Rural-Urban Migration in Bangladesh: The Need for Diverting Rural Migrants to Secondary Cities

Abstract

Bangladesh has been experiencing a rapid urbanization since independence in 1971, but the distribution of urban population is highly skewed and the capital city receives a disproportionate urban population. The other metropolitan cities are also growing faster than the secondary and tertiary level urban centers. The overarching aim of this paper is to examine how secondary cities can work to attract the rural migrants to make a more balanced distribution of urban population. The paper is based on information obtained from secondary sources. It tries to identgfit the reasons behind the rapid rural-urban migration in the capital city in general and secondary cities in particular. The paper reveals that as rural people migrate owing to economic reasons, the creation of economic opportunities in secondary cities is essential to divert these migrants to secondary cities for a more balanced distribution of urban population. The paper makes some tentative recommendations to strengthen the economic base of the secondary cities, including capaciajv building o/‘the local government in the secondary cities, which will promote these cities to be able to attract migrants.