According to the rankings released by The Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) in January of this year, Mallapuram in Kerala has emerged as the top city in the word in terms of population growth. The place saw its population increase by a whopping 44% in just 5 years between 2015 and 2020.
Besides Mallapuram, two other cities of Kerala – Kozhikode (rank 4) and Kollam (rank 10) made it to the top 10 list of fastest growing cities in terms of population.
Three of the world's ten fastest-growing urban areas are in India, with another three in China https://t.co/smYZFAnYIN pic.twitter.com/0oixZx21Rc
— The Economist (@TheEconomist) January 7, 2020
The ranking is based on data collected by United Nations Population Division.
The EIU ranking surprised many as Kerala is given to have sub-replacement level fertility rate.
However, this paradox was visible even in the 2011 census. While the entire state of Kerala had the lowest decadal population growth rate in the entire country, Mallapuram’s population grew at a staggering 13.4% in the decade till 2011.
According to the 2011 census, Mallapuram district had a total population of 4,112,920 of which 70.24% are Muslims. The Hindus constituted 27.60% of the total population.