1.1 patterns of dev + distribution

• Distribution in China

  • Mostly concentrated in the south-eastern part of the country
  • Beijing and Shanghai have the highest GDP per capita, over US$23,000
  • Eastern China is easier to develop due to its flat plains
  • The Yangtze and Yellow rivers provide water for farmland and cities
  • Four provinces along the east coast have a GDP per capita of over US$13,000
  • These are favoured by global trade and commerce
  • The province of Gansu in northern China has the lowest GDP of US$4936
  • Frequent earthquakes, droughts, and low agricultural productivity contribute to economic instability
  • Western China is the least populated region
  • This is due to the Taklamakan and Gobi Deserts, along with the Tibetan Plateau
  • These regions receive little to no rainfall because of the Himalayan Mountains
  • They are high enough to see extreme temperature swings from as low as -40° C in the winter to 60° C in the summer
• Migration in China:

  • Since 1978, over 160 million people have left rural China to seek work in the major cities
  • Wages in urban areas are 40% higher than in rural areas 
  • Development is concentrated along the coastal zones
  • The majority of the migrants are:
  • Economically active
  • Mostly female
  • From inland, rural, and poor communities 
  • They are considered a floating population, as they don't have official urban hukou status
• China's internal migration stream:

  • China rapidly industrialised after the government created Special Economic Zones (SEZ) during the 1980s
  • These policies allowed for foreign investment into 'special zones', that are managed by a single administration and regulations
  • More than 200 million rural migrants now work in China's main cities, such as Shanghai and Shenzhen
  • Around 20 million people arrive in cities each year
  • Over the next decade, an estimated 60% of Chinese people will live in urban areas
• China's megacities

  • Result of rapid urbanisation, economic growth, and migration from rural areas
  • Centres of innovation, trade, culture, and transportation, with leading technologies such as solar energy, electric cars, high-speed rail, 5G, AI, and space science
  • Face challenges such as environmental pollution, social inequality, traffic congestion, housing affordability, and cultural preservation
• Number of economic zones and open cities in China

  • 5 economic zones
  • 17 open cities
• Economic zones and open cities


  Aim to attract inward investment
• Economic zones and city groups


  • Jingjinji Integration
  • Chengdu-Chongqing City Group
  • Yangtze Delta City Group
• There are plans to combine the largest megacity, Shanghai, with eight surrounding cities. This would create the city of Jing-Jin-Ji with 130 million inhabitants by 2035 
• Megacities in China:

  • Approximately 56% of the world’s 8 billion people now live in cities
  • This is expected to rise to over 68% by 2050
  • That means 2 out of every 3 people will live in a city
  • China has more than 100 cities with over one million people
  • 6 of them are considered megacities with over 10 million people each
• Background Information of China:

  • China, with a land area of 9,706,961 km2, is located in East Asia
  • 27% of the land is desert
  • 33% are mountainous regions
  • It is the second-most populous country in the world, with 1.42 billion people
  • 10% of the population live on less than 1% of the available land
  • The average life expectancy is 74 years (men) and 79 years (women)
• Background Information of South Africa

  • 69.0 % of the population is urban
  • The median age in South Africa is 27.6 years
  • Average life expectancy is 60 years (men) and 66 years (women)
  • A large plateau dominates the centre of the country, with rolling hills falling to plains and the coast
  • The climate is mostly semiarid; subtropical along east coast; sunny days and cool nights
  • South Africa has 3 capitals - Pretoria (administrative capital); Cape Town (legislative capital); and Bloemfontein (judicial capital) and 9 provinces
• Distribution of South African population

  • Black African 81.4%, coloured 8.2%, white 7.3%, Indian/Asian 2.7%, other 0.4%
  • The eastern half of the country is more densely populated than the west
  • The province of Gauteng, has the highest concentration with 830/km2 (20% of South Africa’s population)
  • With concentrations of people inland around and along the southern and south-eastern coast
• International migration in South Africa:

  • Most Africans escaping from violence tend to seek security and prosperity elsewhere on their own continent 
  • Of the world's 17 million displaced Africans. approximately 3% are in Europe, despite the media coverage
  • The number of displaced people in Africa has increased by around 20% due to unresolved crises in:
  • Libya
  • South Sudan
  • Central African Republic
  • Northern Mozambique
  • Ethiopia
  • Cameroon's north-west and south-west regions
• International migration in South Africa:

  • Overall, the 'Rainbow Nation' of South Africa (SA) has attracted roughly 3.2 million migrants to its wealth and stability from elsewhere in Africa
  • Most migrants are from neighbouring countries, but also Morocco or Eritrea and mostly head towards Johannesburg
  • Neighbourhoods such as Mayfair in Johannesburg are almost entirely populated by East Africans
  • Unfortunately, there have been repeated outbreaks of violence towards migrants, which are caused by a shortage of jobs, housing, and services
• International migration in South Africa:

  • Over a million asylum seekers are still waiting to be processed, making South Africa the country with the highest number of pending claims in the world
  • With increased European resistance to accepting new migrants, it is unlikely the flow of migrants to South Africa will slow 
• Internal migration in South Africa:

  • Migration has been a major part of the development of South Africa, particularly unskilled labour migration from peripheral countries such as Mozambique, Botswana, Lesotho and Malawi to the mining regions
  • Colonialism created economic node/centre, which in turn brought continued uneven development of the country
  • After apartheid and the relaxing of migration rules, internal migration has been driven by economics where the majority of South Africans move from the poorer provinces to the richer ones, and from rural areas to the cities
• Internal migration in South Africa:

  • Gauteng is South Africa’s wealthiest province, mostly a city region, it is the centre of the country’s economy
  • Between 2016 and 2021 Gauteng saw the largest net migration rate  of 1.5 million people population and continues to increase in number
  • The majority of migrants came from Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal
  • Johannesburg City saw the largest number of internal migrants
• Internal migration pre and post apartheid:

  • From 1960 to the late 1980s, apartheid laws kept families and communities in poor rural areas
  • Forced migration of many black people to the homelands such as Transkei and KwaZulu-Natal
  • Young, black men were allowed to move to the cities, where their labour was valuable
  • However, they were forced to live separately in ‘townships’, and needed both residential and work permits to live in the restricted areas
• Internal migration pre and post apartheid:

  • After the end of apartheid, from the mid-1990s, internal migration increased, particularly for black South Africans
  • Urbanisation grew, with Johannesburg seeing the largest increase of rural to urban migration, leading to Johannesburg being the largest and only megacity in South Africa
  • Over 67.5% of the total population of South Africa now live in urban areas and cities