Dr. Devendra K. Kothari
Population and Development Analyst
Forum for Population Action
Urbanization refers
to the increasing number of people that live in urban areas; and
urban refers to a geographic territory. In India, the definition of
an urban center has remained unchanged since 1961 thereby
facilitating comparison of census data over time. The Census of India
defines urban areas as settlements with a local urban body (like
municipality,
corporation, cantonment board, etc.) and/or
with a population of at least 5,000 people, density of at least 400
people per square km, and at least 75 per cent of the male main
working population engaged in non-agricultural activities. All areas
which are not categorized as urban area are classified as rural Area.
Rapid
urbanization is a phrase used by many to describe the urban
transformations taking place across India. However, this is far from
the truth. While India has experienced rapid urban growth, its pace
of urbanization has been abysmally slow. India’s urbanization rate
or the proportion of people living in urban areas increased from 17.3
per cent in 1951 to 31.2 per cent in 2011 (Table 2). On the other
hand, by the end of 2015, 55 per cent of the total population of
China lived in urban areas, a dramatic increase from 12 per cent in
1950 and 26 per cent in 1990.
Table
2: Urban Population in India, 1901-2011
|
Census
year
|
Total
population
(in
million)
|
Total
rural population
(in
million)
|
Total
urban population
(in
million)
|
Decadal
net addition to the urban population
(In
million)
|
Urban
population as % of total pop.
|
Number
of cities and towns
|
|
1 |
2
|
3
|
4
|
|
5
|
6
|
|
1901 |
238
|
213
|
26
|
-
|
10.8
|
1,830
|
|
1951 |
361
|
299
|
62
|
-
|
17.3
|
2,822
|
|
1961 |
439
|
360
|
79
|
17
|
18.0
|
2,334
|
|
1971 |
548
|
439
|
109
|
30
|
19.9
|
2,567
|
|
1981 |
683
|
524
|
160
|
51
|
23.3
|
3,347
|
|
1991 |
846
|
629
|
218
|
58
|
25.7
|
3,769
|
|
2001 |
1,027
|
742
|
285
|
67
|
27.8
|
5,161
|
|
2011 |
1,210
|
833
|
377
|
92
|
31.2
|
7,935
|
|
Source:
Census of India, 2001 |
||||||
As
per Census 2011, the total population of India at 0.00 hours of 1st
March 2011 was 1210.2 MILLION. Of this, 833.1 million were residing
in 6, 40,867 villages (rural population) and remaining 377.1 million
were enumerated in 7,935 towns (urban population). Rural – Urban
distribution was 68.8 per cent and 31.2 percent, respectively. During
2001-11, 183 million people were added to the total population. For
the first time since Independence, the absolute increase in
population was slightly more in urban areas that in rural areas: 92
million versus 91 million (Table 3). Uttar Pradesh had the largest
rural population of 155.3 million (18.6% of the country’s rural
population) whereas Maharashtra has the highest urban population of
50.8 million (13.5%) in the country. The
current population of India is 1,339
million as on March 1, 2017,
based on the latest United Nations estimates; and 32.8
per cent or 440 million
its population is residing in urban areas.
Table
3: Population of India, 2001 and 2011
|
|
2001
|
2011
|
Difference
|
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
|
Total
population in million
|
|||
|
India |
1029
|
1210
|
181
|
|
Rural |
743
|
833
|
90
|
|
Urban |
286
|
377
|
91
|
|
Growth
rate of population in percent
|
|||
|
|
1991-2001
|
2001-2011
|
Difference
|
|
India
|
21.5
|
17.6
|
-3.9
|
|
Rural
|
18.1
|
12.2
|
-5.9
|
|
Urban
|
31.5
|
31.8
|
+0.3
|
|
Source
: Census of India 2011, Rural-urban Distribution of Population |
|||
Emerging
North-South divide:
In
Table 4 we have provided data showing the varying levels of
urbanization across the states of India. NCT Delhi and small states
(like Goa), nowhere has urbanization crossed 50 percent mark. Highest
proportion of urban population was in NCT Delhi (97.5%) followed by
Goa (62.2%) in 2011. Among the 17 major states of India, having
population 25 million or more, Tamil
Nadu topped
the list of urbanized states with 48.4 per cent of its population
living in urban areas, followed by Kerala
(47.7%), Maharashtra
(45.2%) and Gujarat
(42.6%), as per the Census 2011. The
lowest level of urbanization was recorded in Bihar (11.3%), closely
followed by Assam (14. 1%) and, Orissa (16.7%). All the Four Large
North Indian States or so-called BIMARU States recorded low level of
urbanization. The
urbanization rates for the southern states are now inching towards
the 50 per cent mark while many of the northern states are still
stuck at rates below 28 per cent
(Table 4). 1
Table
4: ranking of major States having population of 25 million or more of
India by level of urbanization, 2011.
|
State
|
Level
of urbanization
(%
of total population)
|
Population
(in
Million)
|
Number
of urban Centres including urban agglomerations with population
one million and more
|
|
|
|
|
Urban
|
Total
|
Number
|
|
1 |
2
|
3
|
4
|
6
|
|
Tamil
Nadu
|
48.4
|
34.9
|
72.1
|
4
|
|
Kerala |
47.7
|
15.9
|
33.4
|
7
|
|
Maharashtra |
45.2
|
50.8
|
112.4
|
6
|
|
Gujarat |
42.6
|
25.7
|
60.4
|
4
|
|
Karnataka
|
38.6
|
23.6
|
61.1
|
1
|
|
Punjab
|
37.5
|
10.4
|
27.7
|
2
|
|
Haryana |
35.0
|
8.8
|
25.3
|
1
|
|
Andhra
Pradesh (Including Telangana) |
33.5
|
28.3
|
84.7
|
3
|
|
West
Bengal |
32.0
|
29.1
|
91.3
|
2
|
|
INDIA |
31.2
|
377.1
|
1,210.2
|
53
|
|
Madhya
Pradesh
|
27.6
|
20.1
|
72.6
|
4
|
|
Rajasthan |
24.9
|
17.1
|
68.6
|
3
|
|
Jharkhand |
24.0
|
7.9
|
32.9
|
3
|
|
Chhattisgarh |
23.2
|
5.9
|
25.5
|
2
|
|
Uttar
Pradesh |
22.3
|
44.5
|
199.6
|
7
|
|
Orissa |
16.7
|
7.0
|
41.9
|
-
|
|
Assam |
14.1
|
4.4
|
31.2
|
-
|
|
Bihar |
11.3
|
11.7
|
103.8
|
1
|
|
Remaining
3 million cities or urban agglomerations are: NCT Delhi, Srinagar
and Chandigarh.
|
||||
Maharashtra was
the most urbanized state in India till 1991, stood behind Tamil
Nadu in
2001 and third after it in 2011, with Kerala being
second, with the urban-total state population ratio. However,
Maharashtra's urban population of 41 million, far exceeds that of
Tamil Nadu which is at 27 million.
Urban
concentration:
Table
5 shows the percentage of urban population by size class of cities in
2011. The pattern of urbanization in India is characterized by
continuous concentration of population and activities in big cities.
During the years, it is found that there has been a nonstop
concentration of population in mega cities and decline in medium and
small towns and cities. It is important to note that number of cities
by size class has increased in all categories except class VI.
At
the Census 2011 there are 7,933 cities and towns in the country. The
number of towns has increased by 2,772 since last Census. Many of
these towns are part of UAs (Urban Agglomerations) and the rest are
statuary or independent towns. The total number of Urban
Agglomerations/Towns, which constitutes the urban frame, is 6166 in
the country.
The
UAs/Towns which have at least 1, 00,000 persons as population are
categorized as Class I cities. At the Census 2011, there were 496
such cities. The corresponding number in Census 2001 was 422. 264
million persons, constituting around 70 per cent of the total urban
population, live in these cities. The proportion has increased
considerable over the last Census. In the remaining classes of towns
the growth has been nominal.
The
Indian urban structure is ‘top heavy’. Each consecutive census is
pointing towards greater concentration of urban population in class I
cities. Of the 377 million individuals living in urban areas in 2011,
43 percent live in the cities or urban agglomerations with a
population of over 1 million. The number of urban agglomerations or
cities with a population of at least one million increased from 35 in
2001 to 53 in 2011. Uttar Pradesh and Kerala have 7 such cities each
while Maharashtra has 6 such cities.
Among
the 53 million cities, the three largest mega cities with a
population of more than 10 million are Greater Mumbai UA (18.4
million), Delhi UA (16.3 million) and Kolkata UA (14.1 million).
These are followed by Chennai UA (8.7 million), Bangalore UA (8.5
million), Hyderabad (7.7million),
Ahmadabad (6.4million),
Pune (5.1
million), Surat (4.6
million) and Jaipur (3.1
million). These ten cities contain 25 per cent of total urban
population of India (99 million) in 2011.
The
growth in population in the three mega cities with over 10 million
has slowed down in the period 2001-11, showing declining attraction
towards mega cities. While the population of Greater Mumbai UA grew
at 30.47 percent in 1991-2001, it grew only at 12.05 percent in the
period 2001-2011. The population growth of urban agglomeration of
Delhi declined from 52.24 percent to 26.69 percent while in case of
Kolkata UA it declined from 19.60 percent to 6.87 percent. In
addition to these three mega cities, there are other million cities
too which have witnessed a decline in the population growth and the
reduction cannot be solely attributed to a decline in the fertility
rate. It is interesting to note that the core areas of the mega
cities like Mumbai, Delhi, and Kolkata show deceleration in their
growth rates. These cities are losing the poor because they cannot
afford to live there.
The
picture regarding small and medium towns’ growth, having population
leas than 100,000 is not clear, but there numbers have been
increasing very fast. The number of such towns at the national level
increased from 4739 to 7,437 – a net addition of 2,758 towns during
2001-11. Overall, the emerging form of urbanization, dominated by
large number of medium and small towns, is good for a balanced
urbanization. However, there is need for further studies to
understand the growth pattern of small and medium towns in more
detail.
Table
5: Distribution of urban centres by size, 2011
|
Class |
Total
Cities/Towns and difference
|
Percent
of total towns 2011
|
Per
cent of total urban population
2011
|
Total
urban population
(in
million)
|
||
|
2011
|
2001
|
(2)-(3)
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
|
Class
I |
496
|
422
|
74
|
6.2
|
70.0
|
263.9
|
|
Class
II |
600
|
504
|
96
|
7.6
|
8.1
|
30.5
|
|
Class
III |
1913
|
1396
|
517
|
24.1
|
11.7
|
44.1
|
|
Class
IV |
2237
|
1564
|
673
|
28.2
|
5.6
|
21.3
|
|
Class
V |
2188
|
1043
|
1145
|
27.6
|
3.1
|
11.5
|
|
Class
VI |
499
|
232
|
267
|
6.3
|
1.5
|
5.5
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
7933
|
5161
|
2772
|
100.0
|
100.0
|
377.1
|
|
Source:
Calculations based on Census of India data, 2001 and 2011 |
||||||
In
short, the emerging form of urbanization is spatially distributed
dominated by large number of medium and small towns.
2
The
next post discusses: Why pace of urbanization is slow?
[1] Source: Worldometers (www.Worldometers.info). Also see:
http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/india-population/
[2] Kundu (2011) gives
a useful account of the history of urbanization in India in the colonial and
post period. For derails see at:
https://www.uniassignment.com/essay-samples/economics/reasons-for-urban-concentration-in-india-economics-essay.php
