39 RESEARCH ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION International Indexed & Refereed Research Journal, February, 2013 ISSN 0975-3486, (Print) , E- ISSN – 2320-5482 ,RNI –RAJBIL- 2009-30097, VOL- IV * ISSUE- 41 The study is based wholly on secondary data pub- lished by the Census of India. For this study datas of 2001 are studied. The unit of the analysis of study is district. Absolute figure for individual districts were converted into percentages. The median, upper and the lower quartile values have been used to identify class interval for representation of data on maps using chloroplath method. This map shows the spatial pat- tern and forms the basis of discussion. The extent of correlation between the levels of urbanization and their socio-economic attributes are examined to understand Research Paper—Geography February,2013 Spatial Pattern of Urban Population and Its Social and Economic Characteristics. * Geetika Chugh * Dept of Geography, Government College, Suratgarh, Rajasthan This paper describes the spatial patterns of distribution of urban population and its social and economic characteristics. An attempt has also been made to explore the associations between proportion of urban population and their socio- economic attributes in Rajasthan. A B S T R A C T The proportion of urban population (fig1.2) in Rajasthan was 18.62% in 2001 which is lower than the all India average of 27.8%. The region of higher urban popula- tion form a contiguous belt including Shekhawati, western districts of Dhundari and few adjoining dis- tricts of Mewar and Marwar. Region of lower urban population forms contiguous belt of Dhundari and a few districts of Mewar and a pocket of two districts of Hadoti. Districts with higher proportion of urban popu- lation have major concentration of metallic, non-metal- lic and agro-based industries and premier business centres with accessibility, nodality and frequency in all types of transport networking. Districts with lower proportion of urban the (fig.1.1) characteristics of urbanization. Rajasthan state (study area) is one of the less urban- ized states of the Indian union. The process of urban- ization has been accelerated in the state after indepen- dence. There are 5 Eco-cultural zones of Rajasthan (fig 1.1) and the state was divided into 32 districts in 2001. The term urban area is used in two senses demo- graphically and sociologically. In the former sense emphasis is given to the size of population and nature of work while in the later sense, the focus is on hetero- geneity, impersonality, interdependence and the qual- ity of life. (fig1.2) population have rugged topography, vast communication gap, harsh climatic conditions and scarcity of water and other facilities. The areas of high level of urbanization are located in the eastern and south-eastern districts of Rajasthan in few districts like