11 Indian cities among world's fastest growing

Economic growth in India is driving an unprecedented shift in population to urban centres. As many as 11 Indian cities figure among the 100 fastest growing cities in the world, with Faridabad featuring at the sixth spot.

These figures form part of the report, The Transition to a Predominantly Urban World and its Underpinnings, released on Monday by the International Institute for Environment and Development, a UK-based policy research non-governmental body.

According to it, even little-known Indian cities are growing at a scorching pace. For instance, Durg-Bhilai in Chhattisgarh, which is home to a massive steel plant, is the seventh fastest growing city in the world.

Expectedly, another NCR city, Ghaziabad, is in the list. But the other cities finding place in the top 100 list could surprise many — Aurangabad, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Dhanbad, Surat, Guwahati, Visakhapatnam and Asansol. Obviously, the economic drivers at work in pushing populations to shift from the countryside to these cities are as diverse as the cities themselves.

In terms of absolute numbers, the expected names crop up in the most populated cities list — the four metros along with Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore.

India is second only to China on these lists. And, if China and India continue to enjoy economic success, they may have larger urban populations in 2020 than those predicted by the United Nations, the report says.

It adds that the world’s urban population multiplied 10-fold during the 20th century and most of this growth is now taking place in low and middle-income nations such as India. The authors predict that urban areas in these nations will accommodate most of the world’s growth in population between now and 2020.

Historically, the richest nations have had the highest number of urban people but the balance has tipped of late. Now, Africa has more people living in urban areas than North America. The rate of growth in urban populations and the size and number of very large cities is unprecedented.

The implications of such dramatic shifts for economic development, poverty reduction and energy consumption are immense. The authors warn that these migrations shall decide global consumption patterns.

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The report warns that though de-urbanisation of Europe indicates that economic development and urban migration can be de-coupled but the picture is not so