Urbanisation

• Urbanisation is the growth in the proportion of people living in urban areas
• Around 55% of the world lives in urban areas and this is constantly increasing
• Types of countries by level of urbanisation


  • Higher Income Countries (HICs)
  • Lower Income Countries (LICs)
  • Newly Emerging Economies (NEEs)
• Higher Income Countries (HICs)


  • More economically developed like the UK and Japan
  • Around 80% of the population live in urban areas
  • Low rate of urbanisation, usually under 1%
• Lower Income Countries (LICs)


  • Less economically developed like Ethiopia and Afghanistan
  • Only around 10% of the population currently live in urban areas
  • High rates of urbanisation, up to 6%
• Newly Emerging Economies (NEEs)


  • Countries where economic development is increasing rapidly like Brazil and China
  • Urban population around 50%, can be much higher for countries experiencing rapid urban growth
  • Urbanisation rate typically around 2%
• Rural-urban migration


  Movement of people from the countryside to cities
• Factors affecting the rate of rural-urban migration

  • Push factors (encourage people to leave an area)
  • Pull factors (encourage people to move to an area)
• Push factors


  • Natural disasters can damage property and farmland
  • Rural areas have fewer resources
  • Mechanised agricultural equipment needs fewer workers
  • Deforestation makes land unproductive
• Pull factors


  • More jobs in urban areas that are often better paid
  • Access to better health and educational opportunities
  • Family members have already moved to an urban area
  • Perceived better quality of life
• Urbanisation is also caused by natural increase, which is when birth rate exceeds death rate
• Higher rates of urbanisation are leading to the growth of megacities, urban areas with more than 10 million residents
• In 2020, there were 34 megacities and the vast majority were located in LICs and NEEs
• By 2035, the number of megacities is expected to have increased to 43