by Rod Hughes
As in much of Latin America, the past decades in Costa Rica has shown a steady rush from rural areas to the cities. Now, a recent survey says, 63& of residents live in urban areas.
The study, conducted by the United Nations Population Fund, indicates that this country is only following a worldwide trend. By 2008, more than half the world’s population (3.3 billion) will live in urban areas and by 2030, the number will be 5 billion.
The mass migration places fierce pressure on cities’ public services–education, health and infastructure such as water and sewage. Housing is a problem in many developing countries, a problem that successive Costa Rican administrations have been attacking since the mid-1980s after the government faced a growing housing shortage, especially in towns and cities.
The government attacked the situation with a massive building campaign linked with soft loans from a special housing bank, BANVI. In the low-cost housing shortage, the government has managed to make some headway, although the influx from rural areas continues, due to the higher birthrate in farming areas and the increased mechanization of cultivations.
A more recent factor has been the influx of poverty-stricken Nicaraguans who tend to have a higher birthrate than Costa Ricans. The majority have been unskilled farm workers who have been temporarily absorbed into rural areas of the country.
The UN study turned up one bright spot: Urban families have fewer children because they do not need tham for farm labor and because urban women demand that those fewer children receive a better education and quality of life.