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INDIA
source: www.citymayors.com/gratis/
indian_cities.html
www.ehproject.org/PDF/
Activity_Reports/AR109AN
EUrbHlthweb.pdf
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With a population of some 1,027 million people, India is now the second country in the world, after China, to cross the 1 billion mark… - sheer numbers characterise India’s urban population, which is the 2nd largest in the world after China. Today, Indians make up 16.7% of the world’s population with an annual growth rate of close to 2%. The United Nations now estimates that by 2050 India will have overtaken China as the most populous country in the world;
- in India unequal distribution of land - mainly a legacy of colonialism but also due to commercialisation of agriculture - has pushed many rural residents into urban areas. Driving factors include access to better jobs, education, health care and higher living standards;
- India’s urban population increased by 31.2% between 1991 and 2001 - nearly double the increase of 17.9% in rural population over the same period. In 2000, the country had 279 million urban residents. India’s urban population is expected to reach 660 million by 2025 (equal to the combined total populations of the United States, Russia, and Japan);
- in 2001, India had 35 cities/urban areas with a population of more than 1 million people. In total, some 108 million Indians, or 10.5% of the national population, live in the country’s 35 largest cities;
- Mumbai (formerly Bombay) with a population of more than 16 million is now the world’s 4th-largest urban area followed by Kolkata (Calcutta) in 5th place;
- 30% to 40% of urban dwellers are estimated to live in poverty. Even more alarming is the fact that urban poverty is often underestimated. Many of the urban poor live in unrecognised squatter colonies or on the pavement;
- urban slum areas are home to more than 40 million people. More than 600 Indian towns and cities incorporate slum areas. The largest slum population in cities with a population of more than one million is found in Mumbai (48.9%) and the lowest in Patna (0.25%);
- according to UN-Habitat figures, in 2001 India and China alone accounted for 65% of the overall Asian urban slum population.
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