UIC - Mumbai, causes of growth

Mumbai is IN Maharashtra state, but there are differences between the 2 as is evident in the table below.
Contrasts between Mumbai and Maharashtra state

 POPULATION GROWTH

The population of the city has increased incredibly, as can be seen on the graph below.  The issue that Mumbai has is that despite its incredible wealth by Indian standards, it still has a huge number of people living in shanty towns or slums, together with all of the associated environmental and social problems these areas have.

CAUSES OF GROWTH
1. Migration - 38% of migrants to Mumbai come from Maharashtra state together with many others from other poor regions.  Maharashtra state is more rural than Mumbai and half of the population works in farming. 

Farming has undergone massive changes in India in recent decades.  Increased use of machinery has forced people out of work, and changes to farming have forced people with small farms to sell up to larger land owners.  Small scale farmers are also vulnerable to bad harvests and poor weather as they are totally dependent on their crops.  In bad years, they can end up forced to sell up and have to migrate. In Mumbai there are job opportunities in service industries and the manufacturing industries which pay higher wages. There are also more schools, health care facilities and entertainments in Mumbai than other parts of Maharashtra state.

2. Natural increase – although less significant than migration in Mumbai’s case (see graph below), the population of Mumbai is also increasing naturally, with significantly more births than deaths (due to high birth rates) every year. Natural increase is the growth of the population that occurs when there are more births than deaths.

Mumbai, home to over 20 million people, has a fertility rate of around two children per woman. This has led to the population of Mumbai growing by approximately 5 per cent year on year – this equates to over 1 million extra people being born every year.

Did you know? - Mumbai has seen its fertility rate drop from 4 in 1975 to 1.8 in 2015. This success is largely due to improved education and increased availability of contraception.

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