This brief paper supplements the macro study of urbanization in Arab countries and tries to examine the variations metropolitan growth rates at a micro level and identify the individual contributions of net migration and natural increase to metropolitan growth. The metropolitan growth rates follow some geographical patterns. In countries with an oil-based economy the metropolitan growth rates are high; in countries with vast unexploited resources, they are again high, but slightly below the levels of the first group; in the third group of countries, which have pressure on land, metropolitan growth rates are low. While there are great variations in the growth rates, there is also "clustering" of growth rates in Individual countries with smaller variations "within" each country Population size of the metropolitan area appears to be an important factor associated with variations in growth rates. Growth rates are low when the centers are small in size, they increase gradually as the centers expand, and finally there is a stage when the growth rates begin to decline. A paralleled tendency is observed for net migration rates also. In terms of absolute numbers, Cairo, Algiers, and Baghdad are the greatest gainers of population through migration. The typical net migration rate is of the order of +2% as against a typical growth rate of 55. Natural increase emerges as the predominant factor in metropolitan growth, but the differentials in metropolitan growth rates are more closely associated with variations in net migrations rates. Finally, it may be noted that all the possibilities of analysis of relationships of metropolitan growth are not exhausted in this brief paper. It is proposed to examine some additional variables, such as metropolitan density, administrative, function and other type of centers, the overall rate of economic growth etc. as possible factors of the speed of metropolitan growth. For some centers it is possible to classify population according to central city and suburbs. In such cases, it is proposed to examine the growth rates and their components for these two classes of areas within each metropolitan center.
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