Urbanisation In LEDCs

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Urbanisation In

 Less Economically Developed Countries

(LEDC's).

Background.

One of the most significant events affecting the geography of the developing world in the last 50 years has been the large-scale migration of people from the countryside to the towns and cities. This process is called Urbanisation. Rural-urban migration has resulted in the rapid growth of large cities and the increased urbanisation of many LEDC’s. 

Urbanisation is basically the process by which more and more people live in towns and cities. Urbanisation is also the process of change from a rural society in which people lived in scattered to villages to an urban society in which people live in densely populated centres.

Who Are The Migrants?

Most migrants tend to be:

  • Single males, in Asia and Africa, where it is less common for single women to migrate, especially in Muslim areas where females have a more restricted lifestyle.
  • Single women, in certain more developed parts of Asia and Latin America, where women have a greater social standing. Urban areas offer m a wide range of employment opportunities. Some of these women are trying to escape from the restrictions of family life in their home area.
  • Between the ages of 16 and 35, as people in this age group generally have fewer family commitments.
  • More educated than rural dwellers and more informed about the outside world.

Why Do People Leave The Countryside?

As with any major population movement, the reasons for the emigration can be divided in to push factor (reasons that encourage migrants to leave the rural area) and pull factors (the aspects of life in the city, which are attractive to the migrants).

Push Factors.

(Encourage the migrant to move

leave the rural area.)

Many rural people in LEDC’s are farmers. There are several factors linked with farming that have led to rural-urban migration:

  • Farm size - Many subsistence farms are too small to support a farmer and his family. In Bangladesh 60% of the farms are under half a hectare in size, yet the recommended size for one family is one full hectare. Often these small units are the result of systems of inheritance whereby on the death of a farmer his land is divided amongst hiss sons. In Mexico, where the sub-division has occurred over several generations, present-day families have in-sufficient land for their needs and so many people have moved to Mexico City
  • Farming methods - Most subsistence farmers are very poor and can not afford machinery, chemicals or pesticides to improve their outputs.
  • Shortage of land - In many parts of Latin America farmland tends to be owned by a few wealthy people. Workers for the owner farm large units of land, called Latifundia. There are high rates of emigration from such areas as the population increases. Latin America has experienced greater rural-urban migration than either Asia or Africa.
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  • Farming improvements- In some areas, improved agricultural methods – for example, increased use of machinery has resulted in loss of jobs. In Malaysia, a scheme to improve efficiency in rice growing by using more machinery and technology has replaced the traditional labour. The new scheme is far more efficient and productive, but now thousands of workers and redundant and have no alternative but to move to the city to look for work.

Other push factors include:

  • Lack of food – Migration from rural areas is necessary where the carrying capacity of the land is exceeded i.e. where there are too ...

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