Details

Written by IELTS Mentor

IELTS Writing Task 2/ IELTS Essay:

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

These days, an increasing number of people are leaving rural areas to live in the city. Discuss some of the effects of rural depopulation (migration from the country to the city) and suggest some ways in which this trend could be reversed.

Use your own experience and support your arguments with examples and relevant experiences.

You should write at least 250 words.

Sample Answer 1:
The world has never witnessed such a great influx of population from rural areas to cities that it did in the last decade, and it is still ongoing. Cities are already over-populated, polluted and cramped with an overwhelming number of people. Only decentralisation and mandatory relocation can reverse the scenario.

To begin with, only 20 per cent of the world population lived in cities at the beginning of the 20th century while this has already escalated to over 80%. This over-population in cities increases the crime rate, contributes to environmental pollutions, declines the living standard of citizens, creates cut-throat competitions and makes living cost higher. The traffic congestion is a direct result of it that kills thousand of man-hours each day. Besides, the housing problem in cities is getting worse day by day. According to a recent study, the lifestyle of cities is declining faster with the dramatic increase of its population.

To stop people from moving to metropolitan areas, the government has to adopt an effective decentralisation policy. If enough civil facilities and employment opportunities are created in the rural and suburban areas, a few people would move to cities. People primarily migrate to big cities to have better careers and earning prospects. To reverse it, the government has to start big projects to empower the rural people and forcibly move many factories and facilities to nearby countrysides. Education, treatment and entertainment facilities in cities attract many rural people and the only way to stop this influx of people is to add those facilities to the countrysides as well.

In conclusion, cities become less habitable with the inflow of mass people who come to have a better life but eventually face more problems. Decentralisation could be a very effective solution to invert this concerning trend.

Sample Answer 2:
Rapid migration of people from rural areas to cities has created serious concerns in many countries. This essay suggests that a higher population is one of the profound impacts of this phenomenon that leads to numerous issues. It also proposes that creating facilitating, specifically entertainment and employment in rural areas, as a solution to it.

Undoubtedly, a great number of city-dwellers, particularly in megacities is a major challenge for the municipalities and state authorities, which could considerably stem from the depopulation of rural areas. As a case in point, a vast number of the country residents have immigrated to Tehran in recent years. Because of this, Tehran is one of the most populous cities which leads to higher living costs, accommodation scarcity, pollution, traffic congestions, increasing crime rates and unhygienic living standard.

Straightening out the problem of rural depopulation would not be practically simple. Yet, the government's investing in facilitating rural areas by recreation facilities and creating more job opportunities could be somehow effective in terms of persuading pastoral people rather than migrating to big cities. To illustrate, some way-out cities in Europe have implemented several projects concerning installing some recreation centres near the countries, which have notably attracted rural people. In this way, it has been possible to control the migration to cities. Besides, many rural people migrate to cities for better jobs, treatments or education. Establishing quality schools, healthcare centres, and creating more employment opportunities could effectively reduce the migration trend.                                                   

In conclusion, over-population in cities creates numerous problems that threaten the living standard of cities. One of the prudent solutions to overcome the mass influx of rural people to cities is to create more job scopes and build civic facilities for them in rural and suburban areas.

[Written by - Behzad Babaei ]

• IELTS Essay
• Writing Task 2

• Prev
• Next