ABSTRACT
In 2011, the urbanisation rate in India and Bangladesh reached just over 30 per cent whilst in Pakistan the figures were recorded to have been more than 40 per cent. It is estimated that by the mid-twenty-first century, more than 50 per cent of the South Asian population will live in cities. By way of comparison, the urbanisation rate in the European Union in 2011 was about 74 per cent. Despite the relatively low urbanisation, in terms of area and population most of the world’s megacities are found in South Asia with the cities of Karachi, Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Haiderabad, Kolkata and Dhaka each having more than 10 million inhabitants. The megacities, as well as some 50 other cities each with a population of over one million inhabitants, are the greatest attraction for migrants from the countryside. However, the population growth of the cities is not solely attributed to the increasing rural-urban migration, but is also due to the natural reproduction rates within the cities themselves.1
