Urban settlement criteria as per the 1991 census:
- All places which have municipalities, corporations, cantonment boards, notified town areas committees.
- Have at least 5000 population.
- 75 % population engaged in non-primary activities.
- Population density of 400 people per square km.
London was first to reach the 1 million population in 1810.
The following are data about the number of urban towns as notified by the government:
- 1901: 1827 urban town
- 2011: 7,935 urban town.
The Census of India classified urban centers into six classes.
The following are:
- Class 1: 1 lakh to 10 lakh
- Class 2 : 50,000 to 1 lakh
- Class 3. 20, 000 to 50,000
- Class 4: 10,000 to 20,000
- Class 5: 5,000 to 10,000.
- Class 6: less than 5000
Metropolitan city:
- 1 to 5 million population
- Metropolitan cities are an urban agglomeration of many towns.
Mega-cities:
over 5 million population. The following are 6 megacities of India.
- Mumbai: 16.4 million
- Kolkata: 13.22 million
- Delhi: 12.79 million
- Chennai: 6.42
- Bangalore
- Hyderabad
Urbanization in India:
Level of urbanization = % of the urban population to the total population.
Year | Rural population in % | Urbanpopulation in % |
1901 | 89.2 | 10.8 |
1951 | 82.7 | 17.3 |
1991 | 74.3 | 25.7 |
2001 | 72.2 | 27.8 |
2011 | 68.8 | 31.2 |
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