Megacities

Megacities is a term we use for a metropolitan area with a population of 10 million or more. Today we have 21 megacities in the entire world, but if we look into the worlds history we see that it hasn't always been like this. In 2006, we saw for the first time in history that there were more people living in the cities than in rural areas.

If we look back about 200 years there were only 2% of the population who lived in the cities. After 150 years this percentage rose with 28 %, which is a lot compared to the previous years before 1980. This has probably much to do with the Industrial Revolution which began in the 1700s. At this time the world developed in many ways. New inventions made it a lot harder to get a job in the rural areas, and at the same time the factory industry occurred, which made it possible for people to work there. Hoping for a better future, a great part of the population moved into the cities. With the new infrastructure it also made it easier for people to move around.

In 2000 the percentage ascended with another 17 %, and in only 50 years this is a rapid increase. Its estimated that it'll be another 5% living in the cities in 2015, and when we reach 2030 the percentage will be at 60%. This comes with a lot of global challenges. With people moving to cities, there will always be a lot of the people ending up in slum areas. Have we got enough recourses to all of the people who are going to live in this world in 20 years?

The next statistics I'm going to take a look at is the one about the population in regions of the world. The first thing we see which is eye-catching, is that the three first continents has a descending population, these continents are North America, South America and Europe. Following we have the two poorest continents, and both of them has a increasing population. Especially Asia which already has the largest population comparing to the other continents, will have problems with the population growth.

According to an article published by City Mayors' website, the world's urban population will grow from 2.86 billion in 2000 to 4.98 billion in 2030. what this article also says is that the high-income countries only will consist of 28 million out of the 4.98. This is a very small part of the increase, and the continents that has a rose in the population will have problems, especially since a lot of people already are suffering from poverty etc.

Megacities: 2006 - 2011

2006:

1. Tokyo (Japan) 33.4 million
2. New York (USA) 24.1 million
3. Mexico City (Mexico) 21.7 million
4. Seoul (South Korea) 20.2 million
5. Sao Paulo (Brazil) 19.2 million
6. Los Angeles (USA) 18.3 million
7. Jakarta (Indonesia) 18.2 million
8. Osaka-Kyoto-Kobe (Japan) 17.7 million
9. Delhi (India) 17.4 million
10. Mumbai (India) 17.4 million

2011:

1. Tokyo (Japan) 34.2 million
2. Guangzhou (China) 24.900 million
3. Seoul (South Korea) 24.5 million
4. Delhi (India) 23.9 million
5. Mumbai (India) 23.3 million
6. Mexico City (Mexico) 22.8 million
7. New York City (USA) 22.2 million
8. Sao Paulo (Brazil) 20.8 million
9. Manila (Philippines) 20.1 million
10. Shanghai (China) 18.8 million

we can see that it has been a great change for many cities. A lot of cities has been changed with new ones only after 5 years, so we can see that there is a great development some places.

Rikke