TEHRAN – Socioeconomic issues are among the main reasons driving Iranians out of villages and into the cities.

After Iraq’s invasion of Iran on September 22, 1980, many Iranians, living on the Iran-Iraq borders sought refuge in major cities in the country.

34 years after the beginning of the Iran-Iraq war, Jahanbakhsh Abdahu, a man from the city of Qasr-e Shirin in Kermanshah Province, describes his experience as an internally displaced civilian during the war.

Having been forced to flee from his hometown, Abdahu recalls, “Our city was occupied by the Baathist army. It was one of the bitter days of my life, and we had to migrate to Tehran. I’ll never forget those days as long as I shall live. We were left with no alternative but to move away.”

Now, after 26 years of what marks the end of the imposed war on Iran, the country has one of the highest urban growth rates in the Middle East.

According to a United Nation’s report, in 1950, about 27 percent of Iran’s population was urban, but now, the figure has more than doubled and reached a staggering 65 percent.

A UN report predicts that by 2030, Iran’s population will be nearly 80 percent urban, an unprecedented figure for a developing country.

Now, let’s take a look at the downfall of rural population growth and migration to bigger cities.

The development gap between rural and urban areas is a reason to increase migration.

Immigration has always been one of the outstanding problems of the last decades and has had various motives along history.

Trying to improve welfare and achieve a better life is amongst the common goals of people in every society, hence, any shortage in these areas makes people leave their habitat and move to a new place in search of a better life.

In comparison with developed countries, in developing countries there is more migration from villages to cities, and statistics show that this process puts villages in danger of abandonment.

The lure of cities is irresistible and hastens migration. Repulsion and lure of rural and urban life indicates drastic differences of these two environments.

Uneven development creates a gap in jobs, salaries, and social services for different classes of the society and hence people are lured to migrate to cities to escape from the hardships of life.

Unemployment is a major reason behind migration from villages -- which is chiefly due to the economic situation, automation of agricultural processes, lack of facilities to improve individual abilities, natural disasters, etc.

Overpopulation in suburban areas of the cities and abandonment of villages are some of the consequences of this phenomenon.

At a national conference on cities and villages on October 6, 2014, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani expressed regret about the wave of migration from villages to cities and said that research centers and universities have to conduct investigations to discover the underlying issues behind this phenomenon.

Rouhani added that sustainable development is the main objective of his government, and the population decline in rural areas has to be halted.

As such, it is expected that more sustainable economic development measures will be adopted in the upcoming years by the government in the villages and towns to halt the urge of people migrating from rural areas to megacities.


****** Highlight:


A UN report predicts that by 2030, Iran’s population will be nearly 80 percent urban, an unprecedented figure for a developing country.