Population Growth: Migrants in Urban districts & Locals in districts of Northern states are driving factors﻿
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 29, 2019
Comparison of population data from the 2001 and
2011 census for some of the highly populated and high growth districts
indicates that migrants in urban districts and locals in districts of the Hindi
heartland states are the driving factors for population growth.
As highlighted in an earlier story of Factly, the Hindi speaking states havecontributed  majorly towards thepopulation growth in India. In most of these states, the high population growthis witnessed across districts with more than 2/3of the districts registeringa population growth rate more than the national average.
There are few districts in these statesand few others across the rest of India, where the population growth rate issignificantly high. The actual population in these districts is also high whichin turn has a significant impact on the overall population growth.
Urban districts are among the highest populated
districts with varying population growth rates
Most of the top-20 highly populateddistricts in India are urban districts. With the exception of few districts,the rest of them registered population growth rates that are significantlyhigher than the national population growth rate.
The district of Thane, which comprisesparts of the India’s most populous city of Mumbai is the largest district bypopulation as per 2011 census. It has a population of 1.1 crores and registereda population growth rate of 36% during the 2001-11 period.
Other districts with large populationand have registered a high growth rate include -Bangalore, Pune, Ahmedabad,Murshidabad, Jaipur, Nashik, Surat, Allahabad, Patna, Rangareddy and PurbaChamparan. All these districts have registered growth rates that are more thanIndia’s average over 2001-2011 period. With the exception of Purba Champaran,the rest of the districts are Urban centers.
On the other side, there are districtswith large population that have registered lower population growth ratecompared to the national average. The districts of Medinipur and NorthTwenty-Four Parganas, which have the 2 & 3 largestpopulation in India registered population growth rate of 14.6% and 12.1%respectively. Other highly populated districts with lower population growthinclude – Mumbai Suburban, Bardhhaman, Hugli, Nadia and East Godavari.
It can be noted that of these districtswith lower population growth rate, majority of them (Medinipur, North Twenty-FourParganas, Bardhhaman, Hugli and Nadia) are in West Bengal and East Godavari inAndhra Pradesh, a reflection of the lower population growth rate in therespective states despite larger population in the district.
Higher migrant population cause for
higher population growth rate in major Urban districts
Twenty-five (25) districts with aminimum population of 40 lakh as per the 2011 census and a population growthrate of over 20% were considered for following analysis. Majority of these districtsbelong to the Hindi heartland states with India’s major urban centers being theexception.
The higher population growth rateobserved among the major urban districts correlates with the increase in theshare of migrant population. For instance, in 2001, Thane had a ratio of 52:48for local and migrant population, which as per 2011 census has flipped to49:51.
Bangalore had a local & migrantratio of 70:30 in 2001, whereas the share of migrant population has increasedto 43% as per the 2011 census. This has resulted in 47% population growth rate overthe 2001-11 period.
The district of Rangareddy surroundingHyderabad has also seen an increase in the share of migrant population from 30%to 44% (this district registered a population growth rate of 48%).
The other urban districts of Pune,Ahmedabad, Surat & Ghaziabad (near New Delhi) have also recorded asubstantial growth in share of migrant population which correlates with thesubstantial increase in respective population growth rates.
The district of Kancheepuram alsoregistered a population growth rate of 39% which is an exception for state ofTamil Nadu. During this period, the share of migrant population has increasedfrom 16% to 40% which explains the high population growth rate.
Unlike in the case of above mentioned districts,the other districts with high population and high growth rates have not seen muchof a variance in the local and migrant population ratio.  Most of these districts are located in theHindi heartland states of UP & Bihar and have high share of localpopulation compared to the migrant population. Therefore, the high populationgrowth rates, unlike in the earlier case can be attributed to the increase in thelocal population.  A marginal increase inthe share of migrant population is observed in most of these districts.
Less variance in the share of
population of the major religions in the highly populated districts.
As per 2001 census, the share ofpopulation who identify themselves as Hindu was 80.45% and as Muslim being 13.4%.Christians, Sikhs, Jains and others made up the rest of the population. As per2011 census, Hindus comprise 79.8% of population and Muslims make up 14.2% ofthe population. The marginal change reflected at the national level for therespective religions is similarly reflected in the highly populated districtswith higher population growth rate.
With the exception of Murshidabad inWest Bengal and Moradabad in UP, the rest of the highly populated districts havea majority of Hindu population in line with the national share of Hindupopulation.
Murshidabad and Moradabad had 35.9% and53.8% Hindu population in 2001 with share of Muslim population being 63.7% and45.5% respectively. However, as per the 2011 census, in these two districts, therespective figures for Hindu population are 33.2% and 52.1% and that of Muslimpopulation is 66.3 % and 47.1% respectively. Raipur (95.5%), Patna (91.8%),Agra (89.6%), Samastipur (89.4%), Kancheepuram (89.8%), Gaya (88.2%), andJaipur (88.2%), have comparatively higher share of Hindu population than thenational average as per 2001 Census. They show a marginal variance as per 2011census with the share of Hindu population as indicated in the chart below.
Population growth rate in the highly
populated districts may not be linked to any specific community
There is very little variance in the population share of various religious communities between 2001 & 2011 as far as the highly populated districts are concerned. Further, the difference in growth rates of these communities is in line with the trend of overall population growth rate. Little or no variance between the population share of the respective communities shows that, religious community may not be an influencing factor for population growth, at least in the high population & high growth districts. Initiatives by respective local and state administrations are key in controlling the population growth rates as evident from the southern states. The trend of migration, especially towards urban and semi-urban locations is on the rise and the migrant population is contributing towards the population growth rates as is evident from the data related to the major urban districts.
Featured Image: Migrants in Urban districts