Visakhapatnam has managed to top the charts of urban population amongst all the 13 districts in Andhra Pradesh. According to data uploaded onto the CM’s Dashboard, the 2011 Census of India states that Visakhapatnam stood first in the state with 47.45% of urban populace and Krishna district came second with 40.81% of urban populace.
The data declared Srikakulam as least urbanised with only 16.16% of urban population and Prakasam district came second last with 19.56%. As per the 1971 Census of India report, Visakhapatnam had a total population of 20,35,831. From there, the population has gone on to 42,90,589 as per the 2011 report. The urban population back then stood at 20.30% in Visakhapatnam, which has gone up to 47.45% according to the 2011 report.
The urban population of Visakhapatnam is higher than not just that of the state, but also the country’s. A senior official from GVMC reportedly stated, “Urbanisation vastly increased in Visakhapatnam district when compared with all other districts in the last four decades. It registered a growth of 25.15% in the last 40 years. The reasons could be many including the search of employment, livelihood, education for children and easy availability of basic needs, particularly in Visakhapatnam city.”
There has not been much impact of Visakhapatnam on the neighbouring districts of Srikakulam and Vizianagaram. According to the 1981 Census report, Srikakulam had 19,59,352 population which stands at 27,03,114 according to the 2011 report. Vizianagaram stood at 18,04,196 population-wise and according to the 2011 report it stands at 23,444,74. The urban population in Srikakulam has risen only to 16.16% from 10.89% by 2011 and Vizianagaram rose to 20.94% from 15.94%.
Another official from the Collectorate stated that the urbanisation has been regarded as an important component of growth. The percentage of the urban population to the total population in the state stands at 29.47% as of 2011 when it stood at 24.13% in 2001. The population density of Andhra Pradesh stood at 304 persons per square kilometre as against 382 persons per square kilometre in the country, according to the 2011 report, while Visakhapatnam itself has 384 persons per square kilometre.
