Total Population Growth
• In 1950, 68% of the world's population was in developing countries, with 8% in least developed countries.
• In 2000, world population reached 6.1 billion, and is growing at an annual rate of 1.2 per cent, or 77 million people per year.
• By 2030, it is expected that 85% of the world's population will be in developing countries, with 15% in LDCs.
• Cities are growing very fast- over 90% of population growth in developing countries is in cities.
Ubanization: Global Facts and Figures
• More than half of the world's population will be living in urban areas by 2008.
• By 2030, it is expected that 60% of the world population will live in urban areas.
• Almost 180,000 people are added to the urban population each day.
• It is estimated that there are almost a billion poor people in the world, of this over 750 million live in urban areas without adequate shelter and basic services.
• 1/3 of people in developing countries living in cities, live in slum/squatter settlements.
• Over 1/2 the people in the world live on less than $2 per day. Urbanization: Regional Comparisons
• Though Africa is predominantly rural, with only 37.3 % living in urban areas in 1999, with a growth rate of 4.87%, Africa is the continent with the fastest rate of urbanization.
• In 1999, 36.2% of the Asian population was urbanized and the urban growth rate is in the region of 3.77%.
• The urban population of developing countries is expected to reach 50% in 2020. Information from http://www.unhabitat.org and http://www.citiesalliance.org URBAN AREAS WITH 5 MILLION INHABITANTS OR MORE, 1950-2015
| 1950
| 1975
| 2000
| 2015
| | Rank | Area | Pop.
(1000s) | Rank | Area | Pop.
(1000s) | Rank | Area | Pop.
(1000s) | Rank | Area | Pop.
(1000s) |
| | 1 | New York | 12 339 | 1 | Tokyo | 19 771 | 1 | Tokyo | 26 444 | 1 | Tokyo | 27 190 | | 2 | London | 8 733 | 2 | New York | 15 880 | 2 | Mexico City | 18 066 | 2 | Dhaka | 22 766 | | 3 | Tokyo | 6 920 | 3 | Shanghai | 11 443 | 3 | São Paulo | 17 962 | 3 | Mumbai (Bombay) | 22 577 | | 4 | Paris | 5 441 | 4 | Mexico City | 10 691 | 4 | New York | 16 732 | 4 | São Paulo | 21 229 | | 5 | Moscow | 5 356 | 5 | São Paulo | 10 333 | 5 | Mumbai (Bombay) | 16 086 | 5 | Delhi | 20 884 | | 6 | Shanghai | 5 333 | 6 | Osaka | 9 844 | 6 | Los Angeles | 13 213 | 6 | Mexico City | 20 434 | | 7 | Rhein-Ruhr Northª | 5 296 | 7 | Buenos Aires | 9 144 | 7 | Calcutta | 13 058 | 7 | New York | 17 944 | | 8 | Buenos Aires | 5 042 | 8 | Los Angeles | 8 926 | 8 | Shanghai | 12 887 | 8 | Jakarta | 17 268 | | 9 | Paris | 8 885 | 9 | Dhaka | 12 519 | 9 | Calcutta | 16 747 | | 10 | Beijing | 8 545 | 10 | Delhi | 12 441 | 10 | Karachi | 16 197 |
Table from United Nations: World Urbanization Prospects: The 2001 Revision Chapter 6 |
Urban Population Vs. Rural Population 1950 - 2030
 Graphs from http://www.worldbank.org/data/ |
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