Dhaka as a Megacity

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A megacity is defined as a metropolitan area with a total population in excess of ten million people. Located on the banks of the Buriganga River lies Dhaka; the capital city of Bangladesh. As per the definition of a megacity, it is the 7th largest populous city in the world and in accordance with the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, it has an estimated population of 15 million and is likely to continue to increase. It is expected to reach a staggering population of 25 million by 2025. The main cause for the rapid population increase is due to in-migration. The reasons associated with this main factor are that there are better employment opportunities, thus, giving people a chance to escape from the poverty cycle. However, this lands up causing extreme inequality between the higher and lower income families, which eventually results in higher housing prices as well as poor infrastructure. Dhaka’s rapid population growth is caused by various factors, however, the main cause is in-migration. The common misconception is that the source of the rapid population growth which happens to be 1.6% is due to high fertility rates. However, this is most definitely not the case because the fertility rate of Dhaka happens to be 2.45 children born/woman (2014 est.), which is quite similar to other MEDCs. In-migration is the true reasoning behind the sudden inclination in population within the capital city. 70% of the rural lower income families migrate due to environmental factors which result in citizens not being able to earn a living, and in turn, places the them in absolute poverty. Coastal flooding and river erosions tend to occur quite often and thus, it destroys crops and rice fields that sustain villagers as saline water pushes further inland. Ferocious storms demolish homes and, in some cases, entire towns. Other push factors include over-population, growing
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