ABSTRACT
The growth of towns in tropical Africa has been recent and rapid, yet the bulk of the population still lives in rural areas. By the year 2000, Africa will have the distinction of being the only continent with a majority rural population. But population growth rates in tropical Africa now exceed those in most other parts of the world and the urbanization of its population, whilst lagging behind trends in Latin America and Asia, is now proceeding more rapidly than anywhere else. While the population of Africa as a whole is expected to become only 42 per cent urbanized by the year 2000, its 1985 urban population will double by that time, with an average annual growth rate of 4.6 per cent compared to 3.7 per cent for other less developed regions and 1.1 per cent for the more developed regions (see Figure 5.1). This trend is worrying in such a poor region with limited resources for providing the necessary urban services.
