An increasingly urban world

What is urbanisation?

By 1804 global population had doubled from hald a billion to one billion in 300 years. By 1999 the total had doubled from 3 billion to 6 billion in just 39 years. The bigger the population, the faster it grows.

Urbanisation - the proportion of the world's population who live in cities - is also grwoing. It is the result of the natural increase of a population (births minus deaths) plus migration. Urban growth is the increase in the area covered by cities.

Urbanisation has taken place at different times and at different speeds in different parts of the world. The Uk was one of the first countries in the world to become…