The line chart illustrates the proportion of people in four Asian nations living in cities between 1970 and 2020, including predictions for 2030 and 2040.
Overall, all four countries show an upward trend, with Malaysia having the highest percentage of people living in cities throughout the entire period. It was followed by the Philippines, which had a similar increase until around 2010, when Indonesia surpassed it, becoming the second country with more people living in cities. Finally, Thailand which started in third place, became the country with the lowest percentage in 2000. The predictions for 2030 and 2040 show the same trend as the four countries continue to grow at a similar rate.
Malaysia and the Philippines started with the highest percentage in 1970 (about 30%), increasing gradually until 1990. After that Malaysia continued to rise steadily to around 70% in 2020 and is expected to reach 80% and 82% in 2030 and 2040 respectively. On the other hand, the figure for the Philippines started to decline in 1990, reaching about 40% in 2010, but began to rise again and is expected to reach more than 50% by 2040.
Indonesia, which started with the lowest percentage (about 12%) experienced a steep rise, similar to Malaysia, as the two countries ran parallel throughout the period. It became the second nation with the largest urban population, reaching 50% in 2020 and is projected to grow by about 10% more.
Finally, a steady growth can be observed in Thailand from 1970 to 1990, when the proportion rose from about 20% to 30%, before leveling out at around 30% until 2020. However, projection shows that it could reach almost 50% in 2040.