Young People in the Cities Today

Saksar Sawasth Aur secular Haryana

Young People in the Cities Today

The world is undergoing the largest wave of urban growth in its history. The billion population of towns and cities in 2005 will increase by .8 billion by 0 0. The urban population of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa will double in less than a generation. The fastest growth will be in the poorer urban areas. For example, the slum population of Dhaka has more than doubled in a decade, from .5 million in 1996 to .4 million in 2006. Most urban growth comes from natural
increase (more births than deaths). The urban poor have higher fertility rates than other urbanites: women have less education and less autonomy; they know little about sexual and reproductive health services, and have little access to them. Rural-urban migration also contributes to urban growth. Young people under 5 already make up half the urban population and young people from poor families will be a big part of the urban wave. The future of cities depends on what cities do now to help them, in particular to exercise their rights to education, health, employment, and civic participation. Investment in young people is the key to ending generations of poverty. In particular it is the key to reaching the Millennium Development Goals and halving poverty by2005.
Most urban young people were born in the cities. Others arrive on packed buses or trains, bringing with them few possessions, great expectations, and an eagerness to engage fully in a better life. They come with the hope of a good education, adequate health services, and a society with plenty of jobs to choose from: a plan for escaping the poverty in which their parents are trapped.
Urban centres attract economic investments, and offer a high concentration
of jobs and public services. Political power is concentrated in national, state or district capitals, and secondary schools, higher education institutions, and health care centres are better and more accessible in urban areas. The high disparity in the rates of school attendance among urban and rural youth illustrates the “urban advantage”: rural boys’ and girls’ school attendance rates are, respectively 6 and 8 per cent lower than
their urban counterparts’.
A vanishing dream?
At the beginning of the 21 st century, the best recipe for a life without poverty
is still to grow up urban; but young people’s dream of moving beyond their parents’ poverty is quickly vanishing. Although cities offer better jobs, housing,