unit four: causes, consequences and management of rural-urban migration in developing countries

Question 1

what are the push factors for rural-urban migration, as seen in vietnam (globalisation)?

Answer 1

• 12-14 hour working days
• labour-intensive jobs
• lack of opportunities to develop skills
• lack of services

Question 2

what are the pull factors for rural-urban migration, as seen in vietnam (globalisation)?

Answer 2

• good working environment
• opportunities to develop and progress to management positions
• 5x higher salary/wages
• good social opportunities
• training classes

Question 3

how is farm size and shortage of land a push factor?

Answer 3

• farms too small to support families
• bangladesh = under 1/2 a hectare per family (1 hectare recommended)
• large quantities of land are owned by wealthy people = shortage for poorer ones

Question 4

how is farming methods/farming improvements a push factor?

Answer 4

• rural communities can’t afford machinery or pesticides = over grazing and soil erosion = reduced yield
• mechanisation has led to a loss of jobs (in ecuador) = 50% decrease in workforce

Question 5

how is poor living conditions/lack of services and food poverty a push factor?

Answer 5

• dilapidated buildings and cramped living conditions
• poor quality infrastructure and limited access to electricity, running water and sewage draining systems
• government don’t invest in rural areas

Question 6

how are natural disasters a push factor?

Answer 6

• farming can be an insecure way of life
• river ganges floods annually, destroying infrastructure and crops

Question 7

how is employment conditions and wages a pull factor?

Answer 7

• greater range of employment opportunities
• secondary and tertiary jobs available = less labour intensive
• factory workers, on average, earn 3x as much as farmers

Question 8

how many people have migrated from rural to urban china since the 1980s?

Answer 8

240 million

Question 9

what has caused rural to urban migration in china?

Answer 9

• dramatic economic growth = global shift of manufacturing industry
• export orientated production of manufactured goods need to be located near ports

Question 10

how has china’s population distribution change?

Answer 10

• 82% of population growth between 2000-2010 was located on the east coast
• in shanghai, there is over 900 people per km2
• urban population is estimated to rise to 1 billion by 2050

Question 11

why has there been a huge population increase on the east coast of china?

Answer 11

more ports on the coast = increase of businesses/manufacturing = more opportunities = draws more people in

Question 12

what are 3 major locations that have had a huge population increase in china?

Answer 12

• foshan = 323,287 (1990) to 4,006,681 (2020)
• puning = 75,593 (1990) to 646,327 (2020)
• shenzhen = 875,176 (1990) to 6,480,340 (2020)

Question 13

what are 3 push factors from rural areas in china?

Answer 13

• many subsistence farms are too small to support a farmer and their family
• decrease in the amount of farmland (from 110 million hectares)
• lack of employment opportunities and boredom at school
• government don’t invest money into rural areas to support activities other then farming

Question 14

what are 3 pull factors to cities?

Answer 14

• better for them socially/to socialise and the idea of an “exciting city life”
• pursuit different opportunities
• inability/unwillingness to pay for school when there are job opportunities available

Question 15

what is the “hukou” system?

Answer 15

• 1958
• an internal passport system that controls access to key services (healthcare, education and housing)

Question 16

under the “hukou” system, what issues would rural resident face if they voluntarily moved to the city?

Answer 16

when migrants have city-born children, when the children reach the age to go to college, they have to move back to villages, where their parents are originally from, usually live with their grandparents (if parents can’t afford to keep them with them), the kids also can’t farm > difficult to adjust = grades decrease

Question 17

how many people were were referred to as the “floating population” in china in 2010?

Answer 17

• 200 million
• people living in areas without hukou entitlement to housing and other services

Question 18

how has beijing’s population changed from 1982?

Answer 18

from 9 million to 20 million (1/3 of population) today

Question 19

why are shanty towns a social and environmental concern in beijing?

Answer 19

• poor air quality (high use of coal for heating)
• disease spreading (domestic waste left in open air)
• poor housing (more fires and collapsing building)
• large migrant population contribute to high crime rates

Question 20

what are 2 political consequences that the government has done to combat shanty towns in beijing?

Answer 20

• 2017 = plans for $81 billion shantytown renovation project for next five years
• 230,000 households will be affected = renovations of individual homes to re-ordering communities
• most residents will need to vacate homes, but will then move back to their previous home

Question 21

where else are people in beijing living now?

Answer 21

• extremely unsanitary, not properly ventilated, tiny and cramped
• underground nuclear bunkers : cheap ($40 per month
• rat tribe > migrant workers who have no official permit and have no access to low-coast government housing
• estimate suggest there may be more than 1 million people living under chinese capital

Question 22

how many cars were there in beijing in 2003 and 2017, and how does this affect congestion?

Answer 22

• 2003 = 2 million vs 2017 = 6 million
• in 2013, the average commuter spent 100 minutes each week sat in traffic

Question 23

how has the gdp in rmb for beijing change?

Answer 23

• increases exponentially between 2000 and 2013 from 3.5% to 19.8%
• but the growth rate decreases from 1200 to less than 800 billion

Question 24

how are remittances a positive economic consequence for rural areas in china?

Answer 24

• migrant workers may remit 3000 to 4000 rmb annually to their families
• 2003 = amounted to 18% of total rural family incomes

Question 25

how did china’s rural to urban migration compound the care problems for elderly rural residents?

Answer 25

government did not support the elderly population
- one child would have to look after parents and grandparents
- not enough income to sustain
- ageing population = not enough young people to support elderly financially

Question 26

what are the social consequences of leaving children behind to be raised by their grandparents in china?

Answer 26

• pollution in rural areas, no fields to farm, no job opportunities
• poor education = decrease mental health = behavioral issues
• only see parents once a year (75% of them) = difficult to discipline them