Band 6+: The bar chart below gives information about the percentage of the population living in urban areas in the world and in different continents. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.

The given bar graph illustrates the percentage of people settling in cities in different continents and in the world in 1950, 2007, and 2030.

Taken as a whole, the data indicates that Africa and Asia showed the biggest proportional growth compared to the others, whereas North America remained leading continent by population in urban areas throughout every timestamp.

Initially, in 1950, people lived mostly in the outskirt areas, except of Europe and North America. Around the world the percentage of people that lived in towns was only 29%. In Europe, the percentage of people who lived in urban areas was almost equal to the rural ones, settling at 51%, whilst in North America the percentage was slightly higher, standing at 64%. Latin America and Caribbean continent was third by the percentage of people living in cities, being at 42%. At the meantime, Africa and Asia hovered around 15%.

Following that, in 2007, the percentages sharply grew on each continent. The world percentage was slightly shy of 50% mark, and Africa and Asia more than doubled in urban population, getting to 37% and 41%, respectively. Interestingly, Latin America and Caribbean region, while being the lowest among giants in 1950, reached 76% mark, overtaking Europe. Europe and North America experienced moderate growth; the former gained 21%, and latter 15%. In 2030 the percentage is being foreshadowed to get an upward trend, and each continent will grow approximately by 10% each.