NEW DELHI: The urban population in the country, which was 31.8% in 2011, is expected to increase to 38.2% by 2036. Likewise, the urban growth would account for about three-fourth (73%) of total population increase by the next sixteen years.
In the population projection of India, it is observed that by 2036, 100% population of NCT of Delhi, Chandigarh and Lakshadweep would be living in urban areas, which is highest among the states. In contrast, 10.5% of the population of Himachal Pradesh would be expected to live in urban areas by the same year (2036), which is lowest among all states.
The facts have come out in population projections of India and States (2011-2036), a report prepared by ‘Technical Group on Population Projection’. It said that out of the total population increase of 31.1 crore during 2011-2036 in the country, the share of increase in urban population is expected to be 21.8 crore.
Southern states Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana will record more people living in urban areas. Share of urban population will grow substantially in Kerala from 52.5% to 92.8%. Similarly, Tamil Nadu and Telangana will record rise from 49.3% to 58.2% and 40.3% to 55% respectively. Gujarat and Maharashtra are also expected to have a large share of population living in urban areas.
The share is expected to rise from 43.6% to 53.6% in Gujarat and from 45.8% to 51.3% in Maharashtra.
While the Ministry of Urban Affairs have many urban transformation schemes including Smart City Mission, AMRUT and others, large urban concentration in these states call for proper implementation of such schemes. Many of the urban schemes have recorded slow pace so far as completion of projects are concerned.
On the contrary, there are states like Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Odisha which have recorded only marginal rise in urban population between 2011 and 2036. Moreover, only nearly 25% of the total population in these states is expected to stay in urban areas. Like, in Bihar the share of urban population in the year 2011 was nearly 11.5% and is expected to rise by 13.1% by 2036. Similarly, Himachal Pradesh had lowest share of urban population at 10.1% in the year 2011 and is expected to go up to 10.5% by 2036.