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Unlock This CourseTowns and cities are growing all over the world, but not at the same speed. First, three ideas must be kept apart. They are easy to mix up in an exam.
Key terms:
Urban growth can happen without urbanisation. If a country's cities and its villages both double in size, the number of urban people rises (urban growth) but the percentage who are urban stays the same (no urbanisation).
The word "urbanisation" also appeared in Why Rivers Flood and What Floods Do, where it meant the building over of land. Here it is about people and where they live.
About 200 years ago, only a small minority of people lived in towns and cities. In 2007 the world passed a milestone: for the first time, more than half of all people lived in urban areas. The United Nations (UN) estimated that about 55% were urban in 2018.
The UN predicts that about 68% of the world's people will be urban by 2050. That means roughly 2.5 billion more people living in towns and cities, with almost 90% of that increase in Asia and Africa.
The world is not urbanising evenly. Regions can be compared by how urban they already are, and by how fast they are growing.
| Region | About how urban (2018) | Urban growth |
|---|---|---|
| North America | More than 80% | Slow: already very urban |
| Latin America and the Caribbean | About 80% | Slow to moderate |
| Europe | About 75% | Slow, and some cities shrinking |
| Asia | About 50% | Fast: the largest numbers of new urban people |
| Africa | About 43% | Fastest rates of any region |
Notice the pattern: the most urban regions are growing slowest, while the least urban regions are growing fastest.
Many people still live in the countryside, so there are plenty of potential movers. Rural-urban migration brings in people looking for jobs, schools and healthcare. Cities also have a high natural increase, because many migrants are young adults who have children there. Both add to the urban population at the same time.
Most people already live in cities, so there are few rural people left to move. Birth rates are low. Some people leave large cities for the countryside or small towns for quiet, cheaper housing: this is counter-urbanisation. Some old industrial cities even lose people.
The detailed reasons people move are taught in Why Cities in LICs Grow So Fast. For now, remember the two engines of fast urban growth: migration into cities and natural increase within them.
The number of megacities has grown quickly. There were only a few in 1950 (New York and Tokyo), but the UN counted more than 30 in 2018, and most are now in LICs and MICs. They are mainly in Asia, but also in Africa and Latin America.
Use these steps, with figures and place names from the source:
Describe means say what the pattern is. Do not explain why unless the question asks you to.
Made-up Country A had 12 million urban people in 2010 and 15 million in 2020, out of a total population of 40 million in 2010 and 45 million in 2020.
Urban growth: 15 - 12 = 3 million more people in towns and cities.
Urban growth rate: 3 ÷ 12 × 100 = 25% over 10 years, which is about 2.5% a year.
Urbanisation: in 2010, 12 ÷ 40 = 30% urban. In 2020, 15 ÷ 45 = about 33% urban. The proportion is up by about 3 percentage points.
Mixing up urban growth (a number of people) and urbanisation (a percentage). Saying that the most urbanised countries are growing fastest: they are usually growing slowest. Saying that every country in Africa and Asia is growing at the same fast pace: it varies by country. Explaining the pattern when the question says Describe.
Study Fig. 1.1, which shows made-up data for three regions. The figures are not real.
| Region | Percentage urban in 2000 | Percentage urban in 2020 | Urban growth rate (% a year) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Region X | 30 | 43 | 3.5 |
| Region Y | 72 | 78 | 0.8 |
| Region Z | 50 | 61 | 2.0 |
Fig. 1.1
(a) Define urban growth rate. [1 mark]
(b) Calculate the change in the percentage of people living in urban areas in Region Z between 2000 and 2020. [1 mark]
(c) Describe the pattern of urban growth rates shown in Fig. 1.1. [3 marks]
(d) Explain why urban growth rates are often fast in LICs and slow in many HICs. [6 marks]
(a) How fast the urban population is growing, shown as a percentage change each year. (1)
(b) 61 - 50 = an increase of 11 percentage points. (1)
(c) Region X has the fastest urban growth rate at 3.5% a year (1), and Region Y the slowest at 0.8% a year (1). Region Z is in the middle at 2.0% a year. The least urban region in 2000 (X, 30%) is growing fastest, and the most urban (Y, 72%) is growing slowest. (1)
(d) Level 2 (4-6 marks): LICs have many people still in the countryside, and rural-urban migration brings them into cities looking for jobs and services (1). Migrants are mostly young adults, so they have children in the city and natural increase is high as well (1). Together, migration and natural increase make the urban population grow quickly (1). In many HICs, most people already live in cities, so there are few rural people left to move (1). Birth rates are low, so natural increase is small (1). Some people move out to the countryside in counter-urbanisation, which slows urban growth even further (1).
Level 1 (1-3 marks): a simple statement such as "people move to cities in LICs for jobs", with no link to HICs.
In (c), quote at least two figures with units and compare regions. In (d), "Explain" needs both halves of the question: say why growth is fast in LICs and why it is slow in many HICs.