When is a city not a city? When it’s an urban cluster or has a cathedral
The US starts classifying settlements as urban when they exceed a population threshold of 2,500; for Egypt, the number is 100,000
Seattle — Widely accepted numbers on how much of the world’s population lives in cities are incorrect, with major implications for development aid and the provision of public services for billions of people, researchers say. The UN predicts the world’s urban population is expected to grow to 70% by 2050 from 55% at present after becoming majority urban for the first time around 2008. Not so, say researchers based at the European Commission. Using a definition made possible by advances in geospatial technology that uses high-resolution satellite images to determine the number of people living in a given area, they estimate 84% of the world’s population, or almost 6.4-billion people, live in urban areas. "Everything we’ve heard about global urbanisation turns out to be wrong," said lead researcher Lewis Dijkstra. Asia and Africa, which are routinely cited as majority-rural continents that are rapidly urbanising, turn out to be well ahead of figures in the UN’s latest estimates. Once t...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.