Soaked Cities: Climactic Moisture and Urbanization Patterns in India From 1971-2011

In the coming decades, rapid urbanization and climate change will bring about significant transformations, especially in developing countries. It is essential to understand how their interaction will compound growing urban pressures. More specifically, how does climate change affect urbanization trends and city growth? Eva Klaus' working paper assesses the situation in India, employing a 40-year panel dataset from 1971 – 2011 covering 485 districts across the country to examine how changes in climatic moisture affect urbanization, urban population growth, and rural population growth at the district level. Second, this study employs another 40-year panel dataset covering 2,222 urban centers in India to assess the impact of changes in climatic moisture on city population growth.