ABSTRACT
Increase in urban population Urbanisation has been rapidly progressing worldwide in recent years, and this trend has been particularly prominent in Asia and other developing regions. According to United Nations’ statistics (United Nations 1999), urban populations roughly doubled in the industrialised nations and quadrupled in the developing nations during the latter half of the twentieth century. Today, approximately half of the global population of 6 billion people live inside urban areas. The world population is projected to increase to 8 billion over the next 30 years or so, and the number of city dwellers will clearly surpass 6 billion. In other words, in three decades, over two-thirds of the global population will reside within urban areas. In the industrialised nations, over three-quarters of the population already live in urban areas, and this percentage is projected to continue to gradually increase.
