Share of migrants in Mumbai halves over 100 years

Vaishnavi C Sekhar / TNN / Sep 29, 2005, 02:06 IST

Text Size

Small
Medium
Large

As far as Mumbai is concerned, it's the natural born citizens who now make up the bulk of the city's population.

Share of migrants in Mumbai halves over 100 years

MUMBAI: They are every political party's favourite whipping boys, blamed for all manner of civic disasters�� from slums to floods. The migrant rush, we are told, is ruining a once great city.
But a look at Mumbai's demographic history reveals that the biggest migrant influx is long past��in the post-independence years and the industrial '70s��and that the share of migrants in the total population has been consistently falling in the last century.
Sure, the commercial hub of the country continues to attract the most migrants in the country, and yes, the numbers have increased considerably over the '90s, but much of this population now gets absorbed in the satellite towns of Thane, Kalyan and Bhayander.
As far as Mumbai is concerned, it's the natural born citizens who now make up the bulk of the city's population and contribute most to its growth.

Recently released data from the 2001 census shows us that the proportion of migrants in the population is now 42%, up from 1991 when it was pegged at 38% (the 1991 population count has been disputed by demographers, however). But this is still far below 1981, when migrants comprised just over half the city, and much below previous decades.
In 1911, for example, migrants comprised 80% of the city. This means that very few residents are original Mumbaikars��barring the Kolis, if you are not a migrant, you are the son of a granddaughter of one.
An estimated eight lakh people migrated toMumbai in the '90s, several lakhs more than the '80s but not as much as the '60s and '70s, when the industrial boom attracted over a million people.

End of Article