Map 15 · Partition and history
Where Partition’s refugees settled in India
- Region
- India, Census 1951
- Data
- Census of India 1951, Table D-V(i), displaced persons by district and wing of Pakistan, from every state volume.
- Rule
- Circle area is refugees in a district, on the same scale as map 14; each circle is a pie of the wings of Pakistan the refugees came from.
India’s 1951 census counted 7,295,870 displaced persons, people who had left what became Pakistan because of Partition. Each circle is the number counted in a district, on the same scale as the Pakistan map, drawn as a pie of the wings of Pakistan they came from; India’s census records only West or East Pakistan, not the district left behind.
The two streams barely mixed. Of 4.66 million from West Pakistan, most settled in East Punjab, PEPSU and Delhi, which took 495,391, with long tails into Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bombay. The 2.55 million from East Pakistan went almost entirely to West Bengal, Assam and Tripura; 24-Parganas, Calcutta and Nadia took 1.39 million between them.
The count stops at March 1951. Hindus kept leaving East Pakistan for decades after, so this is a floor for the east. Jammu and Kashmir was not counted.
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Hover or tap a district to see how many displaced persons it took and from which wing of Pakistan.
Where they came from
| Came from | Refugees | Share |
|---|---|---|
| West Pakistan West Punjab, Sind, NWFP, Baluchistan, Bahawalpur | 4,660,463 | 64% |
| East Pakistan East Bengal and Sylhet | 2,552,933 | 35% |
| Not stated wing of origin not recorded | 82,365 | 1% |
Districts that took the most
| District | Refugees | West Pak. | East Pak. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24-Parganas West Bengal | 527,262 | 0% | 99% |
| Delhi Delhi | 495,391 | 99% | 1% |
| Calcutta West Bengal | 433,228 | 2% | 98% |
| Nadia West Bengal | 426,907 | 0% | 99% |
| Ferozepore Punjab | 358,341 | 100% | 0% |
| Amritsar Punjab | 332,260 | 95% | 0% |
| Gurdaspur Punjab | 297,581 | 100% | 0% |
| Jullundur Punjab | 273,625 | 96% | 0% |
| Karnal Punjab | 250,471 | 100% | 0% |
| Ambala Punjab | 188,892 | 100% | 0% |
All districts
Every district on the map. Select a row to find it on the plate.
306 districts
| Origin | ||
|---|---|---|
| 527,262 | East Pakistan 99% | |
| 495,391 | West Pakistan 99%, East Pakistan 1% | |
| 433,228 | East Pakistan 98%, West Pakistan 2% | |
| 426,907 | East Pakistan 99% | |
| 358,341 | West Pakistan 100% | |
| 332,260 | West Pakistan 95%, Not stated 5% | |
| 297,581 | West Pakistan 100% | |
| 273,625 | West Pakistan 96%, Not stated 4% | |
| 250,471 | West Pakistan 100% | |
| 188,892 | West Pakistan 100% | |
| 169,267 | West Pakistan 99% | |
| 146,935 | West Pakistan 96%, Not stated 4% | |
| 127,657 | West Pakistan 100% | |
| 123,646 | West Pakistan 100% | |
| 119,518 | West Pakistan 100% | |
| 115,510 | East Pakistan 98%, Not stated 2% | |
| 103,147 | West Pakistan 100% | |
| 101,200 | East Pakistan 100% | |
| 99,917 | East Pakistan 98%, Not stated 2% | |
| 99,464 | West Pakistan 100% | |
| 98,572 | East Pakistan 99%, Not stated 1% | |
| 96,105 | East Pakistan 98% | |
| 93,177 | East Pakistan 100% | |
| 84,696 | West Pakistan 100% | |
| 84,587 | West Pakistan 100% | |
| 83,964 | West Pakistan 99%, East Pakistan 1% | |
| 71,351 | West Pakistan 97%, East Pakistan 3% | |
| 68,113 | West Pakistan 98%, Not stated 1% | |
| 65,684 | West Pakistan 98%, Not stated 1% | |
| 61,096 | East Pakistan 99% | |
| 60,198 | East Pakistan 100% | |
| 58,729 | East Pakistan 99% | |
| 56,775 | West Pakistan 100% | |
| 51,153 | East Pakistan 100% | |
| 48,382 | West Pakistan 100% | |
| 48,080 | West Pakistan 95%, Not stated 4%, East Pakistan 1% | |
| 45,251 | West Pakistan 96%, East Pakistan 2%, Not stated 2% | |
| 44,967 | East Pakistan 100% | |
| 44,695 | West Pakistan 93%, Not stated 6%, East Pakistan 1% | |
| 42,871 | East Pakistan 98%, Not stated 1% | |
| 41,675 | West Pakistan 100% | |
| 40,699 | West Pakistan 100% | |
| 38,599 | East Pakistan 100% | |
| 36,834 | West Pakistan 100% | |
| 35,040 | West Pakistan 100% | |
| 33,579 | East Pakistan 99% | |
| 29,478 | West Pakistan 90%, Not stated 6%, East Pakistan 3% | |
| 28,642 | West Pakistan 97%, East Pakistan 3% | |
| 28,177 | West Pakistan 99%, East Pakistan 1% | |
| 26,492 | West Pakistan 100% |
Sources
- Census of India 1951, state volumes, Table D-V(i), Displaced persons by year of arrival, by district, via censusindia.gov.in and the Digital Library of India (Bihar).
- Place names: GeoNames gazetteer for Pakistan, India and Saudi Arabia. Neighbouring countries: Natural Earth.