Pre-Independence, the North-Eastern region was largely rural, but in the second half of the 20th century, urbanisation levels here shot up. Indications are that development projects initiated by State and Central governments and the role of missionaries in creating educational infrastructure were key contributory factors. The data also show that urban concentration in the North-East, as in the rest of the country, has been top-heavy. Not only that, the spatial distribution of urban units gets more and more uneven at higher levels of urban concentration. On the other hand, data from the 2001 Census reveals, medium and small towns (towns of class III, IV and V), which together account for over 80% of towns in the region, are more evenly distributed. There is, in this context, a need to nurture the smaller towns, which display an encouraging potential for growth. Within the States also, urbanisation is uneven, which too suggests a high potential for a more balanced pattern of urbanisation in future.