Urbanization
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In 1800, the world was just 3% urban. Today, over half of the world’s people live in cities. The five largest urban agglomerations in the world are Delhi, Dhaka, Karachi, Kolkata, and Mumbai. All of these are in South-central Asia. In these five areas, twenty million people live in slums without sufficient sanitation or power. Over 99% of the populations of Chad and Ethiopia live in slums. Perhaps the largest geographic stretch of poverty is found in the corridor between Abidjan and Ibadan, where 70 million people live in poverty. The urban poor are the biggest single challenge.
[edit] Table1
| 1950 | % | 1975 | % | Growth Rate | 2000 | % | Rate | |||||||
| World | 731,765,000 | 100% | 1,515,870,000 | 100% | 1.03 | 2,844,802,000 | 100% | 1.03 | ||||||
| AFRICA | 32,844,000 | 4.5% | 105,470,000 | 7.0% | 1.05 | 294,392,000 | 10.3% | 1.04 | ||||||
| East Africa | 3,454,000 | 0.5% | 15,643,000 | 1.0% | 1.06 | 53,041,000 | 1.9% | 1.05 | ||||||
| Middle Africa | 3,665,000 | 0.5% | 12,746,000 | 0.8% | 1.05 | 35,899,000 | 1.3% | 1.04 | ||||||
| North Africa | 13,234,000 | 1.8% | 37,578,000 | 2.5% | 1.04 | 85,540,000 | 3.0% | 1.03 | ||||||
| Southern Africa | 5,870,000 | 0.8% | 12,951,000 | 0.9% | 1.03 | 28,053,000 | 1.0% | 1.03 | ||||||
| West Africa | 6,621,000 | 0.9% | 26,553,000 | 1.8% | 1.06 | 91,858,000 | 3.2% | 1.05 | ||||||
| ASIA | 234,418,000 | 32.0% | 574,842,000 | 37.9% | 1.04 | 1,363,035,000 | 47.9% | 1.04 | ||||||
| East Asia | 110,663,000 | 15.1% | 255,736,000 | 16.9% | 1.03 | 597,490,000 | 21.0% | 1.03 | ||||||
| South-central Asia | 81,640,000 | 11.2% | 194,800,000 | 12.9% | 1.04 | 437,035,000 | 15.4% | 1.03 | ||||||
| South-east Asia | 27,482,000 | 3.8% | 75,082,000 | 5.0% | 1.04 | 205,621,000 | 7.2% | 1.04 | ||||||
| West Asia | 14,633,000 | 2.0% | 49,224,000 | 3.2% | 1.05 | 122,888,000 | 4.3% | 1.04 | ||||||
| EUROPE | 276,658,000 | 37.8% | 443,142,000 | 29.2% | 1.02 | 522,108,000 | 18.4% | 1.01 | ||||||
| East Europe | 86,388,000 | 11.8% | 172,624,000 | 11.4% | 1.03 | 208,145,000 | 7.3% | 1.01 | ||||||
| North Europe | 53,348,000 | 7.3% | 68,596,000 | 4.5% | 1.01 | 78,530,000 | 2.8% | 1.01 | ||||||
| South Europe | 49,200,000 | 6.7% | 79,582,000 | 5.2% | 1.02 | 95,539,000 | 3.4% | 1.01 | ||||||
| West Europe | 87,721,000 | 12.0% | 122,340,000 | 8.1% | 1.01 | 139,894,000 | 4.9% | 1.01 | ||||||
| LATIN AMERICA | 70,237,000 | 9.6% | 197,437,000 | 13.0% | 1.04 | 394,212,000 | 13.9% | 1.03 | ||||||
| Caribbean | 6,126,000 | 0.8% | 13,305,000 | 0.9% | 1.03 | 23,273,000 | 0.8% | 1.02 | ||||||
| Central America | 14,660,000 | 2.0% | 45,205,000 | 3.0% | 1.05 | 93,528,000 | 3.3% | 1.03 | ||||||
| South America | 49,451,000 | 6.8% | 138,927,000 | 9.2% | 1.04 | 277,410,000 | 9.8% | 1.03 | ||||||
| NORTH AMERICA | 109,667,000 | 15.0% | 179,751,000 | 11.9% | 1.02 | 249,242,000 | 8.8% | 1.01 | ||||||
| OCEANIA | 7,941,000 | 1.1% | 15,226,000 | 1.0% | 1.03 | 21,813,000 | 0.8% | 1.01 | ||||||
| Australia/New Zealand | 7,713,000 | 1.1% | 14,258,000 | 0.9% | 1.02 | 19,895,000 | 0.7% | 1.01 | ||||||
| Melanesia | 124,000 | 0.0% | 656,000 | 0.0% | 1.07 | 1,332,000 | 0.0% | 1.03 | ||||||
| Micronesia | 47,000 | 0.0% | 152,000 | 0.0% | 1.05 | 332,000 | 0.0% | 1.03 | ||||||
| Polynesia | 57,000 | 0.0% | 160,000 | 0.0% | 1.04 | 255,000 | 0.0% | 1.02 | ||||||
Source: UN Urbanization Prospects 2005.
