The bar chart below gives information about the urban dweller rates of six distinct regions and the world during 1950 and 2007 and gives predictions for the year 2030.
Overall, if all projections hold true, the percentage of people living in cities will increase significantly throughout the period, while North America has consistently outstripped other regions in terms of urban population, and this will remain unchanged in the future. In addition, North America will witness the most remarkable rise among all regions.
Looking first at the global urban population, starting at 29% at the outset, the figure rose by 20% in 2007. It is likely that this percentage will grow to 60% by 2030. Similar changes, but to a lesser extent, can be observed in Africa and Asia. In 1950, 15% and 17% of these continents’ populations, respectively, were living in cities; after which both figures will increase to 51% for the former and 54% for the latter.
For North America, the vast majority (64%) of the population were urban dwellers in 1950, and the rate proceeded to grow to 79%, before ending the period at 87%. This was closely followed by Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean, as both figures commenced the timeframe with fairly high percentages (51% and 42%), then climbing to 72% and 76%, respectively. These figures are anticipated to reach the respective rates of 78% and 84% by 2030.