Urban: Urbanisation has been very slow in Assam. There has been very slow progress in the first half of the 20th century. In 1901 there were only 10 towns in the state with 2.34% of the population living in them. In 1951, the number of towns doubled and the urban population accounted for only 4.29%.
It was immediately after independence that the number of towns rose from 24 in 1951 to 52 in 1961 and the urban population increased by 126.57% during that decade to account for 7.16% of the states total. The post independence developmental activities and the influx of refugees from the then East Pakistan who settled in the Suburban areas, commercial centres and railway stations, junctions etc.
From 1961 onward, there has been a slow but steady progress of urbanization. Between 1961 and 2001, the total number of towns more than doubled and few towns emerged as large ones. Between 1971 and 2001. The urban population increased by more than 4 times from 7.8 lakhs to 33.89 lakhs, while the total population grew by only 2.6 times during the corresponding time period of all the districts, Kamrup with 7 towns and a city is the most urbanised with 35 81% urban population followed by N.C. Hills (31.19%), Tinsukia (19.49%), Dibrugarh (18.77%) & Jorhat (16.99%)
The least urbanised district of Assam are Nalbari (2.41%), Morigaon (4.91%), Darrang (4.91%), Kokrajhar (6.84%) and Dhemaji (6.91%)
Rural: Assam is still a region largely of agricultural economy. The rural population constitutes 87.28% of the total population of the state (2001). There are, in Assam, new 26.247 villages. The villages are generally small. In fact, about 4/5# the total number of villages have less than 1000 population in each.
The rural settlements of the state like anywhere else in the developing countries across the world vary in form and pattern from place to place. The settlement factors influencing the rural settlement pattern of Assam are the following :
(a) Physiography of the village site.
(b) Alignment of the river flowing near a village.
(c) Alignment of road or railway running near a village.
