Urbanisation and Migration in China

China will shortly have a situation where urban dwellers will outnumber those in rural areas for the first time in history. This is one reason for the growth in the Chinese economy as migrant workers provide labour in factories in the cities and buy goods and services which helps to drive the economy.



Urbanisation rates are still far lower than Europe and North America. However, this change has meant that many younger people are leaving the rural areas resulting in an elderly imbalanced population in the countryside.