India’s quest for urbanisation

To one’s surprise, India was more urban in 1950 than China as about 17% of Indian population lived in cities, compared with 13% in China.

According to Census data, Indian population in urban areas grew from 17.29 % in 1951 to 31.16 % in 2011.

However, China urbanised far more rapidly. According to a World Bank report, 56% of China’s population lived in urban areas in 2015, compared with India’s 33%.