ABSTRACT
This chapter brings analytic tools to bear on the urban levels and trends described in the previous chapter. Our treatment of the issues is narrowly demographic, particularly at the outset, focusing on what might be termed the proximate causes of urban growth. Rural-to-urban migration is one of these proximate causes; of equal importance are the rates of urban and rural natural increase and the relative sizes of the urban and rural populations. Territorial reclassification must also be considered. In placing emphasis on this small set of demographic variables, we are mindful of their uncertain causal status. Rates of migration and natural increase are at once the cause and the consequence of larger social and economic forces. Even reclassification touches on economic, fiscal, and political concerns. In the chapters to follow, the socioeconomic content of the demographic variables will be explored in depth.
