Urbanisation and migration cannot only be measured in economic terms, but must be built around human beings and their needs. This sums up what mgr. Celestino Migliore, permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, said on April 9th in New York, at the 41st session of the Economic and Social Council of the Commission on population and development. In his speech, published today by the Vatican newsroom, mgr. Migliore asked to "look at the reasons that drive people to migrate. The urbanisation of the world population offers new opportunities for economic growth. Access to better salaries, welfare, schools, water, health care, transport and communication push people to move from the country to the big cities". This movement, in its turn, generates more challenges and problems: on one side, "the rise in the number of people, about 840 million in the world, who live in the slums of the huge cities in a state of destitution", and on the other side "the difficulties faced by the rural communities, especially in the developing countries". Of these, recalled the nuncio, "675 million people still have no access to drinkable water and two billion have no basic health care". Hence the appeal to the international community to take action.
