PAPP101 - S09: Migration and population distribution

Across space: concepts and basic measures

Urban and rural populations

Charting the distribution of the population across space is important as the migration of populations to urban areas is resulting in growing urbanisation of the global population:

"Migration from rural to urban areas and the transformation of rural settlements into urban places are important determinants of the high urban population growth anticipated in the less developed regions. Assuming migration and reclassification account for 40 per cent to 50 per cent of urban population growth in the less developed regions, a total of 250 million to 310 million people in developing countries would be expected to become urban dwellers between 2005 and 2015 either because they would migrate from rural to urban areas or because their rural settlements would become urban." (UN 2008)