Nearly 70 per cent of the country’s population lives in rural areas where, for the first time since independence, the
overall growth rate of population has sharply declined, according to the latest Census.
Of the 121 crore Indians, 83.3 crore live in rural areas while 37.7 crore stay in urban areas, said the Census of India’s
2011 Provisional Population Totals of Rural-Urban Distribution in the country, released by Union Home Secretary R.K.
Singh.
“For the first time since independence, the absolute increase in population is more in urban areas than in rural areas.
The rural-urban distribution is 68.84 per cent and 31.16 per cent respectively,” Registrar General of India and Census
Commissioner C. Chandramouli said.
The level of urbanisation increased from 27.81 per cent in the 2001 Census
