UN: Two-thirds of the world's population will live in cities by 2050


05/18/2018

The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs published new projections on the global growth in the number of cities and urban population. According to the estimates, by 2030 there will be 43 mega-cities in the world with a population of 10 million people, and by 2050 two-thirds of the world's inhabitants will be townspeople.



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As noted in the report of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, by 2050, 68% of the world's population will live in cities. Now this figure reaches 55% and there are about 4.2 billion urban residents in the world (in 1950 there were only 751 million).

According to UN estimates, the greatest rate of increase in the urban population due to the fact that people leave rural areas, will occur in the next 30 years in countries of Asia and Africa. Now neither of them is the most urbanized region in the world as North America (82%), Latin America and the Caribbean (81%), Europe (74%) and Oceania (68%) are leading. In Asia, this figure reaches 50%. But, according to the UN, in the next 30 years it is the countries of Asia and Africa that will experience the greatest urbanization.

Only three countries - India, China and Nigeria – will have 35% of the projected growth of the urban population. By 2050, 416 million new citizens will appear in India, 255 million - in China, 189 million - in Nigeria.

The UN report also forecasts emergence of 43 mega cities with a population of more than 10 million people by 2030. Most of them will be located in developing countries. This is a significant growth, considering that in 1990 there were 10 such cities, and now there are 33 of them.

The most populated city of the world - Tokyo – now hosts 37 million people. Indian Delhi with a population of 29 million takes the second place. Next come Shanghai (26 million), Mexico City (22 million) and São Paulo (22 million). According to UN estimates, Tokyo will cede leadership to the capital of India by about 2028, as the urban population will gradually decline beginning in 2020. And about the same time, India should outrun China by the total population.

The UN warns that many countries will face serious difficulties in meeting needs of the growing urban population, including housing, food, transportation, electricity, health services, etc. In this regard, the organization calls for more active development of urban territories projects, "while not forgetting the needy people and other vulnerable groups of the population".

source: un.org