The Trends and Level of Urbanization in Eastern Uttar Pradesh

This paper assess the changing trends and level of urbanization in Eastern Uttar Pradesh which is based primarily on statistical analysis of the census data for all the decennial census counts beginning with 1901.The present century has witnessed a trend of increasing urbanization coupled with the urban growth of individual towns.The urban population of the study area has increased by more than six times during ten decades of the present century.The progress of urbanization has been inconsistent; the level has increased from 6.70 per cent in 1901 to 11.74 percent in 2001.In the study area the percentage growth of the total population is 262.97 per cent while urban population increased by 535.93 per cent during 100 years of the present century.When the urban population is viewed separately in terms of size classes, variations in rate of growth of various size of towns become quite clear.The number of towns in Class I has increased from 2 to 14 or from 2.44 per cent to 6.93 per cent in 1901-2001.Class I town's share 54.61 per cent of the total urban population of the study area in 2001.The concentration of 54.61 per cent of urban population in only 6.93 per cent of the total towns clearly reveals the imbalance in the distribution of urban population in various size classes.