HYDERABAD: Warangal in Telangana and Guntur in Andhra Pradesh are expected to join the million-plus population cities list in 2024, driven by urbanisation and population growth, according to the latest Ecowrap report.
The report also indicates that 19 cities in India will join the club of million-plus cities bringing the total to 71 — up from 52 as per the 2011 census.Telangana would have recorded a 9 per cent increase in its urban population, while AP has seen a 7.6 per cent growth by 2024, the report said.
Guwahati in Assam, Gurugram in Haryana, Hubbali-Dharwad-Mysuru in Karnataka, Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi (Kerala), Solapur in Maharashtra, Bhubaneswar (Odisha), Tiruchirappalli, Tiruppur and Salem in Tamil Nadu, Moradabad, Bareilly, Aligarh, Saharanpur and Noida in Uttar Pradesh along with Warangal and Guntur are the new entrants in the million-plus cities list.
Warangal had a population of 8.19 lakh and Guntur’s population was 7.43 lakh as per 2011 census.
“Due to increasing urbanisation, the number of million-plus cities is rising. From 18 cities in the 1991 census, it had increased to 52 in the 2011 census. We believe that around 75-80 cities will have a million-plus population in 2024. However, for the million-plus cities, ambient air quality and national priorities for urban drinking water, water harvesting and recycling and sanitation will have to be prioritised,” the report said.
The report also indicated that there is rapid urbanisation in India across all states. In terms of urban population growth, Telangana stands at third place with an addition of 9.7 per cent (barring northeastern states). Kerala has the fastest urban growth at 25 per cent followed by Goa at 14 per cent. AP is in the fifth place in terms of addition of more urban population (at 7.4 per cent) in 2024.
“According to 2011 census, India’s urban population was 31.1 per cent of the total population which is expected to increase to 35-37 per cent in 2024. Further, the share of the Indian population in urban agglomerations of more than one million has increased from 14.3 per cent in 2014 to 16.6 per cent in 2023,” the report said.
Meanwhile, the percentage of urban population in Himachal Pradesh remained the lowest at 10.3 per cent, followed by Bihar at 12.4 per cent, Assam at 15.7 per cent, and Odisha at 19 per cent.
In terms of the total number of individuals residing in urban areas, Maharashtra holds the highest figure with 62 million people, representing 12.5 per cent of the nation’s total urban population. Uttar Pradesh follows with approximately 57.5 million residents, while Tamil Nadu has around 41.7 million.
