Rural to urban migration in Kenya

  

Date Posted: 6/27/2013 4:14:08 PM

Posted By: jullieflavia  Membership Level: Gold  Total Points: 2188

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Migration of people from the rural to urban areas has been an issue and a problem in Kenya for long. People move to urban areas for various reasons but in most developing countries, the reasons are well patterned and lined up from one direction-poverty. There are causes of migration of people from the rural areas to urban areas. There are also effects of this kind of migration to both the rural and the urban areas.

Reasons for rural to urban migration in Kenya.

1. Employment.
People move from the rural to urban areas in search for jobs. It is believed that good jobs are in the urban areas and indeed most of industries are in the urban areas. These migrations of people from the rural area to the urban area in search of jobs always end in joblessness since many jobs are already occupied.

2. Better living standards.
Another reason that drives people away from the rural areas is the bad living standards in the rural areas. People therefore migrate to the urban areas where they expect their living standards to be improved. Poverty level in the rural areas is also higher than in the urban areas. People move to the urban areas with this mind that life in the towns is better.

3. Better services.
The infrastructure and services in the urban areas are better as compared with those on the rural areas. People migrate to the urban areas where there are good roads, good hospitals, and good houses among others which is believed to attract people to the urban areas.

4. Opportunities.
People also migrate to the urban areas where they believe there are possibilities of expanding and gaining new experiences and ideas. For instance, starting a business in the urban areas may be easy since the needed resources and services are in the urban areas as compared to

the rural areas. For example, roads, energy among others are easier to get access to in towns than in rural areas.

5. War, famine and disasters in the rural areas.
People also run away from the rural areas because of war, famine and disasters that mostly hit the rural areas. For instance, the North Eastern parts of Kenya have been hit by continuous wars which make people move away to safer locations which mostly happen to be urban areas.

Effects of rural to urban migration in Kenya.

1. Congestion.
When a lot of people migrate to the urban areas, the first impression of that is overcrowding or congestion in the urban areas. Congestion in towns is the reason why the streets of Nairobi are congested every day. This congestion is also spread in the housing facilities where housing problems have been an issue in almost every estate in Nairobi and other towns.

2. Pressure on social amenities.
As people migrate to the urban areas, pressure piles up in the social amenities like hospitals, water and roads among others. This pressure in social amenities creates a problem in provision of good and quality services.

3. Competition for jobs.
Many people migrate to the urban areas in search of job. As this number increases, it can be said that the employer gets the advantage of selecting from varied labour available but since they are many, there is a huge competition for the available jobs hence rendering others jobless.

4. Effect on rural economy.
Migration of people from the rural areas to the urban areas negatively affects the economy of the rural area. This is so because active and energetic members of the community leave the rural areas and go to the urban areas for jobs as they leave no one at home to improve the economy back at home.

5. Socio-economic effects.
Congestion of people in towns leads to social ills created by lack of jobs for those coming in urban areas to look for jobs. As a result of frustration and a feeling of not successfully getting a job, these people finally get into crime, prostitution and other social evils that destroys the society at large.

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