Urban Growth and Urbanization in Rayalaseema

Urbanization is the movement of population from rural areas to urban society and involves an increase in the number of people in urban areas rather than rural places. It is a finite and continuous process which changes through space and time. Urban growth is the actual increase in population of an area or a region or a country over time, expressed in a number, where as urbanization is the increasing proportion of population living with in urban areas, which would be given most likely in a percentage of the total population or ratio. Urban growth and urbanization are phenomena of increasing concern to both planners and policy makers The process of urbanization involves a rapid growth of urban population at a higher rate than that of the increase in the total or rural population. A country or a region is said to become more urbanized when its cities grow in number, its urban population is increase in size and the proportion of its population living in urban area rises. In this context, this paper attempts to study the urban growth and level of urbanization in Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh from first census to present census of India that is One Forty years from 1871-2011 using census data.