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-Express News Service
Affirming the trend of migration of people from villages to big cities and towns, the provisional figures of Census 2011 reveal that for the first time, India has added more people in urban centres than in rural areas over a decade.
Between 2001 and 2011, the number of people living in urban areas increased from 286 million to 377 million, a rise of 91 million. In comparison, the rural population increased by 90 million, up from 743 million in 2001 to 833 million now.
In percentage terms, urban population now accounts for 31.16 per cent of the total population of the country, up from 27.81 per cent.
The first figures of Census 2011, released in April, had shown that India’s overall population had increased from 1.02 billion to 1.21 billion, but for the first time, the growth during the past decade had been actually lower than the preceding 10 years.
“There has been a spurt in growth of population in urban areas in the country, which could be due to migration, natural increase and inclusion of new areas which are defined as urban,” according to a presentation released by the Census Commissioner of India today.
In April, the government had also released Census data related to sex ratio and literacy. Today, it gave the rural-urban break-up for these figures. Rural areas have maintained their lead over the urban areas. The sex ratio has remained almost constant in rural areas in the past 10 years, changing only from 946 females per 1,000 males to 947. In urban areas, this rose from 900 females per 1,000 males to 926, but it is still behind the rural areas.
A total of 2,774 additional habitations were classified as urban units for the 2011 Census while the rise in the number of rural units was 2,279. India now has 6.4 lakh villages as compared to 6.38 lakh earlier.
Interestingly, Sikkim more than doubled its urban population, showing a 153 per cent rise, while Kerala showed an increase of 93 per cent. Tripura increased its urban population by 76 per cent.
Bihar and Meghalaya showed the biggest growth in rural populations, registering a rise of 24 per cent and 27 per cent respectively. Kerala, Goa, Nagaland and Sikkim recorded a decline in the number of people living in rural areas.
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