ABSTRACT

The research reported in this thesis was on “Urbanization and Determinants of Urbanization in Pakistan” The main purpose of the research was to study the factors and determinants of urbanization causing the problem of urbanization in Pakistan. The secondary data was collected by referring to the literature available in the libraries and the internet. Primary data was collected by floating a questionnaire among the general public asking questions regarding the problem of Urbanization in Pakistan. Moreover, interviews were taken to get a better understanding of the research subject. SPSS software was applied to analyze the data collected from the questionnaire for frequencies and cross tabulations were run to interpret the data by using the principles of Statistics. The findings suggested that migration, net-reclassification and net natural increase were the major factors causing urbanization in Pakistan. Trend of Urbanization in Pakistan have been increasing over the past years due to an increase in the migration rate, mergers of small towns into big cities and an excess of birth rates of death rates which causes population increase and an increase in the living population of the big cities. It was suggested that government should make proper plans and policies to avoid this problem of Urbanization as for a developing nation Urbanization can become a serious problem.

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Overview of the Topic

Urbanization is the expansion of cities by the rise in total number of population. Urbanization is caused by the social, economic & demographic aspects, which include internal migration, mergers of adjoining areas in the city and by the excess of birth rates over death rates. Internal migration is caused due to the attractive opportunities city life has to offer to the rural people along with better living standards and better wages. Migration cannot be controlled as by the law every citizen of the country is free to move and live where ever he wants. Second important factor causing urbanization is net reclassification that is, mergers of adjoining towns and villages into big cities. Cities of Pakistan have expanded in terms of their size and population over the past 50 years. This merger allows small towns and villages to excel and enjoy the facilities of city life but in return it brings a negative impact on the quality of essential public services such as law and order, health, education, water energy supplies etc. as they earlier had been designed according to the population living within the city boundaries. T