Rural-Urban Population

In Indian Geography, India’s rural-urban population, with 68.8% rural and 31.2% urban as per the 2011 Census, reflects economic and infrastructural disparities. This shapes development policies in states like Maharashtra.

Introduction

• India is basically a village-dominated country.
• According to the 2011 census, 68.84% of the total population of India [83,30,87,662] lived in rural areas, while 31.16% [37,71,05,760] lived in urban areas.
• In 1921, 88.8 percent of the population lived in villages. But gradually with the industrial development, the trend of urbanization increased and the urban population increased.

Rural Population

• The biggest characteristic of the rural population is its dependence on agriculture and related primary activities.
• According to the 2011 census, the total number of villages in the country is 6,40,867. In terms of the number of villages, Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of villages.
• The highest concentration of rural population in the country is in the following states – Himachal Pradesh (89.96%), Bihar (88.70%), Assam (85.92%), Orissa (83.32%), Meghalaya (79.92%).

Urban Population

• According to the 1981 census, there were 3245 cities of different sizes in India. In which 19.50 crore population lived. Thus, the proportion of urban population in the total population of the country was 23.4 percent.
• At the beginning of the twentieth century, the total population living in cities was only 1.99 crore. Till 1931, the growth of urban population was equal to the natural growth. Thereafter, an important demographic division is visible in the history of urban growth. Except for the decade of 1951-61, a continuous increase in urban population has been recorded after 1931.

Urban Population: State Level 2011

• The total number of cities in India in 2011 is 7935. In terms of the number of cities, the states of Tamil Nadu (721), Uttar Pradesh (648), and Madhya Pradesh (364) are important.
• The states with the highest percentage of urban population in the 2011 census are Mizoram (51.51%) and the lowest is Himachal Pradesh (10.04%).
• States like Tamil Nadu (48.45%), Kerala (47.72%), Maharashtra (45.23%), Gujarat (42.58%), Karnataka (38.57%) and Punjab (37.49%) have the highest percentage of urban population.

Reasons for urban population growth in India

Along with economic progress in India, the trend of urbanization in the population is increasing. In the country, where in 1911 the urban population was only 10 percent of the total population, it has now increased to 31.20 percent in 2011. The following are the reasons for the increase in the trend of urbanization in India-

1. Lack of employment in rural areas
2. Cities have more facilities than villages
3. Urban attractions
4. Spread of education
5. Industrialization
6. Development of transport and communication means
7. Agriculture becoming unprofitable.
8. End of small and cottage industries.