The word " Punjab" is made up of two Persian words -Panj- and -Aab-. Panj means five and Aab means water. This name was probably given to this land possibly in an era when this region came into close contact with Persia. The Punjab was known as land of five rivers because of the five rivers that ran through it. They are Indus, Ravi, Beas, Sutlaj and Ghaggar. Prior to Persian period this region was known by different names at different times. Probably, at the height of its glory it was known as Sapta Sindhu, land of the seven rivers, namely Sindhu (Indus), Vitasta (Jehlum), Asuhi (chenab), Purshin (Ravi), Vipasa ( Beas), Satadru (Sutleg) and Saruri (Saraswati). The last one is a dried up stream now and its traces are found in the present seasonal streams that flow near Pehowa in Haryana.

In 1947 when India was partitioned, the larger half of Punjab went to Pakistan. In 1966 the Indian smaller half was further divided into three: Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.Punjab is an agrarian state with agriculture as the main occupation though the inhabitants are good entrepreneurs. Over 80% of Punjab is cultivated. Major crops of Punjab include Wheat, Rice, Sugarcane, Cotton. The principal industries are textile manufacturing, yarn, knitwear, sewing machine, sports goods, fertilizer, bicycle, electrical goods, machine tool, pharmaceuticals and processing of sugar and pine oil. Most of Punjab is a fertile plain; toward the southeast one finds semi-arid and desert landscape; a belt of undulating hills extends along the northeast at the foot of the Himalayas. Four rivers, the Ravi, Beas, Satluj and Ghaggar flow across the state in a southwesterly direction. They have numerous small and seasonal tributaries. The state has an extensive canal system that irrigates more than 95% of its land.

Districts : 20

1. Amritsar
2. Barnala
3. Bathinda
4. Ferozepur
5. Fatehgarh Sahib
6. Faridkot
7. Gurdaspur
8. Hoshiarpur
9. Jalandhar
10. Kapurthala
11. Ludhiana
12. Mansa
13. Moga
14. Mohali
15. Muktsar
16. Nawanshahr
17. Patiala
18. Rupnagar
19. Sangrur
20. Tarn Taran

Area
• 50362 square kilometers
• Punjab occupies 1.54 % of the country’s total geographical area.

Density
• 484 persons per sp.km.

Languages
• Punjabi and Hindi
• Many people are fluent in English and Urbu

Population: 900914 (2001 census)
Total: 24.29 million
Rural: 16.04 million (66.05%)
Urban: 8.24 million (33.95%)

Sex Ratio