People on the move. More than a billion within countries

Humans migrate. From time immemorial we have been on the move. And perhaps each time our travel came along with fear, wonder, excitement and agitation. And perhaps each time the migration was experienced as unique by the migrants and the people living in destination areas.

These days Syrian people moving to EU for political reasons and Mexican people moving to the US for economic reasons attract the attention as if they set fire to the world in exceptional ways.

But is their migration really so exceptional? My, no, not at all, not even by their numbers. Did you know that the largest type of migration is within countries, of villages to cities? More than a billion people, about 12% of the entire world population, are expected to leave the countryside over the next 15 years, both in ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ countries.

In ‘developing’ countries, even slum life is more attractive than village life. Migrants can nearly always return to their villages, but hardly ever do.

Admittedly, hygienic conditions in slums are often worse than in the coutryside where cleaner water and air, and more space for private hygiene are available. But somehow, people prefer the city for its marginally better opportunities to eke out a living. Cities also provide more social freedom and dignity, compared to the often ruthless oppression, exploitation and stigmatization by local landowning families or castes. And cities give marginally more access to good school education and health care.

Moreover, sea and river floods, droughts and cyclones become more frequent and severe through global warming and, along with disastrous farming, bring about massive migration away from densely populated, low coasts and valleys to better protected urban areas.