The 2017 census has revealed that the number of people living in urban areas have increased dramatically.

Minister for Housing, Parveen Bala who believes this migration trend is expected to increase in the future.

Bala says he is expecting municipal council heads to bring up this issue at the Local Government Forum.

“The census results reveal that 55.9 percent of Fiji’s population resides in urban areas which is an increase from 50.7 percent in 2007. So you can imagine the migration trend from rural to urban. And I know for myself that there will be issues from municipal councils on this migration trend that we have and I know they will raise their voice in terms of providing services but we can’t run away from this."

Bala says they will remain committed to ensuring that they are able to facilitate the increasing numbers of people living in urban areas.

Meanwhile, last year’s census revealed that Fiji had a population of 884,887 compared to 837,271 in 2007.