The amount of people living in cities is expected to increase by 2 billion people between 2015 and 2050...
The Future of The World's Population is Urban
With billions of people living in urban areas - and many of them living in megacities, we will have to rethink how our cities are designed and engineered.
As a result, this presents new challenges and exciting opportunities.
As a result, this presents new challenges and exciting opportunities.
Global Urbanisation
Around the world, more people live in urban areas as compared to rural areas, with 55% of the world's population residing in urban areas in 2018. By 2050, 68% of the world's population is projected to be urban as compared to only 30% in 1950.
...with the largest increase expected in emerging markets
Although cities occupy 2% of global land mass, they generate 80% of the global GDP, consume 75% of resources and generate 70% of direct CO2 emissions.
Source: UN Population Division
Booming Megacities
In just 40 years, the total amount of megacities will quadruple, gaining nearly 600 million residents in the process.
Top Countries for Urban Population Growth
Growth in the urban population is driven by an overall population increase and by the upward shift in the percentage living in urban areas. Just three countries - India, China and Nigeria - are expected to account for 35% of the growth in the world's urban population between 2018 and 2050.
Top countries for urban population growth (2018 - 2050)
Where Do Opportunities Lie?
Here the impacts of an urbanising world filled with booming megacities:
Artificial Intelligence
Large-scale shifts in population lead to both opportunities and challenges for society. The requirements of future urban populations will be remarkably different to the cities of today, with citizens demanding connectivity to everything - every device, every entity and every object.
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Cyber Security
It is estimated that cyber breaches cost the global economy $1.5 trillion per year, and this is expected to increase - some sources believe it could cost the global economy a staggering $6 trillion by 2021. The increasing scale of cyber breaches means it has now become necessary for organisations and individuals to mature beyond a basic reactive defensive approach on cyber, to an intelligence-led, proactive one.
Sustainable Urbanisation
People often assume that building a sustainable city simply means building a 'green' city - but a truly sustainable city encompasses so much more than that. A sustainable city might be defined as an urban environment that works on an economic, social, and environmental level for its existing population, without compromising the ability of future generations to experience the same.
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