and town records.

Population · 1 March 2026

≈ 48.09 lakh Estimate Our estimate, method M1, constrained to the official state projection 1 March 2026 How this is made →

48,09,000 4.81 million 1 March 2026

Darbhanga district's population is estimated at ≈48.09 lakh (48,09,000) on 1 March 2026. This is our estimate, tied to the official Bihar projection; Census 2011, the last count, recorded 39,27,113 on the district’s present boundaries.

Estimate: method M1, constrained to the RGI projection for Bihar. Census: ORGI.

Which number do you mean?

District totals include villages. Here is how the 2011 population splits between towns and villages.

District

Darbhanga district

Census 2011: 39,27,113
2026 Estimate Our estimate, method M1, constrained to the official state projection How this is made →: ≈ 48.09 lakh

Urban population

Towns (urban)

Census 2011: 3,83,328

Rural

Villages (rural)

Census 2011: 35,43,785

Key figures

Population 2026: ≈ 48.09 lakh 48,09,000 Estimate Our estimate, method M1, constrained to the official state projection How this is made →
Census 2011: 39.27 lakh 39,27,113 Reconstructed Census figures re-added on today’s boundaries How this is made →
Density: ≈ 1,725per km² 2011
Sex ratio: 911 Bihar: 918
Child sex ratio (0–6): 931 Bihar: 935
Literacy rate: 56.5% Male 66.8% · Female 45.2%
Urban share: 9.8% Bihar: 11.3%
Growth 2001–11: +19.5% Bihar: +25.4%
Area: ≈ 2,277km² approx., from 2011 sub-district areas
Households: 8.01 lakh 4.9 people per household
Villages: 1,248 Census 2011
Towns: 4 Census 2011

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Population over time

Census figures re-added on today’s boundaries (parts of earlier districts apportioned by their 2011 population), then our estimate to 2036.

Reconstructed
Estimate

53 L 2026

› Show the numbers as a table

Year	Population
1991	25,04,299
2001	32,86,713
2011	39,27,113
2016 *	42,55,000
2021 *	45,31,000
2026 *	48,09,000
2031 *	50,65,000
2036 *	52,70,000

* Estimate

How Darbhanga's 2011 population was spread

Sub-districts (tehsils, talukas, mandals or blocks) as they were in Census 2011. “Part” means only some of it now lies in this district.

How Darbhanga's 2011 population was spread
#
1	Darbhanga	5,77,036	14.7%	898	68.3%	52.6%
2	Baheri	3,02,645	7.7%	899	56.7%	0.0%
3	Biraul	2,86,113	7.3%	916	53.3%	0.0%
4	Keotiranway	2,70,722	6.9%	905	54.5%	0.0%
5	Singhwara	2,67,601	6.8%	935	55.1%	0.0%
6	Jale	2,64,248	6.7%	937	53.2%	0.0%
7	Bahadurpur	2,61,805	6.7%	891	57.9%	1.7%
8	Benipur	2,50,357	6.4%	916	58.0%	30.1%
9	Manigachhi(part)	2,06,215	5.3%	927	58.0%	0.0%
10	Kusheshwar Asthan	1,62,870	4.1%	917	50.5%	0.0%
11	Hanumannagar	1,54,631	3.9%	883	55.7%	0.0%
12	Gora Bauram	1,52,112	3.9%	930	47.9%	0.0%
13	Hayaghat	1,48,081	3.8%	893	59.8%	0.0%
14	Alinagar	1,43,797	3.7%	928	49.4%	0.0%
15	Ghanshyampur	1,33,210	3.4%	920	53.8%	0.0%
16	Kusheshwar Asthan Purbi	1,28,817	3.3%	898	44.1%	0.0%
17	Tardih	1,23,299	3.1%	927	57.2%	0.0%
18	Kiratpur	81,423	2.1%	918	49.3%	0.0%
19	Kharik(part)	12,131	0.3%	893	51.4%	0.0%
20	Katihar(part)	0	0.0%	–	–	–

Largest towns in Darbhanga (Census 2011)

Darbhanga 2,96,039
Benipur 75,317
Padri CT 7,566
Bahadurpur CT 4,406

How people in Darbhanga worked (Census 2011)

Cultivators

19.3%

Agricultural labourers

52.5%

Household industry

3.7%

Other work

24.5%

Share of all workers, main and marginal. Work participation: 31.1%.

Age structure of Darbhanga

Population in five-year age groups, Census 2011. Men on the left, women on the right. Census 2011, approx. Census 2011 on today’s boundaries; approximate, because some 2011 units were split between districts and are apportioned by population. How this is made →

MenWomen

80+
75-79
70-74
65-69
60-64
55-59
50-54
45-49
40-44
35-39
30-34
25-29
20-24
15-19
10-14
5-9
0-4

› Show the numbers as a table

Age	Men	Women
0-4	2,51,569	2,35,533
5-9	2,92,642	2,69,351
10-14	2,80,091	2,49,015
15-19	2,05,999	1,55,977
20-24	1,64,311	1,43,254
25-29	1,41,645	1,39,331
30-34	1,29,585	1,30,342
35-39	1,23,150	1,17,903
40-44	1,03,553	92,962
45-49	86,425	79,817
50-54	69,111	59,841
55-59	52,661	55,809
60-64	57,551	57,531
65-69	44,025	39,323
70-74	27,089	22,825
75-79	10,560	9,444
80+	10,844	11,276

Children (0–14): 40.3%; Bihar 40.2%
Working age (15–59): 52.3%; Bihar 52.3%
Older people (60+): 7.4%; Bihar 7.4%
Median age: 20.3years; Bihar 20.4
Dependency ratio: 80.9; children and 65+ per 100 aged 15–64; Bihar 81.0

Languages spoken in Darbhanga

Share of people by mother tongue, grouped into languages as the Census does. 25 languages recorded. Census 2011, approx. Census 2011 on today’s boundaries; approximate, because some 2011 units were split between districts and are apportioned by population. How this is made →

Maithili 72.5%
Urdu 20.6%
Hindi 6.8%
Bengali 0.0%
Arabic/Arbi 0.0%
Sindhi 0.0%
Punjabi 0.0%
Mundari 0.0%

Largest mother tongues

Maithili73.6%
Urdu19.9%
Hindi5.9%
Bhojpuri0.0%
Bengali0.0%
Magadhi/Magahi0.0%
Marwari0.0%
Sindhi0.0%

Housing and amenities in Darbhanga

Share of households, Houselisting Census 2011. Reconstructed Census 2011, added up on today’s boundaries from village, town or sub-district records. How this is made →

Basic services

Electricity for lighting 15.8%

Bihar 16.4%
Tap water 2.4%

Bihar 4.4%
Water source within premises 42.9%

Bihar 50.1%
Toilet within premises 25.1%

Bihar 23.1%
Open defecation (no latrine) (Lower is better for this one.) 73.6%

Bihar 75.8%
Bathing area within premises 30.7%

Bihar 37.5%
Closed drainage 4.1%

Bihar 6.7%
Cooking with LPG/PNG 7.4%

Bihar 8.1%
Cooking with wood, crop waste or dung (Lower is better for this one.) 89.2%

Bihar 88.9%

What households own

Mobile phone 52.5%

Bihar 53.2%
Television 10.0%

Bihar 14.5%
Scooter or motorcycle 6.5%

Bihar 8.1%
Computer or laptop 6.6%

Bihar 7.1%
Car, jeep or van 1.3%

Bihar 1.7%
Use banking services 38.0%

Bihar 44.4%
None of the listed assets (Lower is better for this one.) 29.0%

Bihar 25.6%

The home itself

Own their home 97.5%

Bihar 96.8%
Rent their home 1.3%

Bihar 2.1%
Permanent (pucca) house 55.1%

Bihar 48.0%
House in good condition 40.0%

Bihar 36.1%
Concrete roof 22.9%

Bihar 23.8%
Cement or tiled floor 12.9%

Bihar 15.2%
One room or less (Lower is better for this one.) 70.6%

Bihar 47.7%

Bihar

What the numbers say

Darbhanga district held 3.8% of Bihar's population in 2011, 9th of 38 districts.
Literacy is 56.5%, 5.3 points below the Bihar average of 61.8%.
The gender gap in literacy is wide: 66.8% of men but only 45.2% of women could read and write in 2011.
The population grew 19.5% in 2001–11, slower than Bihar's 25.4% (on today’s boundaries).
Our 2026 estimate, ≈48.09 lakh, implies growth of about 22% since 2011; it is tied to the official Bihar projection.
Its largest town, Darbhanga, had 2.96 lakh people in 2011, 7.5% of the district.

How this district was formed

Darbhanga covers land that was part of these districts in Census 2011:

Darbhanga (2011) 99.7% of this district
99.4% of the 2011 district
Bhagalpur (2011) 0.3% of this district
0.4% of the 2011 district

Compare with

All districts of Bihar →

Census 2027 status

Results pending

Phase I: houselisting

Done (2 May 2026 – 31 May 2026)
Phase II: counting people

February 2027 (reference date 1 March 2027)
Results

Not yet released. In 2011, first figures came about a month after counting ended.

When the Registrar General publishes Census 2027 figures for Darbhanga, they will appear on this page, at this address. Census 2027 explained →

Population by religion in Darbhanga (Census 2011)

Official figures as published by the Office of the Registrar General. Shown without commentary. Reconstructed Census 2011 on today’s boundaries; approximate, because some 2011 units were split between districts and are apportioned by population. How this is made →

Population by religion in Darbhanga (Census 2011)
Religion	Persons	Share	Bihar
Hindu	≈ 30,37,000	77.3%	82.7%
Muslim	≈ 8,77,000	22.3%	16.9%
Christian	≈ 3,500	0.1%	0.1%
Sikh	≈ 800	0.0%	0.0%
Buddhist	≈ 200	0.0%	0.0%
Jain	≈ 200	0.0%	0.0%
Other religions and persuasions	≈ 100	0.0%	0.0%
Religion not stated	≈ 8,200	0.2%	0.2%
Total	39,27,113	100%

Frequently asked questions

What is the population of Darbhanga district in 2026?

Our estimate for 1 March 2026 is ≈48,09,000 (48.09 lakh). It is not an official figure: it applies Darbhanga's 2001–2011 trend, damped, to the official Bihar projection (method M1). Census 2011 counted 39,27,113.

What was the population of Darbhanga district in Census 2011?

39,27,113: 20,54,607 males and 18,72,506 females, of whom 3,83,328 lived in towns and 35,43,785 in villages. These figures are on the district’s current boundaries, rebuilt from Census 2011 village and town records.

What is the literacy rate and sex ratio of Darbhanga?

Literacy was 56.5% in 2011 (men 66.8%, women 45.2%). The sex ratio was 911 females per 1,000 males, and 931 among children aged 0–6.

Which is the largest town in Darbhanga district?

Darbhanga, with 2,96,039 people in Census 2011.

How many villages and towns are in Darbhanga district?

On today's boundaries the district contains 1,248 Census 2011 villages and 4 towns.

⤓ Download Bihar district data (CSV)

Sources and method

Data updated: 4 October 2026 · Report a correction