Urban migrants in developing countries

The process of urbanization in the world has roughly experienced three stages: one is the period before the industrial revolution. In early cities, the level of productivity was not high, and the number of agricultural and sideline products that could meet the needs of urban residents was limited, so the development of cities was limited. At that time, the number of cities was small, the scale was not large, and the proportion of urban population was small, mainly distributed in irrigated areas, which was beneficial to agricultural production or convenient for collecting agricultural products from surrounding areas. Early cities were mainly administrative, religious, military or handicraft centers. This stage lasts the longest, and the urban population growth is slow. Until 1800, the world urban population only accounted for 3% of the total population. The second is the period of industrial society. From the middle of18th century, it ushered in a brand-new period in the history of urban development. In the wave of industrial revolution, cities have developed faster and changed more dramatically than ever before. Industrialization drives urbanization, which is an important feature of modern urbanization. The number of cities in Europe and America has surged and the scale of cities has expanded rapidly. 1900, the proportion of urban population in Britain reached 75%, making it the first urbanized country in the world. Another feature of urbanization in the modern world is the rise of urbanization in Asian and African countries. The unitary feudal city system has been transformed into a dual structure in which feudal cities and modern cities coexist. The emergence of the world urban system is the third feature of modern urbanization. From 65438 to 0950, the level of urbanization in the world rose to 29.2%. The third is the urbanization of the contemporary world. After World War II, urbanization began to form a world scale. Because from the 1950s to the early 1970s, the capitalist countries experienced rapid economic growth, and after the colonial and semi-colonial countries achieved political independence, they also achieved certain economic development, which greatly accelerated the process of world urbanization. Developing countries have become the main body of urbanization in the world today.

Stage characteristics of urbanization

According to the urbanization experience of developed countries, the urbanization process of a country or region is generally a flat "S" curve. When the urbanization level of the population reaches about 30%, it will enter the stage of rapid development, and when it reaches about 70%, it will enter the stage of relative stability. The urbanization process in developed countries has gone through four stages so far: ① the urbanization stage of centralized trend. The main feature of urbanization at this stage is the rapid growth of population and economy in central cities, especially the formation of high concentration in central cities. ② Suburban urbanization stage. The characteristic of urbanization in this period is that while industry and commerce continue to concentrate in cities, especially big city centers, the population growth in suburbs exceeds that in central cities. ③ Reverse urbanization stage. With the continuous development of urbanization in the suburbs, the downtown area presents a declining scene with a net decrease in population. ④ Re-urbanization stage. With the economic recovery in the central city, the population is rising again.

General Law of World Urbanization (Background Data)

Since the 20th century, especially after World War II, the process of world urbanization has been greatly accelerated. During the period of 1950, the level of urbanization in the world was 29.2%, which rose to 47% in 1990 and is expected to reach 50% in 2000. The level of urbanization in developed countries has exceeded 50% as early as 1950, and the urbanization speed is relatively fast from 1950 to 1980. The average urbanization level in developed countries has reached 75% from 1990.

Urbanization in developing countries is still dominated by rural-urban migration, with an average urbanization level of 37% from 65438 to 0990.

The continuous spread of cities around makes the farmland boundaries between cities increasingly blurred, and the urban areas tend to be contiguous, forming a metropolitan area.

Suburban urbanization, anti-urbanization and re-urbanization. After the war, the migration of population from rural areas to cities in some developed countries gradually retreated to a secondary position, and the suburbanization or anti-urbanization process of urban population migration to suburbs began to appear. In the 1980s, faced with the aging economic structure and population decline, some cities actively adjusted their industrial structures, developed declining central cities, and attracted people to live in cities, resulting in the phenomenon of re-urbanization.