According to a survey published by The Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU), a sister company of The Economist, three cities of Kerala have featured among the top 10 fastest-growing urban areas in the world. Malappuram topped the list while Kozhikode was in the 4th position and Kollam in 10th.
Malappuram, Kozhikode and Kollam in Kerala are the only Indian cities to feature in the top 10 of the list. The population data used in the survey was based on the United Nation’s population figures and the survey itself was released by The Economist, EIU’s parent company.
Malappuram ranked first with a massive 44.1% population growth during the years 2015 to 2020, while second-placed Can Tho in Vietnam stood at a 36.7% increase. Suqian in China barely below second place, ranked third with a 36.6% increase. Kozhikode and Kollam stood at 34.5% and 31.1%, respectively.
All in all, the list had three cities from India and China each and one city each from Nigeria, Oman, UAE and Vietnam.
Another city from Kerala, Thrissur, was in the 13th position while a city from another Indian state didn’t come until the 27th position, which was Surat in Gujarat and 30th-placed Tirupur in Tamil Nadu.
Mohanachandran Nair, head of the department of demography in Kerala University, quoted in the Times Of India, said that an increase in population growth was a sure-fire sign of urbanisation.
Shedding light on the survey findings he said, “Urban areas across the state have been redefined after the 2011 census and the number of municipalities and towns increased… Urban population in Malappuram was only 3 lakhs in 2001 and increased to 16 lakhs in 2011.”
“The total number of urban areas in Kerala before 2011 was below 30. But the number increased to 48 after the 2011 census as we redefined the town areas across the state. Such a change in demography mainly occurred in the northern parts of Kerala, especially in Malappuram.”