Last year the United Nations Population Fund estimated that by 2030, 60 percent of the world’s population would live in cities. Of this, 80 percent would be located in developing countries in Asia and Africa.

The current urbanization trend, however, is different from before. In his book Planet of the Slums, Mike Davis points out that most of the urbanization occurring in developing countries—where the population grows at 3.8 percent yearly—is distinct from earlier industrialization and economic growth, the two drivers of urbanization of North America and Europe before.

Cities in developing countries continue to attract hopefuls from poverty-ridden rural areas, even as it has reached its full capacity to generate employment.

Hence, the proliferation of urban cities does not necessarily translate to prosperity for its inhabitants, much less the country’s economic development.

According to the World Bank’s 2008 World Development Report, poverty alleviation through urban migration has been successful for only 19 percent of the time.

Conversely, the report noted that rural development is the most potent way to arresting poverty. For every 10 people who have moved outside the poverty line, eight escaped poverty because of improved conditions in the rural areas. Almost all the decrease in South Asia and East Asia’s poor has been due to improved quality of life in the countryside.

The Philippines, which has long been plagued by urban-biased policies, lags behind in poverty alleviation compared with our East Asian and Southeast Asian neighbors. Countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and China, which used to have higher levels of poverty incidence, now have a starkly less number of poor inhabitants. Poverty in the Philippines, on the other hand, increased from a 23.8-million population in 2003 to 27.6 million in 2006.

According to the 2008 UN Country Report on the Philippines, migration to urban areas has made it the fastest urbanizing country in Southeast Asia, with 55 million of 86 million Filipinos living in cities. Of this, 30 percent reside in slums.

Poverty in the rural areas pushes people to live in cities, but this migration often results in extreme poverty in the cities’ slums. Unsurprisingly, urban-poverty incidence has increased from 17.9 percent in 1997 to 24.9 percent in 2003, while urbanization in the country continues at its breakneck pace of 3.3 percent to 3.8 percent a year.

Rural poverty and urban slums are two faces of the same coin. In order to usher people out of poverty, we’ve got to begin focusing on developing rural areas by pouring more resources and investments into it. By doing so, we address poverty at its roots and lessen the allure of migrating toward cities. This , in turn, will decongest our urban slums. 

E-mail: edgardo_angara@hotmail.com. Web site: www.edangara.com.

Editorial: Chuck knee-jerk solutions

EXPECT the usual slew of inquiries, finger-pointing and hand-wringing as the nation contemplates the immensity of the tragedy that befell, for the nth time, a passenger ferry of Sulpicio Lines.

Outside the Box: We do not ‘need’ foreign investment

In this column on Thursday, I wrote about articles in the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo which said some negative things about the smaller Asian economies, including the Philippines. Many of these comments were unjustified and factually unsupported. I said this was “Philippines-bashing.”

William Pesek: Spielberg goes to Bollywood to tap India’s boom

It’s a rare Hollywood tale that has roles for Steven Spielberg, India, warring billionaire brothers, hedge funds and the power shift from West to East.

Omerta: Even (Epira) rules are rigged

The full story about how the Manila Electric Co.’s (Meralco) outrageously high electric power rates came about has, of course, yet to be told. As the folks in Texas would put it, we ain’t heard nothing yet. 

Mirror on the wall: What happened to Nograles’s move to abolish VAT on power consumption?

High power rates in the Philippines, second only to those of prosperous Japan, can be traced to the value-added tax (VAT) and royalties, but it seems the government is not keen on slashing them to give electric consumers some form of relief from their daily grind.

Sen. Edgardo J. Angara: Stopping urban slums through rural development

Last year the United Nations Population Fund estimated that by 2030, 60 percent of the world’s population would live in cities. Of this, 80 percent would be located in developing countries in Asia and Africa.

Philip M. Lustre Jr.: The tragedy of local officials

It’s the height of a Shakepearean drama that local officials who work the hardest are the least likely to become president. They are certainly the most qualified and fit to assume the presidency. But the current situation doesn’t favor them to aspire for the nation’s top political post.

The Saudi spigot

When President Bush traveled to Saudi Arabia in mid-May to plead for an increase in oil production, his friend King Abdullah resisted him.