In many countries around the world, rural people are moving to cities, so the population in the countryside is decreasing. Do you think this is a positive or negative development?

Answer:

Nowadays in many countries, there was a huge number of people who are moving from the countryside to urban areas. This phenomenon has both benefits and drawbacks. However, I strongly believe that its disadvantages far outweigh its advantages.

On the one hand, when people move to cities, they have more job opportunities and a chance to earn more money. In some underprivileged areas, there are no factories and no big companies. It is very difficult to find a decent job. Therefore, people have to leave their hometowns to survive and support their families. They go to big cities with a dream of changing their lives and changing their children’s futures.

On the other hand, this wave leads to a myriad of problems. First, the population of cities rises quickly and dramatically, while the infrastructure is still limited. That is why several big cities are now facing a lot of issues, such as traffic jams, air pollution, and water pollution. Second, when people leave their hometowns, they also leave their children and parents behind. For example, in the countryside of China, there are millions of children living with their grandparents while their parents are working in big cities. Studies show that these children always feel isolated and lack care. Some of them think that their parents already died because they didn’t meet their parents for several years. Furthermore, not only children but also elderly people are suffering. Most of them are sixty seventy years old but they still have to take care of their grandchildren. Moreover, no one takes care of them when they are sick. Third, if most people go to big cities, who will develop the countryside? If so, these areas will be underdeveloped forever.

In conclusion, rural–urban transition has both advantages and disadvantages. However, I strongly believe that it is a negative development, because of its numerous drawbacks.