Rural to urban migration; well what is it?

Rural means the countryside, Urban means towns or cities and

migration means moving from one point to another. So basically, rural to urban migration is moving
house from the countryside into a town or city. Why do people move? What encourages them to do so?

The majority of the movers move from an LEDC to a MEDC, this is because the push and pull factors
are greatest in these conditions. A push factor is something that pushes you away form the object/place
and a pull factor is something that pulls you towards the other object/place. The typical push and pull
factors would be, push: famine, drought, natural disasters, poor living conditions/housing, education,
healthcare, agricultural change, war or conflict, or the most common; unemployment. All of these factors
are generalisations of why someone would be feeling like that they are getting pushed out of their rural
environment. The common pull factors would be, employment, higher incomes, better healthcare and
education, urban facilities, protect from conflict and generally a better way of life.

There are three main causes for rural-urban migration which are Urbanisation – an increasing proportion
of people living in towns and cities, Urban Growth – towns and cities are expanding, covering a greater
area of land and Mega cities – the cities with over 10 million people’s population. There are around 17
megacities in the world at the moments and are predicted to rise to 21 in 2015! I think that people are
attracted to urban areas because they think that, they will have greater opportunities there. For many,
life is better but some end up in poverty.

Here are some effects of rural to urban migration: overcrowded conditions lacking in basic amenities can
result, e.g. favelas in South America, immigrants may help to ease labour storages, more pressure on
services such as water and hospitals, immigrants are often unskilled and forced to take poorly paid jobs,
higher risk of disease, overpopulation, more reliability on sources of food and the population left behind
depends on the elderly and children.

There are many examples of rural to urban migration, some are happening in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro
and Mexico. Firstly, Sao Paulo is a cosmopolitan, industrial city with nearly 18 million people, with 11
shopping malls, many apartment blocks for the rich, and lots of entertainment. In the early 1970s the city
was one of the fastest growing places in South America with 150 migrants arriving every hour, attracted
by the prospect of jobs. Many of these put up shacks on land that was at the edge of the city. In the next
25 years most of the housing was built with very little control or regulation. Conditions were very poor,
living spaces cramped, clean water was expensive and sewage a problem. Crime was rife and new rural
families were vulnerable to gangs who occupied land and illegally sold off plots to newcomers.

Secondly there is Mexico City, Mexico is like Sao Paulo, it all started in 1990 and people came from the
countryside and into the city. Now 20 years on the city has became and mega city! The rapid growth has
been extraordinary. Back in 1950 57.4% was rural and 42.6% was urban, 1960 50.7% was rural and
49.3% was urban, 1970 there was 41.3% rural and 58.7% was urban and finally in 1990 it was 28.7%
rural and 71.3% urban. Now it is 20.1% rural and a massive 79.9% urban!

Lastly, there is Rio de Janeiro, it is located in the south-east coast of Brazil (near Sao Paulo) and they
are one of Brazil’s largest settlements with the population of 11.7 million people. The population of Rio
de Janeiro has grown for a number of reasons. Natural Increase (when the birthrate is higher than the
death rate), but the population has also grown because of the fact there is a lot of Urbanisation. 65% of
urban grown is a result of migration.

Finally, what can we do to solve this problem? We could have low cost housing schemes or have self-
help schemes. A low cost housing scheme is using cheap but permanent building material; temporary
structures are available to build sturdy housing and to help people in shanties to have electricity and
clean water, so they do not need to move. Self-help schemes are when the local take down most of the
work themselves and the local authority provides them with the materials and drainage and sewage
systems. Plus, we could try to make the rural areas better, making the residents not want to move.