The graph below compares the percentage of the city population in Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia from 1970 to 2020, as well as predictions for 2030 and 2040.
It is clear that Malaysia had seen the highest percentage of the population living in cities since 2000. While, at the same period of time, Thailand kept being the lowest one among these four Asian countries.
As the graph shows, Philippines had the top percentage of urban population in 1970 among these four countries, with around 32%, followed by Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Malaysia’s population kept rising over the years, then in 2000, it overtook Philippines with a percentage of nearly 60% city population and ended with a prediction of about 80% city population in 2040. Indonesia had the lowest percentage of population living in cities in 1970, with approximately 14% in total, and it had a dramatical increase in the following years. Then it has had the second highest percentage of city population since 2010, with 40% in 2010 and nearly 60% in the future 2040.
