5 April 2012: The recently released 2011 Revision of the World Urbanization Prospects report has noted that 86% of future urban population growth will be driven by African and Asian countries.

Released by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), the report states that, over the next four decades, Africa’s urban population will increase from 414 million to 1.2 billion by 2050. In the Asian region, the urban population is expected to increase from 1.9 billion to 3.3 billion during the same time period. The report highlights that, while this may pose many challenges for housing, jobs and infrastructure, the increase in the urban population also offers a number of opportunities for public services, particularly in the provision of education. The report also cautions that this could lead to an expansion of urban slums as well as deteriorating urban environments.

The report indicates that 60% of the urban population lives in regions that are at risk of being affected by at least one type of major natural disaster, which poses an additional challenge for disaster risk reduction efforts globally. The report also underscores the growth of megacities, saying that although approximately 10% of the global urban population lives in megacities, by 2025 this will have increased to 14% of the global urban population. The countries that are driving this unprecedented increase are India, China, Nigeria, the US and Indonesia, with the projected growth for the next 40 years in India and Nigeria being higher than the previous 40 years.

UNDESA has noted the importance of urbanization for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD or Rio+20) agenda, stressing that continued urbanization can offer both challenges and solutions for many global challenges [UN Press Release]