Uttar Pradesh is India`s fourth largest and the most populated state in India. With an area of 93,933 sq mi (243,286 square km), Uttar Pradesh covers a large part of the highly fertile and densely populated upper Gangetic plain. There is an average population density of 828 persons per km² i.e. 2,146 per sq meters. Uttar Pradesh shares an international border with Nepal to the north. Other states along Uttar Pradesh's border include Uttarakhand, Haryana and Delhi to the north and northwest; Rajasthan on the west; Madhya Pradesh on the south; Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand on the south east; and Bihar on the east. As Uttar Pradesh shares an international boundary it assumes strategic importance as far as its defence is concerned. The administrative and legislative capital of Uttar Pradesh is Lucknow.