List of districts of Arunachal Pradesh

When control of the North-East Frontier Agency was transferred to the Ministry of Home Affairs in September 1965 its five divisions, Kameng, Subansiri, Siang, Lohit and Tirap each became districts.

Over the next few years many new districts were created out of the original five:

• On 13 May 1980 Subansiri district was bifurcated into two districts: Lower Subansiri district and Upper Subansiri district. Upper Subansiri district comprised the area occupied by the erstwhile Daporijo sub-division and Lower Subansiri district comprised the rest of the area occupied by the erstwhile Subansiri district.[1]
• On 1 June 1980, the erstwhile Lohit district was divided into two districts: Lohit district and Dibang Valley district.[2] On the same day, Siang district was bifurcated into two districts: East Siang district and West Siang district.[3] Also on that date Seppa and Bomdila sub-divisions of the Kameng district were transformed into East Kameng district and West Kameng district, respectively.[4][5]
• On 6 October 1984, Tawang district was separated from East Kameng district.[6]
• In 1987, the ersthwile Tirap district was divided into two districts: Tirap district and Changlang district.[7]
• On 22 September 1992, the erstwhile Lower Subansiri district was again bufurcated into Lower Subansiri district and Papum Pare district.[8]
• On 23 November 1994, Upper Siang district was split from East Siang district.[9]
• On 1 April 2001, Kurung Kumey district was carved out from the erstwhile Lower Subansiri district.[10]
• On 16 December 2001, Dibang Valley district was bifurcated into Dibang Valley district and Lower Dibang Valley district.[2]
• On 16 February 2004, Anjaw district was carved out from the erstwhile Lohit district.[11]
• On 19 March 2012, Longding district was carved out from the erstwhile Tirap district.[12]
• On 25 November 2014, Namsai district was carved out from the erstwhile Lohit district.[13]
• On 7 February 2015, Kra Daadi district was carved out from the erstwhile Kurung Kumey district.[14]
• On 27 November 2015, a new Siang district was carved out from parts of East Siang and West Siang districts.[15]
• On 22 September 2017, Lower Siang district, was carved out of West Siang and East Siang districts.[16][17][18]
• On 4 December 2017, a new district called Kamle district was created from Lower Subansiri District and Upper Subansiri District, with its headquarters to be located in Raga.[19] It comprises the administrative circles of Raga (which will be the district HQ), Kumporijo and Dollungmukh circles from Lower Subansiri District.[20] The administrative circles taken from Upper Subansiri District will be Gepen Circle, Puchigeko Circle, Daporijo Sadar which falls under 25 Raga Constituency including Ligu and Liruk demarcation from Sigen Subansiri confluence in Single Administrative Unit.
• On 30 August 2018, 3 new districts, Pakke-Kesang, Lepa-Rada and Shi-Yomi formed. The Pakke-Kessang district will be carved out of East Kameng district with five administrative units namely Pakke-Kessang, Seijosa, Pijiriang, Passa Valley and Dissingn Passo with district headquarters at Lemmi. The Lepa Rada district would be created by bifurcating the Lower Siang district with headquarters at Basar. The district would have four administrative units Tirbin, Basar, Daring and Sago. The Shi-Yomi district would be created by bifurcating the West Siang district with its headquarters at Tato. The district would have four administrative units namely Mechuka, Tato, Pidi and Manigong.[21]

The districts of Arunachal Pradesh state are administrative geographical units, each headed by a deputy commissioner, an officer belonging to the Indian Administrative Service and a superintendent of police, an officer belonging to the Indian Police Service.

As of August 2018, Arunachal Pradesh comprises 25 districts. Although Itanagar capital complex does not have district status it is counted by some as one (making the district count 26 now).[20] Most of the districts are inhabited by various tribal groups. These are:[22]

Code	District	Headquarters	Population (2011)[23]	Area (km2)	Density (/km2)	Map	Year created	Note
TA	Tawang	Tawang Town	49,950	2,085	24		1984
WK	West Kameng	Bomdila	87,013	7,422	12		1980
EK	East Kameng	Seppa	78,413	4,134	19		1980
	Pakke-Kessang	Lemmi					2018	From southern parts of East Kameng district along Brahmaputra.
PA	Papum Pare	Yupia	176,385	2,875	61		1992
	Kurung Kumey	Koloriang	89,717	8,818	10		2001
	Kra Daadi	Jamin					2015	From Indo-China bordering northwestern parts of Subansari river valley.
LB	Lower Subansiri	Ziro	82,839	3,460	24		1980
UB	Upper Subansiri	Daporijo	83,205	7,032	12		1980
WS	West Siang	Along	112,272	8,325	12		1980
	Shi-Yomi	Tato	13,310	2,875	4.6		2018
ES	East Siang	Pasighat	99,019	4,005	25		1980
	Siang	Pangin	31,920	2,919	11		2015
US	Upper Siang	Yingkiong	33,146	6,188	5		1994
	Lower Siang	Likabali	80,597				2017
	Lepa-Rada	Basar					2018	From southern parts of West Siang district along Brahmaputra.
UD	Lower Dibang Valley	Roing	53,986	3,900	14		2001
	Dibang Valley	Anini	7,948	9,129	1		2001
AJ	Anjaw	Hawai	21,089	6,190	3		2004
EL	Lohit	Tezu	145,538	2,402	61		1980
	Namsai	Namsai	95,950	1,587	60		2014	From westernmost parts of Lohit district along easternmost Assam.
CH	Changlang	Changlang	147,951	4,662	32		1987
TI	Tirap	Khonsa	111,997	2,362	47		1965
LD	Longding	Longding	60,000[24]	1,200[24]	50[24]	[24]	2012	From southwestern parts of Tirap District along easternmost Assam.
	Kamle	Raga	22,256[19]	200	111.28		2017	From southernmost parts of Subansiri river valley along Brahmaputra.

• A proposal to trifurcate the existing Papum Pare district to create 2 additional districts out of it:
  • the proposed Capital district entailing the existing subdivisions of Banderdewa, Itanagar, and Naharlagun was proposed in 2013,[16] and
  • the proposed Sagalee district entailing the existing sub-divisions of Sagalee, Leporiang, Parang, and Mengio.
• A proposal to create a new "North Subansiri district" from the northernmost Indo-China border subdivisions of the existing 3 districts, namely Kurung Kumey district, Kra Daadi district and Upper Subansiri district. The proposed "North Subansiri district" will entail the subdivisions of Sarli and Damin from the "Kurung Kumey district"; the subdivisions of Pipsorang and Longding Koling from the "Kra Daadi district"; and the subdivisions of Taksing, Limeking, Nacho and Siyum from the "Upper Subansiri district".
• A proposal to create a new "Hayuliang district" from the easternmost Indo-China border subdivisions of the existing 2 districts, namely Anjaw district and Lohit District. The proposed "Hayuliang district" will entail the northeasternmost parts of the existing Tezu circle of the "Lohit district"; and the existing subdivisions of Hayuliang, Metengliang, Chaglagam and Goiliang of the "Anjaw district".
• A 2017 proposal to bifurcate the existing Changlang district to create an additional "Rima district" out of it with HQ at Miao. The proposed "Rima district" will entail the existing subdivisions of Diyun, Bordumsa, Kharsang, Jairampur, Nampong, Rima-Putak (Tikhak), Miao, and Vijoynagar from the "Changlang district". However, it was unanimously opposed by the Changlang People's Forum in the same month.[25][26]