Overpopulation Of Urban Areas Has Led To Numerous Problems - IELTS Writing Task 2 Essay Topic

The IELTS Writing Task 2 lasts for 40 minutes. You are supposed to write an essay of at least 250 words for the topic: “Overpopulation of urban areas has led to numerous problems”. This is an IELTS Writing task 2 problem and solution essay, for which you have to discuss the problems and provide solutions for the same. For your reference, we have provided four sample essays related to different band scores.

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Overpopulation of urban areas has led to numerous problems. Identify two serious ones and suggest ways that the government and individuals can tackle these problems.

Give reasons for your answer and include relevant examples from your knowledge or experience.
You should write at least 250 words.

Model Sample Answer 1 Band 8 - Overpopulation of urban areas has led to numerous problems. Identify two serious ones and suggest ways that the government and individuals can tackle these problems.

Many people are constantly traveling from rural areas to cities for better opportunities. However, problems are now being witnessed in a wide range of countries around the world as a direct outcome of rapidly increasing populations in urban areas. The government and the people should cooperate to resolve these problems.

Overpopulation is leading to densely packed cities. The residents barely have a place that they can call their own. It has led to the existence of slum areas in the cities. The biggest example of this is the slums of Dharavi, in Mumbai. These areas are dirty and reduce one's immunity, exposing one to a variety of different diseases. With the cost of education so high, people are not educated enough to secure a job. Thus, they take desperate measures and turn to criminal activities. These have risen due to unemployment and the demand for necessities.

To resolve these issues emerging from the overpopulating cities, governments, and citizens should work together. The government should make the necessities available to the people at a minimal cost. And education for children should be made affordable at least until graduation to ensure a job after the completion of their studies. To decrease the crime rate, strict surveillance should be implemented to restrict the movements of criminals. The youths should be made aware of the consequences of their actions and discouraged from doing illegal activities. The government should make housing units in the form of apartments to accommodate the people and eradicate the slum areas.

In conclusion, people moving from the country to the city are making cities more crowded and causing a lot of problems for the people who live there. The government and individuals working together and taking responsibility for the change can solve them. 

(293 Words)

Model Sample Answer 2 Band 7.5 - Overpopulation of urban areas has led to numerous problems. Identify two serious ones and suggest ways that the government and individuals can tackle these problems.

Throughout the last few decades, the world's population has increased tremendously. Due to population growth, urban areas are most impacted. Overpopulation increases pollution and living expenses. But if government officials and individuals work together, these problems can be significantly reduced.

Urban regions are being developed quickly by governments because of the evolution of technology. As a result, more people are moving to large cities, which has produced numerous issues. First, overpopulation has caused the cost of living in cities to go up. There is a growing demand for houses as the population grows. Another major issue is the ever-growing pollution. Air pollution and water pollution are continuously rising. The use of private vehicles has caused air pollution to rise. Along with them, the smoke and waste released from the factories are also contributing to polluting the air as well as the water.

To resolve these problems, the government should encourage the citizens to stop migrating by creating job opportunities in their local and rural areas. For instance, factories or companies should be established in the villages to create an opportunity for people from the surrounding villages and towns to work there. This will stop the constant migration and increase in population in the cities. To reduce pollution, strict laws and regulations must be implemented by the authorities. The factories' heads should be penalized for releasing the waste without filtering it and encourage citizens to carpool or use public transportation to reduce air and noise pollution on the roads.

To conclude, the ever-increasing population in megacities has led to various consequences and outcomes. These can be resolved by the government through proper planning and implementation of some laws and policies.

(279 Words)

Model Sample Answer 3 Band 7 - Overpopulation of urban areas has led to numerous problems. Identify two serious ones and suggest ways that the government and individuals can tackle these problems.

Overpopulation is currently the world's biggest threat. Problems caused by overpopulation are something that residents of major cities have to learn to cope with. In this essay, I'll discuss the issues in urban areas and how individuals, governments, and institutions can solve them.

In urban areas, several issues are brought on by an abnormally high number of people. To start, there is traffic congestion in megacities. To explain this, there has been an increase in the overall number of people, as well as an excessive amount of usage of both private vehicles and public transportation. Air pollution and road accidents increase as a result of rising traffic jams. Consequently, the cost of living rises because big cities are becoming densely populated. Because of the large number of people migrating to big cities in search of better opportunities, it was important to build more houses and improve the infrastructure. Due to this, the prices of the apartments go up. Hence, middle-class people can barely manage to afford them.

To solve the problems mentioned above, governments must first expand the roads and build new flyovers. They should also start metro trains within the city and construct rail lines underneath the city. These changes will help reduce traffic jams. The public transportation system should be improved and expanded to encourage citizens to use it instead of private vehicles. Moreover, the municipalities of cities and towns should build new houses and improve their infrastructure. They should give the government housing units at a moderate cost so that middle-class families can afford them.

To sum up, overpopulation is a major issue in urban areas. It causes various problems, like jammed roads, higher living expenses, air pollution, and so on. Therefore, both governments and individuals should reduce it.

(292 Words)

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Model Sample Answer 4 Band 6.5 - Overpopulation of urban areas has led to numerous problems. Identify two serious ones and suggest ways that the government and individuals can tackle these problems.

In the last few decades, many people have started to move out from their native places to big cities to have a better chance of earning and their kids' education. However, this movement has caused the cities to be overcrowded and has produced many problems for them. To resolve these issues, the government should create opportunities in rural areas.

Unemployment is one of the major issues caused by this migration and the constantly growing population. Even though there are vacancies in the companies, the number of people seeking jobs is far greater than them. Many youths are currently unemployed and are not able to secure a job. This leads to another common threat and problem: crime. These people turn to illegal things such as stealing, pickpocketing, robberies, and so on. Pickpocketing and small thefts have become very common in big cities; however, this behavior is the reason for bigger crimes that can cause significant damage to both the city premises and the people living there.

To eliminate the increasing criminal and illegal activities, the government should introduce stricter and better surveillance as well as patrols in the areas that can be potentially targeted by thieves. To discourage people from migrating, the government should generate job opportunities and better accommodations and infrastructure in rural regions. These will decrease migration. Another option for reducing unemployment is to create more vacancies by expanding businesses and factories, giving more people a chance.

To sum up, the ever-growing population and migration are the reasons why cities are getting more and more populated. This overcrowding is generating various problems, such as unemployment. The government should generate more jobs in villages by expanding the companies and factories there.

(281 Words)

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