By Express News Service

Rapid interstate migration has led to India having 25 of the world’s 100 fastest growing cities, a study by the World Economic Forum (WEF) has found. Migration within the country doubled in the 2001-2011 period compared to the previous decade, which put Pune and Surat in the bracket of cities most affected by in-migration in Asia.

According to the WEF’s report on ‘Migration and Cities’, India’s in-migration is growing at 4.5 per cent annually. That’s some 5-6 million people on the move per year. Due to this, Pune’s population ballooned to 3,115,000 with the influx of new people increasing from 370,000 in 2001 (14% of the population) to 660,000 in 2011 (21%).

Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka account for a third of interstate migrants in the city, while those from northern states account for another 20 per cent. Apart from the main metros, Surat is the other big migration magnet in India. Internal migrants account for 58 per cent of Surat’s population of 5.33 million (as of 2015), in addition to a floating population of about 100,000. While migrants to the city used to come mainly from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, now, people are streaming in from Odisha, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The textile and diamond industries alone have attracted over 600,000 migrants from just one state, Odisha.

Citing examples, the report said Bihar, with one of the highest outflows of domestic migrants, has a per capita income roughly equivalent to Somalia’s (around $520) and a birth rate of 3.4 children per woman. On the other hand, Kerala, a destination for in-migrants, has a per-capita income four times that of Bihar’s (about $2,350) and a birth rate of 1.6 children per woman, on a par with Denmark.

Moreover, cities like Faridabad, Ludhiana and Surat total over 55 per cent of in-migrants, whereas the rate in Agra and Allahabad is below 15 per cent, demonstrating the significant variation among Indian cities regarding in-migration.