Population Reports' Q&As

Meeting the Urban Challenge

An Urban Future

Rapid urban population growth reflects which three basic factors?
Which of these factors plays a greater role in urban growth?

Rapid urban population growth reflects these three basic factors:

1. Migration from rural areas;
2. Natural population increase (births minus deaths) among urban residents; and
3. Reclassification of previously rural areas as urban as they become built up and change character.

During the initial phases of urbanization in a country, migration from rural to urban areas tends to play a greater role than natural population increase in urban areas. As a greater share of the total population lives in cities, however, natural population increase within them surpasses migration in importance (63, 158). As natural population increase slows, migration can once again play a dominant role in urban population growth-for example, if economic opportunities in urban areas expand rapidly while those in rural areas do not (15).

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