11 July is the World Population Day. On the Worldbank website, an article focus on the challenges of the world population growth. Extracts :
In a historical first, more people now live in cities than rural areas.
The world’s population is now 6.6 billion, according to a new UN report,and slightly ore than half live in urban areas, the majority of them in developing countries.
Between now and 2050, the report says,world population will surge by more than 37 percent – from 6.616 billion to 9.076 billion, with Asia and Africa leading the way.
According to Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director of the UN Population Fund, “this wave of urbanization is without precedent. The changes are too large and too fast to allow planners and policymakers simply to react: In Africa and Asia, the number of people living in cities increases by approximately 1 million, on average, each week. Leaders need to be proactive and take far-sighted action to fully exploit the opportunities that urbanization offers.”
Four of the top 10 “mega-cities” (those of at least 10 million population) are in South Asia – Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi and Dhaka. Asia is home to three-fifths of the world’s population, but it will be Africa that leads the way in population growth in coming decades, thereport says.
One of the myths of urban growth, the report says, is that migration from rural areas should be controlled. It says migrants to cities generally make “rational choices” that give them more livability options than they would have in rural villages.
Check your knowledge with this quiz on urbanization !
In a historical first, more people now live in cities than rural areas.
The world’s population is now 6.6 billion, according to a new UN report,and slightly ore than half live in urban areas, the majority of them in developing countries.
Between now and 2050, the report says,world population will surge by more than 37 percent – from 6.616 billion to 9.076 billion, with Asia and Africa leading the way.
According to Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director of the UN Population Fund, “this wave of urbanization is without precedent. The changes are too large and too fast to allow planners and policymakers simply to react: In Africa and Asia, the number of people living in cities increases by approximately 1 million, on average, each week. Leaders need to be proactive and take far-sighted action to fully exploit the opportunities that urbanization offers.”
Four of the top 10 “mega-cities” (those of at least 10 million population) are in South Asia – Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi and Dhaka. Asia is home to three-fifths of the world’s population, but it will be Africa that leads the way in population growth in coming decades, thereport says.
One of the myths of urban growth, the report says, is that migration from rural areas should be controlled. It says migrants to cities generally make “rational choices” that give them more livability options than they would have in rural villages.
Check your knowledge with this quiz on urbanization !
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