Population Growth In Asia Essay

Asia is the largest continent in the world, with an area of 17,212,000 square miles (“Asia Facts - Top 20 Facts about Asia | Facts.net.”). Asia also has the largest population of all the continents combined with a population of over 4.4 billion as of 2014 (“Google.”) . With this population over two-thirds of the worlds population lives in Asia. Megacities are cities with a population of over 10 million. Asia has seven of the largest megacities in the world (Kotkin, Joel, and Wendell Cox). The question called into question for this essay, is why is the growth in Asian Cities so phenomenal? While Asia’s growth can be attributed to economic markets and socio-political conditions, the most influential aspect attributed to Asia’s growth is population dynamics. The expanding population and migration of people is attributed to Asian cities growth. “Urbanization is an outcome of rural-urban migration, fertility levels in cities and boundary changes as cities grow and encroach upon the surrounding rural areas. (Hamnett, Stephen, and D. K. Forbes).” Urbanization is part of the expansion in population in Asia. Unlike most of the world, where growth is driven by natural population growth, growth in Asia is predominantly by rural migration. This occurs when people move to the city due to the opportunities in the cities. As Megacities in Asia continue to …show more content…
"If you’re working on a farm or in one of the extractive industries in the countryside, you 'll be earning a lower salary than if you 're in manufacturing, so you 'll want to head to the city, where there are more factories. But there are the 'softer ' infrastructure benefits there, too - things like better transport, better electricity and communications, along with more and higher quality health care and education, in fact more prospects in general for the family - that 's certainly the case in Asia. (Collingridge,