Two-thirds of the clique’s population will be living in cities by 2050, the United Nations has launched, with India, China and Nigeria set to drive a surge in urbanization.
Today, there 55 percent of the world’s population is thought to be living in an urban quarter or city, with that figure set to rise to 68 percent all through the coming decades, according to the “Population Division” report from the UN’s Jurisdiction of Economic and Social Affairs.
The study, published Wednesday, also vaticination a dramatic upswing in the number of megacities around the world. To date, there are 33 urban centers with folk of more than 10 million people — although this is wanted to rise to 43 by 2030, mostly in developing countries.
In 1990, there were legitimate 10 megacities worldwide.
Tokyo is the world’s largest city with a citizenry of approximately 37 million people, followed by New Delhi with about 29 million and Shanghai with 26 million. However, India’s leading is forecast to surpass Japan’s most populous area by around 2028.
The UN put the growth of megacities was likely to stem from an accelerating shift from country to urban-living areas around the world, particularly in Asia.
In North America, 82 percent of people were institute to live in cities, compared to 74 percent in Europe. In Asia, round 50 percent of people were based in metropolitan areas, while Africa was expectation to be the least urban-populated continent with only 43 percent of its citizenry situated in cities.
However, the UN projected this trend would mutate over the coming decades, with India, China and Nigeria accounting for 35 percent of the conjectured growth in urban populations between 2018 and 2050.
The report also highlighted the necessary for more sustainable urban planning and public services worldwide.