Pune Division (better known as Paschim Maharashtra or Desh) is one of the six administrative divisions of the Indian State of Maharashtra. Pune Division is bound by Konkan Division to the west, Nashik Division to the north, Aurangabad Division to the east, and the state of Karnataka to the south. It includes some of the most developed and most populous areas of Maharashtra.

Demographics

At the 2011 Census, Pune Division had a population of 23,449,049. The region has a high literacy rate; higher than the national average. According to the 2011 Census, Pune district has a literacy rate of 86.15%, Satara 82.86%, Sangli 81.47%, Kolhapur 81.50% and Solapur 77.01%.

Languages

The most spoken language is Marathi, which is also the sole official language of the region. There are significant minorities of Hindi speakers as well as speakers of other regional languages such as Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, Marwari and Bengali in the Urban areas. Kannada is also spoken by a large number of people in the regions bordering Karnataka. Urdu is spoken by the local Muslim population as well as migrants. At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 81.90% of the population of Pune Division spoke Marathi, 6.88% Hindi, 3.30% Kannada, 2.33% Urdu, 0.97% Telugu, 0.71% Marwari and 0.65% Gujarati as their first language.

Religion

At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 86.99% of the population of Pune Division followed Hinduism, 7.62% Islam, 2.49% Buddhism, 0.74% Christianity and the remaining 2.16% of the population followed other religions or stated no religion.

History of administrative districts in Pune Division

There have been changes in the names of districts and has seen also the addition of newer districts after India gained Independence in 1947 and also after the state of Maharashtra was formed.