India’s urban population is estimated to stand at 675 million in 2035, the second highest behind China’s one billion, the UN has said in a report, noting that after the Covid-19 pandemic the global urban population is back on track to grow by another 2.2 billion by 2050.

The United Nations-Habitat’s World Cities Report 2022, released on Wednesday, said rapid urbanisation was only temporarily delayed by the pandemic.

India’s urban population is projected to be 675,456,000 in 2035, growing from 483,099,000 in 2020 to 542,743,000 in 2025 and 607,342,000 in 2030, the report said. By 2035, the percentage of population in India at mid-year residing in urban area will be 43.2 per cent, it said.

The report spoke of the need to address urban inequality, referring to Mumbai’s “overcrowded slums”, and climate change, pointing to “heatwaves in Delhi”.