Assam, a northeastern state of India, is divided into 35 administrative geographical units called districts. Assam has 35 districts.
List of districts by divisions
Lower Assam division (HQ – Guwahati) North Assam division (HQ –Tezpur) Upper Assam division (HQ –Jorhat) Central Assam division (HQ –Nagaon) Barak Valley division (HQ – Silchar) Baksa Bajali Barpeta Bongaigaon Chirang Dhubri Goalpara Kamrup Kamrup Metropolitan Kokrajhar Nalbari South Salmara-Mankachar Tamulpur Biswanath Darrang Sonitpur Udalguri Charaideo Dhemaji Dibrugarh Golaghat Jorhat Lakhimpur Majuli Sivasagar Tinsukia Dima Hasao Hojai Morigaon Nagaon Karbi Anglong West Karbi Anglong Cachar Hailakandi Sribhumi
Administrations A district of an Indian state is an administrative geographical unit, headed by the District Commissioner (DC), which combines the offices of the District Magistrate ultimately responsible for maintaining law and order and District Collector responsible for collection of the revenue. Generally, an officer belonging to the Indian Administrative Service becomes the DC but occasionally officers belonging to the Assam Civil Service do get appointed. The DC is assisted by a number of officials belonging to different wings of the administrative services of the state.
The districts of Assam are grouped together in [Divisions of Assam, five regional divisions], headed by a Commissioner. A superintendent of Police, an officer belonging to Indian Police Service is entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining law and order and related issues. The police administration in Guwahati City is headed by the Commissioner of Police, which started functioning from 1 January 2015.
History
Before India's independence in 1947, Assam had 13 districts. The districts were Cachar (14 August 1832), Darrang (1833), Goalpara, Kamrup, Lakhimpur, Nagaon, Sivasagar, Jayantia parganas, Garo hills, Lushai hills, Naga hills, Sylhet and NEFA. The British India protectorate 4 princely states under Assam state were Tripura, Khasi states, Koch Bihar and Manipur (included during Independence). Sylhet district had been given to East Pakistan at the time of the Partition. After many inclusion and exclusion during the independence and later till 1972, Assam formed the present shape with its prime 7 districts. The other 6 districts curved out of Assam; Jayantia, Garo and Khasi were combined and became Meghalya State; Lushiai hills became Mizoram; Naga hills became Nagaland; NEFA became Arunachal Pradesh; the both princely states Tripura and Manipur included in Assam and later separated as state and Koch Bihar became part of West Bengal.
On 17 November 1951, United Mikir and North Cachar Hills district curved out of Golaghat, Nagaon, Cachar, Jayantia and Naga hills districts.
On 2 February 1970, Mikir Hills district curved out of North Cachar Hills.
On 2 October 1976, Dibrugarh district curved out of Lakhimpur and the Name of Mikir Hills district changed to Karbi Anglong district.
On 1 July 1983, Barpeta district curved out of Kamrup; On 14 July Sonitpur district curved out of Darrang; Jorhat district curved out of Sibsagar, Dhubri district and Kokrajhar district curved out of Goalpara; Karimganj district curved out of Cachar.
On 14 August 1985, Nalbari district curved out of Kamrup.
On 15 August 1987, Golaghat district curved out of Sibsagar.
On 29 September 1989, Hailakandi district curved out of Cachar and Bongaigaon district curved out of Goalpara and Kokrajhar. On 1 October Tinsukia district curved out of Dibrugarh. On 14 October Dhemaji district curved out of Lakhimpur and on 26 November Marigaon district curved out of Nagaon.
On 3 February 2003, Kamrup Metropolitan district curved out of Kamrup.
On 1 June 2004, Baksa district curved out of Barpeta, Nalbari, and Kamrup; on 4 June, Chirang district curved out of Bongaigaon and Kokrajhar. On 14 June, Udalguri district curved out of Darrang and Sonitpur; along with Kokrajhar district formed BTAD.
On 1 April 2010, the name of North Cachar Hills district changed to Dima Hasao.
On 15 August 2015, Tarun Gogoi, the Chief Minister of Assam, announced the formation of five new districts in the state, taking the total number from 27 to 32. The five new districts are the following: Biswanath (carved out of Sonitpur); Charaideo (carved out of Sivasagar); Hojai (carved out of Nagaon); South Salmara-Mankachar (carved out of Dhubri); West Karbi Anglong (carved out of Karbi Anglong).
On 26 January 2016, 2 more districts were announced, but on 7 October 2016, the government has withdrawn district status of East Kamrup and South Kamrup due to inadequate infrastructure. The two sub-divisions of East Kamrup district - viz. Chandrapur and Sonapur, is now part of Kamrup Metropolitan district. The sub-divisions of South Kamrup district is now part of Kamrup Rural district.
On 27 June 2016, one more district was announced by Sarbananda Sonowal, taking the total number from 32 to 33 which is Majuli (carved out of the Northern parts of Jorhat). It is the first river island district of India.
On 8 August 2020, the Assam cabinet approved a proposal to make Bajali (curved out of Barpeta) the 34th district of Assam. The Assam Cabinet headed by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma approved the proposal to make Tamulpur curved out of Baksa district a full-fledged district. On 23 January 2022, Tamulpur was formally declared as a 35th district of Assam.
On 31 December 2022, the Assam Cabinet decided to merge four newly carved districts with existing four districts. These districts were, Tamulpur with Baksa Bajali with Barpeta Hojai with Nagaon Biswanath with Sonitpur
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Bisha Sarma said it is a temporary measure before ECI delimitation process in the state and government may reconsider it.
On 25 August 2023, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced the decision to recreate the four newly merged districts of Biswanath, Hojai, Bajali, and Tamulpur from their original districts. Therefore, the total number of districts in Assam has once again become 35.
Districts
The areas and populations of the 35 districts are given below:The Office of Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India.
Districts HeadquartersFormed Population (2011) Area (km²) Population Density (/km²) Map Baksa# Mushalpur 2004950,075 2,457 387 Bajali Pathsala 2021253,816 418 610 Barpeta Barpeta 1983 1,693,622 3182 532 Biswanath Biswanath Chariali2015 612,491 1415 430 Bongaigaon Bongaigaon1989 738,804 1,093 676 Cachar Silchar1947 1,736,319 3,786 459 Charaideo Sonari 2015471,418 1,069 441 Chirang# Kajalgaon 2004482,162 1,170 412 Darrang Mangaldai Before 1947 928,500 1,585 586 Dhemaji Dhemaji 1989 686,133 3,237 212 Dhubri Dhubri Before 1947 1,394,144 1,608 867 Dibrugarh Dibrugarh1971 1,326,335 3,381 392 Dima Hasao## Haflong 1970 214,102 4,890 44 Goalpara Goalpara1994 1,008,183 1,824 553 Golaghat Golaghat 1987 1,066,888 3,502 305 Hailakandi Hailakandi 1989 659,296 1,327 497 Hojai Sankardev Nagar Before 1947 931,218 1,686 550 Jorhat Jorhat 1983 924,952 2,851 324 Kamrup Metropolitan Guwahati 20031,253,938 1,528 821 Kamrup Amingaon Before 19471,517,542 3,105 489 Karbi Anglong### Diphu 1970 660,955 7,366 90 Sribhumi Karimganj 19831,228,686 1,809 679 Kokrajhar# Kokrajhar1983 887,142 3,169 280 Lakhimpur North LakhimpurBefore 19471,042,137 2,277 458 MajuliGaramur 2016 167,304 880 190 Morigaon Morigaon1989 957,423 1,704 562 Nagaon NagaonBefore 1947 2,823,768 3,973 711 Nalbari Nalbari 1985771,639 1,052 733 Sivasagar SivasagarBefore 1947 679,632 2,668 255 Sonitpur Tezpur 1984 1,924,110 3,176 606 South Salmara-Mankachar Hatsingimari 2016 555,114 568 977 Tamulpur Tamulpur 2022 389,150 884 440 Tinsukia Tinsukia 19891,327,929 3,790 350 Udalguri# Udalguri 2004831,688 1,852 449 West Karbi Anglong### Hamren 2016295,358 3,035 97
# Districts within the BTAD
## Districts under NC Hill autonomy
### Districts under KA autonomy
Demand for new districts
Implementation of the "Co-District" model Rather than notifying new standalone districts, the Government of Assam has opted for a decentralization strategy through the creation of "co-districts" (Assamese: Xama-Zilla). This model aims to provide district-level services within existing legislative assembly constituencies (LACs) without the full overhead of a new district.
Key milestones achieved in this model include Phase I: In late 2024, 39 co-districts were established. Phase II: In August 2025, 10 additional co-districts were notified including Digboi, Makum, Mariani, Teok, and Boko-Chhaygaon, bringing the total number of existing co-districts to 49.
Future Plans The state has announced a long-term goal of expanding the existing list of 49 co-districts to 78 across Assam to ensure "minimum government, maximum governance".
See also
List of districts in India List of big cities in North East India List of co-districts of Assam List of subdivisions of Assam
References
External links Districts of Assam