Ludhiana continues to be the city with highest urban population, Mohali at second spot Chandigarh: Dubbed as the most backward area in the state at one point of time, Malwa has emerged at the most urbanised belt in Punjab, as shown in the updated figures of the Census 2011 that were released today. Doaba has an urban population of 36.68 per cent, followed by Majha at 36.09 per cent. Similar is the scenario in other parts of the state. The residents are leaving their lush green fields, from where the Green Revolution originated, and venturing in search of greener pastures to towns and cities. The urban population in the state has grown by more than 25.72 per cent during the past decade. In 2001, 82,62,511 persons lived in urban areas in the state. The count was recorded at 1,03,87,436 (increase of 21,24,925) in the 2011 Census. The total population of the state was 2.44 crore in 2011, which has risen to 27,704,236 in 2011. Releasing the break-up of the 2011 data, Census (Punjab) Director Seema Jain said around 62 per cent of the state’s population now lived in rural areas against the 38 per cent in urban areas. The national average of urban population is 31.16 per cent. The figures were released during a workshop on “Census Data Dissemination”. Every fifth dweller in the cities or towns of Punjab lives in Ludhiana. Mohali is the second most urbanised district, followed by Amritsar and Jalandhar. Tarn Taran (12.6 per cent) is the least urbanised district. The number of towns in the state has also increased from 157 to 217 over the past decade. Bathinda, which was the ninth most urbanised district in 2001, is now ranked sixth while Gurdaspur has moved two paces ahead from 14 to 12. Hoshiarpur highest in gender ratio The gender ratio (893) in the state has increased by 48 points as compared to the last Census (845). It is 906 in rural areas and 872 among the urban population. Hoshiarpur has the highest gender ratio of 974 in the rural settings, followed by Mohali (962) and Jalandhar (951). In urban areas, Mohali has the highest sex ratio of 924. At 837, Fatehgarh Sahib has the lowest gender ratio in urban areas, with Gurdaspur one position up at 848. 70.23% in rural areas still illiterate The literacy rate has increased from 69.65 in the last Census to 76.68 in 2011. Of the total number of illiterates, 70.23 per cent are in rural areas. Nearly one-third of the illiterate rural population is concentrated in the border districts of Ferozepur, Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran. Ludhiana has the highest number of illiterates in urban areas (almost one in every five persons).