Urbanisation in India: level, trends and components

Detail

Key terms

• Urbanisation (level of urbanisation): the share of a country's total population that lives in urban areas, written as a percentage.

• Example: Census 2011 put India's level at 31.16% (provisional; final 31.14%). This means about 31 of every 100 Indians lived in towns or cities.

• Rate of urbanisation / decadal urban growth: how fast the urban population grows in ten years (one decade). This is a different measure from the level.

• Urban area (Census definition): a place counts as urban in one of two ways.
• Statutory town: a place with a legal urban local body, such as a municipal corporation, municipality, cantonment board or notified town area committee.

• Census town: a place with no urban local body that meets all three tests:

  • population of at least 5,000;
  • at least 75% of male main workers work outside farming;
  • density of at least 400 persons per sq km.

• Components of urban growth: the three sources that add people to towns. These are natural increase, net in-migration and reclassification. Each is explained below.

Long history of Indian towns (context)

Phase	Examples	Main function
Ancient (2,000+ years old)	Varanasi, Prayagraj (Allahabad), Pataliputra (Patna), Madurai	Religious and cultural centres, and capitals of kingdoms
Medieval	Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Agra, Nagpur	Capitals of kingdoms and fort towns
Colonial	Mumbai, Chennai (Madras), Kolkata (Calcutta), and earlier trading posts such as Surat, Daman, Goa, Puducherry	Ports and trading centres, plus hill stations and cantonments
Post-1947	Chandigarh, Bhubaneswar, Gandhinagar, Durgapur; satellite towns such as Ghaziabad, Rohtak, Gurugram	Planned administrative and industrial towns

• Towns have a long history in India. Even so, the share of people living in towns stayed low until the 20th century.

Level and trend, 1901–2011

Year	Urban % of total population	Decadal growth of urban population
1901	10.84	—
1911	10.29 (dip)	0.03%
1951	17.29	41.42%
1961	17.97	26.41%
1971	19.91	38.23%
1981	23.34	46.14% (peak, 1971–81)
1991	25.71	36.47%
2001	27.78	31.13%
2011	31.16 (provisional; final 31.14)	31.8% [2] (NCERT: 31.08%)

• Size: the urban population grew about elevenfold in the 20th century. Census 2011 counted about 37.7 crore urban people out of a total of 121.02 crore [2].
• Change in share: the urban share rose by 3.35 percentage points in 2001–11 [2].
• Speed: decadal growth was highest in 1971–81 and has slowed since then.
• The two dips:
• 1911 dip: epidemics (plague) and famine killed many town dwellers, and people fled to villages. Urban growth was almost zero and the urban share fell.

• 1961 fall in the number of towns: Census 1961 used a stricter definition of "urban". Many small places that had counted as towns before were now counted as villages.

• Big jump after 1951: after Partition, refugees settled in towns. Planned industrial towns also grew under the Five-Year Plans.

• Comparison with the world: India's level of urbanisation is low next to developed countries, where most people live in towns. But India's absolute urban population is second only to China's.

Growth in towns and cities (Census 2011)

• New towns, 2001–11: 2,774 towns were added. Of these, 242 were statutory towns and 2,532 were census towns [2].
• Statutory towns: rose from 3,799 (2001) to 4,041 (2011) [2].
• New census towns have no urban status. They are run under State Panchayat Acts and have no building bye-laws. They often lack tap water, sewerage and public transport [2].
• Million-plus cities / urban agglomerations (an urban agglomeration is a city together with its joined suburbs): rose from 35 (2001) to 53 (2011) [2].

Components of urban growth

Component	Meaning	How it adds urban people
Natural increase	Urban births minus urban deaths	Town families grow in size
Net in-migration	People moving into towns minus people moving out	Village people move to towns for jobs and education
Reclassification	Villages that grow and meet the census-town tests, and cities whose boundaries are widened to take in nearby villages	The same people are now counted as "urban", even if they have not moved

• Migration's share: NCERT says rural-urban migration gave about 29% of urban growth since 1961. The rest came mostly from natural increase and reclassification.
• Reclassification in 2001–11: 2,532 new census towns appeared in a single decade [2]. This shows that many villages were "becoming urban" where they stood.
• Turning point, 2001–11: for the first time since Independence, the absolute increase in urban population (about 9.1 crore) was larger than the rural increase.
• Rural growth was slowing → urban growth stayed high → most of India's added population now goes to towns.

India in the world (UN World Urbanization Prospects 2018)

• The world was 55% urban in 2018, and this is projected to reach 68% by 2050 [3].
• About 2.5 billion more people could live in urban areas by 2050. Close to 90% of this increase will be in Asia and Africa [3].
• Projected additions to urban population, 2018–2050 [3]:
• India: 416 million (the largest of any country);
• China: 255 million;
• Nigeria: 189 million.
• Together, these three countries make up 35% of the world's urban growth over this period.

Spatial pattern (Census 2011)

Category	Highest	Lowest
States by urban %	Goa (62.2%) > Mizoram > Tamil Nadu > Kerala > Maharashtra	Himachal Pradesh (10.0%), Bihar (11.3%), Assam, Odisha
UTs by urban %	Delhi (97.5%), Chandigarh (97.3%)	—
Absolute urban population	Maharashtra > Uttar Pradesh	—

• Why the western and southern states are more urban:
• They have early industry, ports and service jobs → people move in for work → towns grow.

• Urban corridors (chains of joined cities along transport routes) are found here: Mumbai–Pune, Delhi–NCR, Chennai–Bengaluru.

• Why the Ganga plain and the hill states are less urban:

• Ganga plain (Bihar, Uttar Pradesh): fertile land supports dense farming villages, and there is little industry. So most people stay rural.

• Hill states (Himachal Pradesh, Assam's hill areas): steep slopes and scattered villages make it hard for big towns to form.

• Trap: Mizoram ranks high in urban share, while Uttar Pradesh ranks high in urban numbers. Share and absolute size give different rankings.

Policy response and the next count

• Smart Cities Mission: launched on 25 June 2015. 100 Smart Cities were chosen through 4 rounds of competition (January 2016 to June 2018) [4].
• AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation): launched on 25 June 2015 in 500 cities. These cities hold about 60% of India's urban population [4].
• AMRUT 2.0: launched on 1 October 2021 [4].
• Water supply: aims for universal coverage in all statutory towns (about 4,902 towns and cities) to make them "water secure".

• Sewerage and septage management: aims for universal coverage in the 500 AMRUT cities.

• Census 2027 [5]:

• The Census due in 2021 was put off because of COVID-19. Census 2027 is the 16th Census overall and the 8th since Independence.
• Reference date: 00:00 hours, 1 March 2027. For Ladakh, the snow-bound areas of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, it is 1 October 2026.
• Phase I, Houselisting and Housing Census: April–September 2026.
• Phase II, Population Enumeration: February 2027. Caste enumeration is included.
• It is India's first digital Census. Data is collected on mobile phones, and people have the option to fill in their own details (self-enumeration).
• Its results will give the first new level of urbanisation since 2011.

Prelims Hooks

• Level of urbanisation, Census 2011: 31.16% (provisional; final 31.14%), about 37.7 crore urban people.
• Highest decadal urban growth: 1971–81 (46.14%). It is not 1951 or 2001–11.
• 1911 dip = plague and famine. 1961 fall in number of towns = stricter definition of "urban".
• Census town tests: 5,000 population + 75% of male main workers outside farming + density of 400/sq km.
• 2001–11: 2,532 new census towns and 242 new statutory towns. Million-plus cities went from 35 to 53 [2].
• Most urbanised state: Goa (62.2%). Least: Himachal Pradesh (10.0%), then Bihar (11.3%). Most urbanised UT: Delhi (97.5%).
• Largest absolute urban population: Maharashtra, then Uttar Pradesh.
• World urban share: 55% (2018) → 68% (2050). India adds the most urban dwellers of any country (416 million) [3].
• Smart Cities Mission and AMRUT were both launched on 25 June 2015. AMRUT 2.0: 1 October 2021 [4].
• Census 2027 reference date: 1 March 2027. For snow-bound areas: 1 October 2026 [5].

Mains Points

• India is urbanising late but at a huge scale. Its urban share (about 31%, 2011) is low next to the world average (55%, 2018). Yet India will add 416 million urban people by 2050 [3]. Towns need planned housing, water and transport ahead of this growth.
• Many places are urban only in the Census, not in how they are governed. Reclassification produced 2,532 census towns in 2001–11. These places are still run by panchayats and lack urban services [2]. This "hidden urbanisation" calls for giving them urban status and planning their growth.
• Urbanisation is uneven across regions. Western and southern states and corridors such as Mumbai–Pune and Chennai–Bengaluru are highly urban. Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Odisha and the hill states lag behind. This links to differences in industry, jobs and migration.
• The policy response is shifting. Early missions focused on 100 Smart Cities and 500 AMRUT cities. AMRUT 2.0 widens the focus to water security in all statutory towns [4]. Census 2027 data [5] will show whether these missions match where urban growth is actually happening.