Urban Growth by City and Town Size in India

Ram B. Bhagat, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

Urban size is an important attribute influencing urban population growth. The small and intermediate towns are expected to grow slowly compared to large cities in the early phases of urbanization. The study on urban growth by size class of towns would help us to understand the stages of urban development and the changes in the urban structure of a country. The new economic policy launched in 1991 was expected to generate higher economic growth and increased urbanization. But this is not found to be true, as urban growth has further slowed down in 1991-2001 after a significant reduction in growth rate in 1981-91. Given the increased role of large cities in a globalised environment, it is expected further that the cities will grow faster than the small, medium and large towns. Keeping this in mind, an attempt has been made to analyze urban growth by size, class of towns, and cities in India for the period 1991-2001.