. R ural -U rban D ifferences The vast majority of the population of India has always lived in the rural areas, and that continues to be true. According to Census of India still more people are living in rural areas but the population of urban areas has increased. Now .
% population lives in rural areas while . % people live in urban areas. However, as Table shows, the urban population has been increasing its share steadily, from about % at the beginning of the twentieth century to about % at the beginning of the twenty-first century, an increase of about two-and-a-half times. It is not a question of numbers alone; processes of modern development ensure that the economic and social significance of the agrarian-rural way of life declines relative to the significance of the industrial- urban way of life.
This has been broadly true all over the world, and it is true in India as well. Agriculture used to be by far the largest contributor to the country, but today it only contributes about one-sixth of the gross domestic product. While the majority of our people live in the rural areas and make their living out of agriculture, the relative economic value of what they produce has fallen drastically. Moreover, more and more people who live in villages may no longer work in agriculture or even in the village.
Rural people are increasingly engaged in non-farm rural occupations like transport services, business enterprises or