Demographic Trends and Urbanization
It is now widely accepted that the future is urban. Over 55 percent of the world’s population lived in urban areas in 2018; by 2050, this proportion will grow to two-thirds. The United Nations calls urbanization one of four “demographic mega-trends...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/260581617988607640/Demographic-Trends-and-Cities-Framing-the-Report http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35469 |
| Summary: | It is now widely accepted that the
future is urban. Over 55 percent of the world’s population
lived in urban areas in 2018; by 2050, this proportion will
grow to two-thirds. The United Nations calls urbanization
one of four “demographic mega-trends” (UNDESA 2019), along
with population growth, aging, and international migration.
Yet patterns of urbanization are highly heterogeneous, both
within and across countries. Asia and Africa will see both
the largest numbers of urban dwellers and the fastest growth
in urbanization. In fact, seven of the ten countries with
the fastest projected urbanization rates between 2018 and
2050 are located in Africa. Burundi is expected to urbanize
fastest in the coming decades, followed by Nepal and Malawi.
Although global urbanization will continue, its pace is
expected to slow in the future, with both the absolute size
of the urban population and the proportion of urban dwellers
likely to grow less rapidly (UNDESA 2019). Already, we are
beginning to see shrinking cities in some parts of Eastern
Europe, where both total population and urban population are
declining. Since urbanization and urban growth are so
disparate across geographies, the implications of these
trends are also very localized. As Part II of this chapter,
we highlight some global demographic trends and their
implications for urban areas, while Part III will highlight
some regional trends. |
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