The Bogota, Colombia migration study: Background

Bogota is the largest city in Colombia, dominating the national urban system. In 1973, there were almost three million residents in Bogota, 13.5 percent of the population of Colombia. The population of Bogota increased even more sharply than in other urban places in Colombia. Concomitant with rapid urbanization, there was industrial expansion in Bogota. Economic growth and employment opportunities in Bogota and other cities occurred concomitant with mechanization of commercial agriculture and growing rural poverty. The recency and the extent of the sharp increases in Bogota's population size could come about only through major population movements. It is not surprising that about half of Bogota's population growth between 1951 and 1973 has been attributed directly to internal migration. The pro-urbanization strategy had a powerful impact on the growth of Bogota's population, as the urbanization figures suggest. The methodological shift toward the life history technique was accompanied by a substantive focus on health in Bogota.