GANGTOK: One in every four persons in Sikkim now lives in urban areas, according to a provisional census report.

"A total of 1,51,726 people out of Sikkim's total population of 6,07,688 live in nine towns of the Himalayan state. This is 24.97 per cent of the state's total population," data released here on Sunday by Directorate of Census Operations said.

A total of 79,539 men and 72,187 women live in the towns of the state, according to the data.

East district of Sikkim with four major towns has the largest urban population which is 79.59 per cent of the total urban population.

The percentage of decadal growth stands at 12.36 per cent. While the rural population has fallen by 5.2 per cent, the urban population of Sikkim has shot up by 153.43 per cent, the officials said.

The population of North district of Sikkim has fallen by 2.7 per cent in rural areas in the past 10 years while the urban population has grown by 272.44 per cent.

The maximum urbanisation has taken place in South district of the state at 434.44 per cent and the minimum in East district at 128.47 per cent.

The growth population in the two other districts of North and West are 272.44 per cent and 187.23 per cent respectively.

A total of 4.55 lakh of Sikkim's population resides in rural areas.