3. Scale and Magnitude of Urbanization in Bangladesh

This chapter concludes that although the growth of urbanization in Bangladesh prior to the twentieth century was very slow, the process of urbanization got momentum after 1947. The process continued to a great speed up until now. From 1974 until 2011, urban population in Bangladesh has increased 6.8 times as compared to 1.7 times in the rural population. According to last Census data that took place in 2011, there is 42.70 million of the urban population in the country which has been projected as 98.6 million in 2030. Although Bangladesh is considered as a rural economy, the rapid growth of urbanization has superseded the contribution of rural economy in the GDP, meaning that the share of the rural sector to GDP has reduced from 74.64 percent in 1972–1973 to 57 percent in 2000–2001. On the other hand, urban contribution to GDP has increased from 25.36 percent in 1972–1973 to 43 percent in 2001. Finally, it has been argued in this chapter that the age-old “rural–urban divide” has become problematic in the context of growing urbanization and rapid advancement of the rural sector in Bangladesh, which has necessitated the interfacing between rural and urban areas.