During the past two decades Phnom Penh has experienced rapid growth, with its population doubling from 1998-2008 mostly due to the in-migration of rural Cambodians seeking employment in the booming capital. While in 1998 one in every twenty Cambodians lived in the city of Phnom Penh, in 2012 it was estimated to be one in ten. With a projected population of more than 1.6 million for 2012, the Phnom Penh Municipality estimates that urban poor communities account for about one quarter of the capital's residents. Projections made on the basis of assessment data would, at least, estimate the population in the 516 urban poor areas to be one-quarter of a million people.
