Today, 54 per cent of the world’s population lives in urban areas, a proportion that is expected to increase to 66 per cent by 2050. Projections show that urbanization combined with the overall growth of the world’s population could add another 2.5 billion people to urban populations by 2050, with close to 90 percent of the increase concentrated in Asia and Africa, according to a new United Nations report launched today.

The 2014 revision of the World Urbanization Prospects by UN DESA’s Population Division notes that the largest urban growth will take place in India, China and Nigeria. These three countries will account for 37 per cent of the projected growth of the world’s urban…

World Population Policies 2013 report is part of a series that provides comprehensive and up-to-date available information on the population policy situations and trends for all 193 Member States, two Observer States and two non-member States of the United Nations. The publication documents changes in Government views and policies from 1976 to 2013 with respect to population size and growth, age structure, fertility, reproductive health and family planning, health and mortality, spatial distribution and internal migration, and international migration within the context of demographic, social and economic change.