Around the world, people are moving to cities and urban areas, so populations in the countryside are decreasing. Is this a positive or negative development?

In recent years, there has been a significant shift in the distribution of demographics all over the world. Many people have migrated to urban areas which has subsequently brought down the population of the countryside.  In my perspective, this trend has detrimental impacts on both cities and villages alike and hence, is negative overall.

When more people relocate to urban settlements, the cost of living in cities for the natives increase drastically. This is due to the greater demand for resources like food, housing as well as employment. The poorer sections of the society are the most affected as they will have to compete with others for jobs and other necessities like healthcare and education. This is particularly true in metropolitan cities in countries like India where many people have fallen into poverty as they failed to earn the bare minimum to sustain in urban areas.

Moreover, this trend may force the governments to de-prioritise the developments of rural areas. Due to the migration of more people to countryside, more companies prefer to relocate to cities in search of human resources that varies from cheap labourers to skilled professionals. Consequently, the revenue generated in villages would decline, leaving the government with lesser options other than to decrease its budget expenditures rurally. Even in the most affluent nations, for instance, all major infrastructural developments including luxury amenities and premier institutions are focused primarily in urban areas than the countryside.

In conclusion, there is a recent decline in the rural population following a surge in the migration of people to the cities. In this essay, I contended this as a negative trend due to its adverse societal and developmental implications.

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