urbanoINTERNATIONAL #2: Bangladesh – Turning its face from Rural to Urban

by Shaikh Muhammad Mehedi Ahsan  Bangladesh remains a predominantly agrarian country with only 27% of the population – around 38 million people – currently living in urban areas.  Since the independence in 1971, Bangladesh has been experiencing rapid urbanization; between 1975 and 2005 the percentage of the total population in Bangladesh living in urban areas rose from 10% to 25% (BURT 2004). Despite the recent decline in overall population growth, rural to urban migration has sustained a high rate of growth However,while the present level of urbanization is still relatively low, the urban population growth rate is 2.5%,which is significantly higher than the...