Spread over an area of 3.42 lakh sq. kms, Rajasthan is the second largest State in the country. It is situated in the north-western part of the country and is surrounded by the States of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in the north-east, Madhya Pradesh in the south-east and Gujarat in the south-west. It also has a long international frontier with Pakistan. The west and the north-west region of the State, comprising of eleven districts and spreading in 61.11 percent of the total area, is either desert or semi-desert which forms the Great Indian Desert-'The Thar'. The topography of the State is dominated by the Aravali range of hills, one of the oldest mountain systems in the world. The Aravali hill range runs through the heart of the State. The tribal area in the State constitutes 5.85 percent of the State's landmass with a population of 8 percent of the total population of the State. Administratively, the State has been divided into 6 divisions and 32 districts, which are further sub-divided into tehsils and development blocks.
The salient features of Rajasthan are shown in the following table :
| Items | Year | Unit | Particulars |
| 1. Area | 1991 | Lakh sq.km. | 3.42 |
| 2. Divisions | 1999 | Number | 6 |
| 3. Districts | 1999 | Number | 32 |
| 4. Sub-Divisions | 1999 | Number | 105 |
| 5. Tehsils | 1999 | Number | 241 |
| 6. Municipalities | 1999 | Number | 183 |
| 7. Panchayat Samities | 1999 | Number | 237 |
| 8. Village Panchayats | 1996 | Number | 9184 |
| 9. Total Villages | 1991 | Number | 39810 |
| 10. Inhabited Villages | 1991 | Number | 37889 |
| 11. Cities/Towns | 1991 | Number | 222 |
The population of the State is 4.40 crores according to the 1991 census, which is 5.20 percent of the nation's population. The ratio of rural and urban population is 77:23. The population of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes is 17.29 and 12.44 percent respectively of the State's total population, as against the national average of 16.33 and 8.01 percent.
