The chart below illustrates the percentage of people of four Asian nations, namely, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia, residing in cities from 1970 to 2020, with predictions for 2030 and 2040.
Overall, the percentage of city residents has shown an uptrend. Malaysian and Indonesian population have risen throughout the whole period without any fall, whereas, Philippian and Indonesian city residents have fluctuated, peaked, dipped and steadied ultimately.
In 1970, the nation having most percentage of city residents was Philippines (above 30%), whereas the country having the least was Indonesia (around 15%). The other countries were Malaysia and Thailand having 30% and nearly 20% respectively. Malaysia and Indonesia grew steadily and peaked at around 75% and 60% respectively in 2020. Whereas, Philippines peaked at 50% in 1990, took a dip, and stayed at 50% in the end. The trend for Thailand is that it peaks in the year 1990 and plateaus at same level until 2020, i.e., around 30%.
As far as predictions are concerned, all the nation’s city populations shown an increase trend. Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, and Thailand are predicted to remain at 80%, 60%, 50%, and 40% respectively in 2040.