Megacities: Giant cities where we live

In 10 years’ time there will be 38 megacities on planet Earth. By 2030 about 60 percent of the planet’s population will be living in cities – reveals a study made by Euromonitor International. Just for comparison: back in 1900 only 15 percent of the world’s population lived in cities. Metropolises have alawaysed played an important role in the lives of businesses, as it is here that the best opportunnities are concentrated – just think of income, quality of life and investments.

From the world’s 33 megacities 26 are located in developing countries; 19 of these are in the Asia-Pacific region. By 2030 Jakarta will take over from Tokyo as the city with the biggest population, there will be 35.6 million people living in the Indonesian capital. The populaation growth will be the biggest in Africa, the last continent where the urbanisation process takes place. Besides Cairo and Lagos, Dar es-Salaam and Luanda will also emerge as megacities. Metropolises in develoepd countries will remain important economic centres and the homes of better-off consumers until 2030.

What is a megacity?

We call an urbanised conurbanation with a population of minimum 10 million a megacity. Generally these are the targets of the biggest investments, and they are also the places where the most well-off households can be found. They attract workers and businesses, and they offer good learning opportunities, but also tend to be crowded and polluted.

In the 2017-2030 period the population of the megacities of developing countries will be growing, while in the megacities of developed countries the birth rate will stay low. There will be dynamic growth in the metropolises of developing countries until 2030, mainly due to the rapid population growth, major investments and rising salaries. Future megacities are facing many challenges, and this is especially true for those in developing countries: they must develop their infrastructure, create jobs and build flats in order to prevent problems arising from overpopulation, the growing crime rate and the busy traffic. Between 2017 and 2030 six cities are expcted to turn into megacities: Bogota, Chennai, Luanda, Dar er-Salaam and Baghdad.//