December 22, 2015

How to alleviate poverty amid rising urbanisation

Poverty reduction is one of the most important tasks a government must undertake. About 70 per cent of Myanmar’s population is said to live in rural areas, though it is difficult to know exactly, as a massive number of people in rural areas is constantly migrating to cities to find job opportunities. The problem of finding accommodations for all these people is far from solved.

More than 50 countries include housing provisions in their constitutions. These countries arrange accommodations for their citizens. But Myanmar lacks this practice and does not earmark a budget for public housing. 

In the 18th century, only 2 per cent of the world lived in urban areas; most people survived on agriculture. At the beginning of the 21st century, about half of the world’s total population was urban. Urbanisation in Myanmar rises every year. Several push and pull factors account for this trend. One push factor is the rising rural population. Furthermore, farmers migrate to cities due to land confiscation, lower crop prices, higher production costs and a lack of modernised farm equipment. (Courtesy of Eleven Myanmar)

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