geography 12 · Section 9

Population: Distribution, Density, Growth and Composition Do you know that India has , villages according to the Census out of which , ( . per cent) are inhabited villages? However, the distribution of rural population is not uniform throughout the country. You might have noted that the states like Himachal Pradesh and Bihar have very high percentage of rural population. The states of Goa and Mizoram have only little over half of their total population residing in villages. The Union Territories, on the other hand, have smaller proportion of rural population, except Dadra and Nagar Haveli ( . per cent). The size of villages also varies considerably. It is less than persons in the hill states of north-eastern India, Western Rajasthan and Rann of Kuchchh and as high as thousand persons in the states of Kerala and in parts of Maharashtra. A thorough examination of the pattern of distribution of rural population of India reveals that both at intra-State and inter-State levels, the relative degree of urbanisation and extent of rural- urban migration regulate the concentration of rural population. You have noted that contrary to rural population, the proportion of urban population ( . per cent) in India is quite low but it is showing a much faster rate of growth over the decades. The growth rate of urban population has accelerated due to enhanced economic development and improvement in health and hygienic conditions. The distribution of urban population too, as in the case of total population, has a wide variation throughout the country (Appendix–iii). Compare the data of Appendix (iii) and identify the states/UTs with very high and very low proportion of urban population. It is, however, noticed that in almost all the states and Union Territories, there has been a considerable increase of urban population. This indicates both development of urban areas in terms of socio-economic conditions and an increased rate of rural-urban migration. The rural-urban migration is conspicuous in the case of urban areas along the main road links and railroads in the North Indian Plains, the industrial areas around Kolkata, Mumbai, Bengaluru – Mysuru, Madurai