Page 78 - IJPS-11-6

International Journal of
Population Studies The paradox of urban decline in India

Figure 4. Spatial pattern of growing, stabilizing, and declining urban centers in India, 1991–2001

Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, etc., including 24 districts. In centers with a low child-woman ratio (less than 200 and
contrast, low-low clusters indicating the concentration 200–250 account for 22.2% and 11.4% declining urban
of declining urban centers in low-urbanized districts are centers, respectively).
mainly located in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, The result further dictates that urban centers located
Maharashtra, etc. (Figure 7).
closer to other urban centers with a population of more than
3.4. Urban decline and city characteristics 100,000 experienced higher growth rates than those located
further away. However, there was no significant difference
The bivariate analysis presents the growth pattern of urban in terms of declining urban centers. Agglomeration setting
centers in India based on their demographic and other also influences the growth pattern. Among the urban
local characteristics in 2011 (Table 3). The results highlight centers that experienced population decline, about 14.2%
that the civic status of cantonment boards and census of them are part of urban agglomerations, while 10.6% are
towns have the highest share of declining urban centers not. Older urban centers formed before independence were
at 48.3% and 17.5%, respectively. In contrast, Municipal more likely to be in the growing and stabilizing stage, with
corporations and municipalities show a lower prevalence a small share of declining urban centers (8.7%). Contrarily,
of declining urban centers (9%). The population density among newly formed urban centers (1991–2001), the share
was also an important factor in the urban decline. The of declining urban centers was higher at 13.6%.
share of declining urban centers has been found to be
higher among less dense urban centers (13.2%) compared The results further showed that change in boundary or
to highly dense urban centers (7%). Furthermore, urban reduction in area decline did not primarily affect population

Volume 11 Issue 6 (2025) 72 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.3107