At the 2011 Census, Pune Division had a population of 23,449,049.[2] 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%.
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, 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.[2]
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.
Notable events include the creation of Sangli district after merging former royal kingdoms of Miraj, Aundh, Sangli, Tasgaon, and Kurundwad.
The Pune district is under the proposal to be divided and a separate Baramati district be carved out of existing Pune district with the inclusion of the eastern parts of Pune district which include Shirur, Purandar, Daund, Baramati and Indapur talukas as well as Phaltan taluka from neighboring Satara district in the proposed Baramati district.
The Satara district is under the proposal to be divided and a separate Karad district be carved out of existing Satara district with the inclusion of Karad and Patan as well as talukas of Walwa, Kadegaon and Shirala from neighboring Sangli district in the proposed Karad district.
