| Abstract: | Internal migration of the rural poor to urban areas in all Third World countries is the so-called "largest migratory movement in human history." This trend is true for many reasons. Conditions make village life, based on small-scale or subsistence agriculture, less and less bearable. Governmental programs for development seem to concentrate and overinvest in urban areas, to the disadvantage of the countryside. Urban areas have always held a romantic attraction. Modern-day urban areas also offer employment and educational opportunities unequalled in rural areas. The rural poor in many parts of the Third World seem to be getting poorer while the urban poor can at least keep pace with the cost of living. |
