Urban Population Trends & Patterns

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Population trends are a critical part of understanding how our environment is changing, and how human populations are affecting the planet.

The population of the world is projected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050. This increase in population is due to a number of factors, including high fertility rates in developing countries, and greater access to health care and education.

In this article we get the answers to the following questions:

What are the major trends of urbanization globally? What are the trends in urbanization in developed countries? What is the pattern of urbanization around the world? Etc.

Causes of Urbanization :

1.       Industrial revolution

Modern business grabs the eye of individuals from rustic to metropolitan regions. In the metropolitan regions, individuals work in current areas in occupations that help public financial advancement. This addresses that the old rural financial matters are changing to a new non-agrarian economy. This is the pattern, which will construct another advanced society.

2.       Emergence of large manufacturing centres:

The rise of huge assembling units gives a method for businesses and individuals from rustic regions to move to work in these assembling places.

3.       Job opportunities:

There are more than adequate open positions in uber urban areas hence town individuals or people from town every now and again relocate to these areas.

4.       Availability of transportation:

Because of simple vehicles, individuals like to remain in enormous urban communities.

5.       Migration:

Migration is the primary driver for the quick development of uber urban areas. The movement has been happening for hundreds of years and it is a typical peculiarity. While considering urbanization provincial metropolitan and metropolitan rustic and country rustic relocations are vital. Metropolitan relocation implies that individuals move from one city to another. Individuals might move to the city since they are constrained by destitution from the country’s local area or they might be pulled by the attraction of city lives. A blend of these back-and-forth factors can drive individuals to relocate to urban areas.

6.       Better Infrastructure facilities in the urban areas:

Infrastructure facilities play a fundamental part during the time spent in urbanization in the improvement of nations. As horticulture turns out to be more productive, urban communities develop by retaining the labor force from country regions. Industry and administrations increment and produce higher-worth-added occupations, and this prompted monetary development. The geographic convergence of useful exercises in urban areas creates agglomeration economies, which further raises productivity and growth. The augments income and demand for agricultural products in cities.

Factors Lead to Urbanization

There are several aspects that lead to urbanization. These factors can be categorized into three categories that include, economic opportunities, proper infrastructure and utilities, and availability of public facilities.

Economic opportunities: It is a general perception that the living standard of the urban area is superior as compared to village areas. People consider that more job opportunities and more jobs are offered in the city instead of rural areas. Besides, the income also will be higher.

Proper infrastructure and utilities: In today's economy-driven society, the majority of nations in the world are focusing on the development of major cities as the center of government and business. As such, the cities will be certainly equipped with better infrastructure and utilities such as roads and transportation, water, electricity, and others. Apart from that, the communication and internet coverage also is good in the cities which are believed as one of the pulling factors of migration.

Availability of public facilities: To make a smart city, metropolitan cities also offered better public facilities which are not there in rural areas. Since a variety of public facilities such as health and education are provided in the cities, people have more choices either to use public or private. Additionally, the provision of leisure areas, postal services as well as a police station, and others are also provided to meet the needs of the urban community. In an urban area, a greater variety of entertainment such as restaurants, movie theatres, and theme parks attract more people to live in cities.

Trends of World Urbanization

· More than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas. Due to the ongoing urbanization and growth of the world’s population, there will be about 2.5 billion more people added to the urban population by 2050, mainly in Africa and Asia. Asian cities are growing very fast. Many are the fastest growing cities are found on the continent.

· In India, interestingly Tier-II cities have a faster growth rate. The world’s urban areas are highly varied, but many cities and towns are facing problems such as a lack of jobs, homelessness and expanding squatter settlements, inadequate services and infrastructure, poor health and educational services, and high levels of pollution.

· In 1960, the global urban population was 34% of the total; however, by 2014 the urban population accounted for 54% of the total and continues to grow. By 2050 the proportion living in urban areas is expected to reach 66% (UNDESA, 2014). Figure 5.1 shows the change in the rural and urban populations of the world from 1950 through to projected figures up to the year 2050.

· The process of urbanization affects all sizes of settlements, so villages gradually grow to become small towns, smaller towns become larger towns, and large towns become cities. This succession of settlements with growing diversification of the economy. has led to the growth of mega-cities. A megacity is an urban area of greater than ten million people. The rapid expansion of city borders, driven by increases in population and infrastructure development, leads to the expansion of city borders that spread out and swallow up neighboring urban areas to form mega-cities. In 1970, there were only three mega-cities across the globe, but by the year 2000, the number had risen to 17 and by 2030, 24 more mega-cities will be added.

· The global trend in urbanization is not the same in all parts of the world. Asia and Africa currently have the highest rates of urbanization. Figure 5.3 shows a comparison of trends in more or less developed regions of the world.