Punjab is a state in northwestern India. Forming part of the larger Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, the state is bordered by the Indian states and union territories of Himachal Pradesh to the north and northeast, Haryana to the south and southeast, Rajasthan to the southwest, Jammu and Kashmir to the north. To the west, it shares an international border with the identically named Pakistani province of Punjab. Chandigarh serves as a shared captial for Punjab as well as Haryana. The state covers an area of 50,362 square kilometres, which is 1.53% of India's total geographical area, making it the 19th-largest Indian state by area out of 28 Indian states. With over 27 million inhabitants, Punjab is the 16th-largest Indian state by population, comprising 23 districts. Punjabi, written in the Gurmukhi script, is the most widely spoken and the official language of the state. The main ethnic group are the Punjabis, with Sikhs (57.7%) and Hindus (38.5%) forming the dominant religious groups.