Urban growth: Facts and figures

The world is steadily becoming more urbanised, as the pace of growth of urban populations far outpaces world population growth. Some time in the next year, the proportion of the human race living in cities is projected to cross the 50% threshold. Explore the key facts and figures about urbanisation.

In 1955, there were 732m urban dwellers making up 29% of the world's population. In 2015 there will be 3.8bn, making up 53% of the world's population.

Urban growth worldwide was at its fastest in the mid 20th Century, slowing gradually as more and more parts of the world have made the shift from being predominantly rural to predominantly urban.

Africa has consistently been the region with the highest rate of urban growth since 1955, although the percentage of its population (38% in 2005) living in cities is smaller than that in any other major region.

Latin America and the Caribbean urbanised early, only a little behind the rich countries of Europe and North America. The region crossed the 50% urban threshold in the 1960s. In 2005, 77% of its population were urban dwellers, more than 72% of Europeans who lived in cities.

Although Asian growth rates are slowing, the volume of people being added to the region's urban population each year is vast. In 1960, with only 22% of its population urbanised, Asia overtook Europe in terms of numbers of urban dwellers. In 2015, Asia will have more urban dwellers than the rest of the world put together, even with only 45 % of its population urbanised.

World cities over 5 million (1950 - 2015)
Populations shown in millions
City	Country	1950	1980	2005	2015
Tokyo	Japan	11.3	28.5	35.2	35.5
Bombay	India		8.7	18.2	21.9
Mexico City	Mexico		13.0	19.4	21.6
Sao Paulo	Brazil		12.1	18.3	20.5
New York	US	12.3	15.6	18.7	19.9
Delhi	India		5.6	15.0	18.6
Shanghai	China	6.1	7.6	14.5	17.2
Calcutta	India		9.0	14.3	17.0
Dhaka	Bangladesh			12.4	16.8
Jakarta	Indonesia		6.0	13.2	16.8
Lagos	Nigeria			10.9	16.1
Karachi	Pakistan		5.0	11.6	15.2
Buenos Aires	Argentina	5.1	9.4	12.6	13.4
Cairo	Egypt		7.3	11.1	13.1
Los Angeles	US		9.5	12.3	13.1
Manila	Philippines		6.0	10.7	12.9
Beijing	China		6.4	10.7	12.9
Rio de Janeiro	Brazil		8.6	11.5	12.8
Osaka-Kobe	Japan		10.0	11.3	11.3
Istanbul	Turkey			9.7	11.2
Moscow	Moscow	5.4	8.1	10.7	11.0
Guangzhou	China			8.4	10.4
Paris	France	5.4	8.9	9.8	9.9
Seoul	South Korea		8.3	9.6	9.5
Chicago	US		7.2	8.8	9.5
Kinshasa	DR Congo			6.0	9.3
Shenzhen	China			7.2	9.0
Bogota	Colombia			7.7	8.9
London	UK	8.4	7.7	8.5	8.6
Tehran	Iran		5.1	7.3	8.4
Madras	India			6.9	8.3
Lahore	Pakistan			6.3	8.3
Wuhan	China			7.1	8.2
Tianjin	China		5.2	7.0	8.1
Lima	Peru			7.2	8.0
Bangalore	India			6.5	7.9
Hong Kong	China			7.0	7.8
Bangkok	Thailand			6.6	7.4
Hyderabad	India			6.1	7.4
Chongqing	China			6.4	7.3
Baghdad	Iraq			5.9	7.2
Ho Chi Minh	Vietnam			5.1	6.4
Belo Horizonte	Brazil			5.3	6.4
Ahmadabad	India			5.1	6.3
Santiago	Chile			5.7	6.2
Madrid	Spain			5.6	6.1
Khartoum	Sudan				6.0
Miami	US			5.4	5.9
Toronto	Canada			5.3	5.9
Philadelphia	US			5.4	5.8
Chittagong	Bangladesh				5.7
Pune	India				5.5
Riyadh	Saudi Arabia				5.4
Shenyang	China				5.4
St Petersburg	Russia			5.3	5.4
Dongguan	China				5.4
Bandung	Indonesia				5.3
Hanoi	Vietnam				5.3
Rangoon	Burma				5.2
Dallas	US				5.1
Barcelona	Spain				5.1
Source: UN DESA (2005)