Introduction: This is the report of the third round of the bi-annual Asian Urban Inquiry. The purpose of this Inquiry is to identify Asian urban problems by eliciting city administrators' perceptions of these problems they face. In previous rounds of this Inquiry, some of the administrators' strategies for addressing these problems were also examined. However, the current survey focuses on eliciting information regarding the problems per se. Questionnaires were distributed to approximately 300 cities in 9 countries. Replies were received from 187 cities in 9countries. The number of replies, by country, is as follows:

Country	Cities
1. China	13
2. India	20
3. Indonesia	28
4. Japan	31
5. Republic of Korea	30
6. Malaysia	16
7.Pakistan	22
8. Philippines	20
9. Thailand	7
TOTAL	187

Note:The Republic of Korea will hereafter be referred to as South Korea.

National Contexts: The cities covered in this survey come from countries of vastly different levels of national income, social background, and economic development. All have experienced significant urbanization and demographic changes in the last 50 years since the end of World War II. Japan continues to be the major economic force in the region. South Korea continues to advance as indicated by economic and social indicators.
Southeast Asia remains ahead of South Asia in national income and levels of other social indicators. These factors of national context are assumed to influence the respondents' judgments and opinions regarding their cities' situation.

City Size: Most of the cities in this survey are what is known as medium- sized or second tier cities. In this survey, these terms refer to cities with a population between 100,000 to 4,000,000 inhabitants. These cities, in general, are of a scale that places them between the major metropolises and the rural areas of a given country.

Rate and Source of Urban Population Growth: All respondents reported a positive growth rate. The difference in average growth rates ranged from .6%(Thailand) to 5.2%(India). The averages for all countries, except China and Thailand, indicated a higher rate of growth than is indicated by UNFPA in The State of World Population, 1993. Most of the cities represented in this survey are facing growth rates that are higher than their national averages.

Perception of Growth: Respondents are generally satisfied with their cities' current growth rates. Slightly more than one-third of the respondents (65 of 184) indicated that they were satisfied with their city's growth. Approximately one-quarter (49 of 184) indicated that the growth was either too low or much too low. 37.4% of the respondents (70 of 184) perceived their city's growth as either too high or much too high.

Poverty: A total of 74 of the 187 respondents provided data on the known percent of their city's population living below the level of poverty they indicated for their cities. 72 respondents gave estimates of the percent of their population living below the poverty level. The results in this section indicate that the level of poverty falls between two extremes. Either poverty is not a problem, or it is a serious problem.

Status of Women: The status of women is compared to that of men in twelve categories. Six of the twelve categories, those concerning education and health, indicated that women generally have equal access or opportunity as compared to men. In five categories, those concerning job opportunities and level of payment, women are indicated as having less or much less access as compared to men. Only one item, life expectancy at birth, indicated that women are better off than men.

Quality of life: The Quality of Life Indicators most commonly mentioned in the top five are: health care, housing, employment, income, and literacy. If we consider only the first three rankings, then income is the most commonly chosen and health care is the second. Employment and housing are most commonly mentioned in the fourth and fifth rankings.

Fertility and Family Planning: Approximately three-quarters of the respondents (139 of 183) indicated that the birth rate was either satisfactory or too low. Respondents generally indicated that family planning services and supplies are available. The known rates given for contraceptive use were far lower than the estimated rates given. This implies that respondents may be overestimating the use of contraceptives in their cities.

General Problems: Of the ten general categories in this section, public utilities, employment, transportation, crime, and housing ranked, in that order, as the five most commonly perceived as problems. Other items are seen as being minor problems with food supply being most often seen as the least problematic of the ten categories. None of the composite scores derived from the sub-categories indicates that the situation is seen as satisfactory or as an advantage to the city.