Dhaka Is the Megacity of the Future

Nearly half a million migrants leave the countryside each year and move to Dhaka, Bangladesh, to try to make a living in the big city. But Dhaka is not just big—it is a megacity, or an urban center with a population of 10 million or more. With a current population of about 15 million, Dhaka is the fastest-growing megacity in the world—”a cluster of demographic chaos,” as one observer calls it. Between 1995 and 2009, it doubled in size from 6 million to 12 million people. The United Nations estimates that by 2025 Dhaka will grow to about 20 million—possibly surpassing Mexico City, Beijing, and Shanghai.

The massive migration to urban areas is often motivated by economic reasons, including effects of globalization. Often it is the result of environmental disasters that have wiped out farmland. About a century ago, the world was just 14 percent urban. By 2007, for the first time in global history, more of the world’s people lived in cities than in rural areas, according to UN estimates. Some projections predict that by 2030 more than 80 percent of the global population will be urban, with an increasing number of people in the developing world inhabiting city slums or shantytowns.

Besides poverty, the mass migration to cities creates challenges of overcrowding, pollution, and lack of capacity of utilities such as water and electricity. At the same time, urbanization may result in lower birth rates, which could ease overpopulation pressures, while improving access to health care and jobs for the world’s poor. The key, according to experts, is to manage the urbanization shift well and wisely.

Related Links

  • Rise of a Megacity: Bangladesh’s Dhaka Sees Population Boom
    This article discusses the rising population of Dhaka, Bangladesh, and links to the first part in the PBS/GlobalPost series that examines Dhaka’s growth in global perspective: “Rise of the Megacities.”
    (Source: GlobalPost, September 8, 2010)
  • Bangladesh—Dhaka Rising
    This video, part 1 of a series on the world’s megacities that focuses on the capital of Bangladesh, documents the rise of the world’s fastest-growing urban area; use of fast-forward technique dramatizes the city’s frenzied growth.
    (Source: The Guardian, August 26, 2009)
  • Dhaka: Fastest Growing Megacity in the World
    Reporters for GlobalPost discuss “the coming dystopia that is urbanization”—the grim future of the world’s megacities as seen in the microcosm of Dhaka; includes a photo gallery and links to parts 2–5 of the PBS/GlobalPost series.
    (Source: GlobalPost, September 8, 2010)
  • Map of Bangladesh
    This map shows centrally located Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, just north of the confluence of the Padma and Meghna rivers.
    (Source: The University of Texas)

Other Issues in the Region

Population Explosion

Rapid population growth is a problem for South Asian countries and a strain on regional infrastructure, including water, food, and energy supplies, health care, and schools. Resources are strained, and both the environment and the standard of living are affected. More serious social problems may erupt in South Asia unless governments and social service agencies can find ways to work together to contain population growth.

Living with Extreme Weather

The basic weather patterns of India and South Asia are built around the summer and winter monsoons (seasonal wind systems). Monsoons, tropical cyclones, floods, and drought are the major weather conditions of concern in the area. While the summer monsoon rains can cause flooding and devastation, they are also critical to Indian agriculture. An estimated one billion people in India rely on farming to survive, and a good monsoon season can significantly boost India’s economy. The winter monsoon months are dry, and can result in deadly heat waves.

Territorial Dispute

India and Pakistan have fought several wars over Kashmir since 1947, the latest in 1999. The dispute over this mountainous region involves China as well. Competing claims have led to divided areas of control within the region. Armed skirmishes have flared up occasionally between Indian and Pakistani-backed forces, and in 2001 a suicide bombing of the Indian parliament building linked to Pakistan pushed the two countries again to the brink of war. With both possessing nuclear weapons in their arsenals, the conflict draws considerable international concern. In 2008, United Nations–sponsored elections gave India greater control in Kashmir, and tensions in the region have eased some.

  • India-China Relations Tested by Lingering Border Dispute
    Although relations between India and Pakistan over Kashmir have been relatively stable, tensions between India and China, which also claims an interest in the territorial dispute, were heightened by a recent diplomatic incident.
    (Source: China Post, August 28, 2010)

2 Comments

  1. herry perez p5 says:

    is it overpopulated

  2. Jan says:

    Estelle – And thank you too Deborah. Your and Jodie’s thoughts on bateuy really do marry with mine. We live in a society where younger is always better, and we don’t value or recognise the bateuy in a long life well lived. I love the untold stories in their eyes, and the character etched into their faces. Age and experience should be celebrated, not nipped, tucked and frozen.