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of non-agricultural occupations such as IT or
Fact Corner
marketing based occupations. According to
India’s population is equivalent to a recent census, around 27.8 per cent of the
17.74% of the total world population. population live in urban areas whereas the
remaining population still live in rural areas.
Population Distribution in India Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad,
Delhi, Chandigarh, Pune, Bengaluru,
Th e demography of India is very diverse. Ahmedabad and Kanpur are some of the
Unlike other nations, the inhabitants of India most urbanised centres of India. Th e average
do not belong to one single race or community. density of these centres is around 6,888
India has more than two thousand ethnic persons per square kilometre. States such as
groups. Th is, coupled with factors such as Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu are
income, education, sex ratio, geographical
considered to be the most urbanised states
divisions and rural-urban divide, gives rise to in terms of their economy and development.
its complexity. Let’s discuss the rural-urban Due to urbanisation, large-scale migrations
and geographical distribution of population.
to metropolitan cities by people from rural
areas are taking place.
Rural-urban Distribution
During the last 50 years, the rural population
India is primarily considered to be an agrarian has barely increased whereas the urban
society as more than three-fourths of its population has amplifi ed innumerable times.
population live in rural areas. Th e majority Th ere are many reasons which have led to the
of the population sustain themselves through growth of the urban population in India but
agriculture. Agriculture and the occupations we shall discuss only two main causes.
related to it are major components of the
Indian economy even in the 21st century. An Migration Eff ect
urban area can be defi ned as one in which 75 Fewer opportunities of employment, low
per cent of the population reaps the benefi ts levels of income, lack of educational and
Table Showing the Distribution of Rural-urban Population
Rural 742,490,639 72.2%
Urban 286,119,698 27.8%
State with highest proportion of urban Goa 49.76%
population
State with lowest proportion of urban Himachal Pradesh 9.30%
population
Union Territory with highest proportion of Delhi 93.18%
urban population
Union Territory with lowest proportion of Dadra and Nagar 22.89%
urban population Haveli
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