World cities, home to most people, to add 2.5 billion more by 2050:UN

More than half of the world’s seven billion people live in urban areas, with the top “mega cities” – with more than 10 million inhabitants – being Tokyo, Delhi, Shanghai, Mexico City and Sao Paulo, according to a United Nations report on Thursday. Indeed, urbanization, combined with overall population growth, will boost the number of people in cities by 2.5 billion over the next three decades, with much of that growth in developing countries, especially in Africa. The key challenge for these countries will be meeting the needs of their growing urban population with basic services like education, health care, housing, infrastructure, transportation, energy and employment. “Managing urban areas has become one of the most important development challenges of the 21st century,” said John Wilmoth, Director of the Population Division in the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs.