The latest National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) report, ‘Migration in India’, has found Gujarat to have the highest rate of urbanisation among all other states in the country. Based on a survey carried out by NSSO across India in 2007 and 2008, the report significantly suggests that fast pace of urbanisation in Gujarat is mainly due to intra-state migration with large sections of rural people migrating to urban areas within the state instead of going out.
The report has found that 6.5% of all urban households in Gujarat are of migrants from within the state, which is the highest in the country. This is followed by Kerala (6.4%) and others. Maharashtra is on the lower side at 2.9%.
Again, 90.6% of Gujarat’s rural migrants refuse to go outside the state, finding the state a better place to live in, which is the main reason for the rapid pace of urbanisation. Of these, 60.7% go to another district and 29.8% shift to another place in the same district.