Rural–urban migration

Much of their rural–urban migration happened during industrialisation in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Factories concentrated jobs in towns and cities, drawing workers from the countryside. Most of their urbanisation therefore took place before 1950.

People moved from rural areas to industrial settlements to find work: this was rural–urban migration.

Rural–urban migration increases city populations. Cities also grow through natural increase, when births exceed deaths among people already living there. Urbanisation occurs when the urban population grows faster than the rural population, increasing the urban share of the country's population.

Rural–urban migration is usually explained through a combination of push factors and pull factors. Push factors encourage people to leave their place of origin; pull factors attract them towards a destination.