Urbanisation and the rise of the megacity

Urbanisation is happening faster today than at any time in history. By 2030 nearly 9% of the global population will live in so-called megacities-cities with more than 10m inhabitants.
Click here to subscribe to The Economist on KZbin: econ.trib.al/rW...
In 1950 New York and Tokyo were the only so called megacities; cities with more than 10m inhabitants.
By 1980 these were joined by Mexico City, Sao Paulo and Osaka.
In 2010 there were over 20 megacities spanning almost every continent.
Today, there are 32 megacities.
Urbanisation is happening faster than at any time in human history. Asia accounts for over half of today's megacities. By 2030 nearly 9% of the world's population will live in 41 megacities. But it's in Africa where some of the most rapid urbanisation will take place in the future.
Daily Watch: mind-stretching short films throughout the working week.
For more from Economist Films visit: films.economist...
Check out The Economist’s full video catalogue: econ.st/20IehQk
Like The Economist on Facebook: / theeconomist
Follow The Economist on Twitter: / theeconomist
Follow us on Instagram: / theeconomist
Follow us on LINE: econ.st/1WXkOo6
Follow us on Medium: / the_economist

[@TheEconomist]

Cities are growing faster than at any time in history, straining services and infrastructure. Technology-driven advances are at the forefront of solving this age-old problem. Watch the full length documentary here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/noO8Xo2Loa-Lj5I

[@darknesslight9630]

The Economist Where is tehran in map?

[@wahab96]

Good intro but where is the video 😂

[@badgyrl310]

Ikr. 😂I was expecting more, but didn't realize this video was only a minute and 4 seconds when I clicked on it. 😂🤣

[@immakings634]

Wow so many megacities, who else is surprised that china and india didn't have mega cities in till 1980 and Tokyo and New York were already megacities then?

[@harpreetsinghmann]

Not surprised!! It's an after effect of structural adjustment programs sponsored by World Bank.

[@nguyenthanthuylinh2761]

@@harpreetsinghmann more elaboration please! sounds interesting!

[@damcross2308]

@@nguyenthanthuylinh2761 After the second world war, the communist triumphed over the nationalist in china. Under Mao Zedong, the leader of the communist, china development stagnated and did not improve much until his death and the reforms made by deng xiaoping, to open up the market and accept private ownership of properties. This is open the way for capitalism and that's why china dind'T have megacity until nearly the start of the 21st century.

[@mkb6418]

Too short!

[@limcharles9730]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/noO8Xo2Loa-Lj5I long one..

[@andrew-dd2hd]

like your pinis *cough* jk

[@aidantan9566]

that's what she said

[@miata4873]

@@aidantan9566 thats what she didn’t say to me😭😢😢

[@headshunternamdinh]

@@aidantan9566 wanna pick up some new words from this video but...

[@Lozza1512]

This video went nowhere...

[@amritpolable]

eggzaktly..

[@mr.meeseeks8229]

this video is like and incomplete sentence. Like somebody started to say someth

[@JtheKproduction]

Seoul is 10mil, metropolitan area would be 25mil. Have no idea why it isn't represented here considering that new York is only 8.5 mil, and metropolitan area be 20mil. Seoul is bigger than new York lmao.

[@mrbrainbob5320]

???? Wait what? Is half of south Korea's population centered around one city?

[@JtheKproduction]

Mrbrain bob yes exactly correct

[@JtheKproduction]

Mrbrain bob Korea is also pretty tiny

[@jintaekim5292]

It’s from a white privileged fake news channel what u expect

[@mrbrainbob5320]

JtheKproduction thats crazy but everything is closer together so maybe thats a good thing.

[@Xiaobooom1234]

Why that creepy horror music in the background?

[@immakings634]

Wow I'm surprised that in 1960 china and india didn't have any city of over 10 million, New York and Tokyo were the only megacities. And i taught Cairo and Lagos wjere the only megacities in africa, And also is Paris up to 10 million?

[@pedropaganella1415]

I think they consider the metropolitan population number, so the "Grand Paris". Technically, NYC only reached 10 million inhabitants some years ago.

[@immakings634]

Pedro Paganella Yea that would explain it

[@manubhatt3]

I was too and I am Indian. Forgot that at that time, India was predominantly rural, and how all the huge crowd and development, in our cities, has happened mostly in last two decades!

[@immakings634]

Abhay Bhatt and now 2 of your cities are among the top 10 largest cities Delhi and Mumbai, recently people prefer to live in major cities than rural towns

[@manubhatt3]

Chizzy kings Yeah..and the dark side is that they are among the most polluted and mismanaged in the world! Fuck these govt. officials and local politicians!!

[@tlingitmicmumbam2065]

It should be also Seoul in the list of Megacities?

[@yukiboi2.075]

No, Seoul's population is currently 9.78M, and when this was made it was probably even smaller. You need at least 10M to be a megacity.

[@demo3702]

whats up with this music choice i feel scared

[@Queeeeenn]

What is it called fam lol

[@ethancheung8559]

why the creepy music for ?

[@imonlyamanandiwilldiesomed4406]

Mega cities? I guess we're going to need Judges.

[@revinhatol]

I wonder if Davao would be a megacity.

[@MA-zs5cu]

Cebu might be the next megacity, then Davao.

[@siddharthjames7096]

revin hatol As a indian I think Manila could be a mega city before Davao coz it's more popular😉

[@revinhatol]

Manila _already is_ a megacity, SJ. It has been the 7th largest in Asia and the 8th largest worldwide. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megacity

[@siddharthjames7096]

revin hatol Lol I was unknown about it I mean no one told me about that even I am having a lot of Filipino friends 7th largest 😍it's more bigger than indian superpower city Mumbai . guess we need to work more to catch-up with Manila

[@xXxSkyViperxXx]

work more? lol get more bobs and vagene for india to reproduce more huehuehuehuehue

[@dj_laundry_list]

The silly thing about this is that city boundaries are somewhat arbitrary. If manhattan, brooklyn, queens, etc. were separate cities (which is entirely plausible given their geography, they wouldn't be a megacity. Likewise for Tokyo, Osaka, etc., which have huge areas

[@philobrain]

They're all still incredibly dense, but that is a fair point otherwise.

[@dj_laundry_list]

I would hardly call NYC incredibly dense compared to other places. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_population_density

[@_human_1946]

This video defines megacities using the city's urban area, not its legal boundaries. That is much less arbitrary. I know this because there are plenty of Chinese cities with more than 10m people that aren't included because the Chinese government tries to make their cities larger than their urban areas.

[@aasisch]

I thought Chicago was megacity too Pretty sure Chicago has 10 million people

[@sebastiancorrales8773]

Long live Africa

[@manubhatt3]

It easily skips my mind(and I guess of many others too!) that Japan, until recently was the second largest economy in the second half of the twentieth century. Usually when thinking in that regard, only Europe comes into my mind, apart from USA.

[@gustavoparrilla6293]

How did new york have 10 million people in it in 1950 if it only has 8 million now?

[@peaktroglodyte]

The ten million people counts for GREATER New York. Those 8 million people are in the central area, while the other 12 million people live in the outside areas of NY.

[@RizalMuhammadrizal]

Meikarta will become megacity

[@publisherucunionmoneyblog9291]

Rizal M. Gabener nya harus PRIBUMI

[@gangatalishis]

Judge dredd?

[@cam1058]

Mega city 1, man

[@SaltVinegar2010]

gangstalishis It will probably be worse than judge dredd.

[@dragonempire2253]

Just look at India and China

[@Queeeeenn]

What is this background song called?

[@muckach9872]

You didnt mention Tehran-Iran’s capital with over 12mil

[@papastalin1543]

This is an underated vedio appreciate your data and hardwork

[@steverobins3108]

What kind of map is this plz reply it’s a question for my geography’s

[@lilabs9071]

how did the question go

[@zofiaaahearts]

@@lilabs9071 it’s been 3 years lol

[@lilabs9071]

@@zofiaaahearts but how did it go i need to know

[@DPF61008OConnor]

Chicago is a recent megacity of over 10 million people.

[@MrMrMuhummad]

Where's Sydney?

[@peaktroglodyte]

It only has 5.1 million people. For it to be a megacity, it needs at least 10 or more million people.

[@MrMrMuhummad]

DATS SICC BRUVV oooo sorry i didn't catch That fact thank you sir

[@michaelxz1305]

they have some other ratings that score a city based on its importance, Sydney probably ranks higher there

[@warrenellem535]

It said the more you take the less u have

[@JuanGarcia-yg5wo]

I don't consider Los Angeles a megacity. It is too sprawled out to be considered overpopulated. Go to any city in China where there are tall buildings beyond where the eye can see. Megacities also have the challenge of mass transit. Los Angeles has horrible mass transit to be considered a mega city.

[@nlestormz4122]

Anything with a metropolitan area of 10million is considered a mega city.

[@miklu26]

And in 1945, Tokyo was destroyed over 90% by the USA. That is the remarkable thing

[@kriniclips1142]

Wer ist auch wegen Schule da?😂

[@dickwintered]

Wait, so what is the point of this video then?

[@That_FortniteKid]

interhigh?

[@wrtyasd099]

Reminds me of the Movie Kingsman

[@gigachad6844]

Look at India 😘

[@alijanjua1232]

Kartikey Singh its nothing to proud 😑

[@alijanjua1232]

Gaurav Upadhyay its just over papulation small cities or towns are better than village or mega cities

[@Mohit-zn2rn]

nothing to be proud of, just over population

[@jrodax5468]

Look at that over population 😘

[@enticingmay435]

Look at all those mega slums so sad

[@vaughanie23]

where's Santiago Chile????????????'

[@ArtDocHound]

Thanks

[@Azknowledgethirsty]

What about BENELUX? if you consider Tokio with its extension a megacity, the area between Brussels, Amsterdam and Cologne would also count cause it's continuously urbanized

[@philipps4252]

I disagree. I can't speak for Tokio but when it comes to these three cities there are big parts of countryside, fields and forests inbetween them.

[@Azknowledgethirsty]

Philipp S, no, they make a city with a form of a pretzel, with many wholes but at the end you can find a way to go from one part to another only by going between urbanized area Also, most cities in China (shenzhen eg ) are even more spread but they have big cities really close, like in there so if we count those, then why not this one?

[@martinahmad2260]

Indonesia 350 million people. Biggest 4 countries

[@JoshuaMitchell-le1lg]

um okie thx i'll look for the actual vid now

[@teddybean2]

in the future 10M will be the normal, not the mega!! mega has to be more than 25M, so: Lagos Accra Duala Kinshassa Luanda Joanesburgo Nairobi Dar es salam Mogadicio Cartum Adis Abeba Cairo London Paris Moscovo New York Mexico City Bogota Buenos Aires Sao Paulo Rio Colombo Daca Rangon Banguecoque Saigao Hanoi Kuala Jakarta Surabaya Manila Seul Tokio Osaka Istambul Teerao Kabul Lahore Karachi Islamabade Pequim Xangai Cantao Xian Whuan Chongquing Chengdu Taipei Shenyang Deli Patna Calcuta Mumbai Bangalore Hyderabad Chenai Madurai Visagapatao Amedabade

[@thefoolishscholar183]

Almost sounds like a plan.

[@FedDavidics]

America chose China because it was a safe place. The people are mainly good there. Economist is going a little too far to say......this. Just saying.

[@Azknowledgethirsty]

FedDavidics one, yeah life is pretty good in China, they are not the freest but they are middleish class and much better off than India Second, when does it says that?

[@FedDavidics]

We built Japan after WWII. That everyone knows. The Asian Tigers we sent our best people to. And when the Asian Tigers because too hard of a exchange rate to manage, we went to China. The whole Orient are really good people as far as I know. Some might have different opinions. I like those countries. China: Their kids are not going to be the same as the migrators years from now, they will be spoiled from birth. There is a housing bumble though.

[@tamu7243]

We'll see Kampala, Dodoma, Addis Ababa, Kigali and probably a lot more up on that map in the future. I wonder is the low populated countries in Africa (mainly Botswana and Namibia) will become the immigration destination, cause I doubt the countries where all the people are getting produced will be able to keep themselves alive.

[@originalsal2141]

Tamu Audwodia those are small cities compared to Lagos, Cairo, Kinshasa and cities like Dar es Salaam and Johannesburg. Kinshasa has tremendous potential if it were to have better governance due to the amount of space that can be used. Luanda is another city that is poised to make that jump. It will be interesting to see how those two cities interact in the future since sindika dokolo and Isabelle Dos Santos are married.

[@tamu7243]

I know but it was only examples

[@tamu7243]

by 2100 I strongly believe (of those I mentioned) Kampala and Addis Ababa will have more than 10 Million people. The only countries that wont have this huge gain in population is Botswana, Namibia, Gabon and the North African countries. The increase in people in Egypt is relatively low compared to the rest of Africa, which means Cairo will probably be over taken by cities like you mentioned, Lagos and Kinshasa. Don't know if Douala, Bamako, Bangui, etc will have big impact, but I do think that compared to European cities, they will be huge.

[@Haz_Oni]

Wrss sent me here

[@giulialazar4874]

Not gonna lie we are all here for online class or homework

[@zofiaaahearts]

I am

[@miata4873]

Same

[@giulialazar4874]

@Jacob your the kid here

[@user-pl3yh2fv8r]

i thought its a video about us military bases

[@youp9543]

well, that was short

[@lazercraft2588]

wait so somehow Tokyo got 7 million more people in 5 years. Okay?

[@mikeleslie9237]

America's starting to feel like a urban slum in comparison left behind to our own dated devices

[@muhamad.firdaus_a1713]

Seoul Tehran Jakarta??

[@johnthorton1709]

You never meantioned suburbanization. As more countries develope their economies, their populations will likely move to the outer areas. Like what happened to the USA.

[@allisondoak9425]

Billy Bob Thorton hopefully as we build new cities we can look at that and realise that it was really stupid and inefficient. Given how interested the East Asian nations seem to be in the study of good urban planning as their economies grow I think they might be lucky enough to have learned from our western mistakes

[@Marcusdeverdade]

Cyberpunk is real

[@diddlydoo452yuh5]

Uganda

[@borussiagermania7428]

Drew Tully Uganda is a country. Completely irrelevant to this video.

[@sagarmoyjana6837]

Why are there so many megacities in India? And how?

[@bhavanrana1123]

Sagarmoy Jana rapid urbanization!

[@michaelxz1305]

yeah that's what I took away from this video too - just 10+ million peopole. There are cities in China with 5 million people that only take up the area of a 600,000 person city in the US or Canada

[@allenad2155]

Where is seoul? Its one of the largest metro cities in the world with a population of 25 million.

[@pankajsaikia1986]

Wow. Look at India. Filled with read dots.

[@michaelxz1305]

yup, definitely don't want to live there

[@victormeulemeester6742]

Lol

[@cemilfurkankarakurt465]

2021 Asia 2100 Africa

[@drizzieglazed8201]

aye yo where are all my Grade 10s at

[@xxrobohorse64xx]

Humanity advancing, Humanity getting stupider.

[@prussianexile6602]

Thats now how you spell Urbanization m8

[@boringchelseafan]

London is not a megacity.

[@sergshal]

London and Paris are not megacities.

[@teddybean2]

yes they are. but i get the confusion. we still dont dont know the difference between metropolis and the city itself: NYCity has not 10M but the metropolis with queens statenisl and newark has about 20M......

[@noname-bt9ky]

Imagine living in city😂

[@rejanebrandao3778]

future city flying car

[@mateusz7249]

too superficial

[@ballsuckcumdumpster]

ECOOO4

[@pako5586]

Rip africa with 2

[@sijoule965]

pakoisaias 39 I mean, Australiasia has none, and the most important thing is to not be last

[@MegamikazeMoriko]

india... just stop

[@MegamikazeMoriko]

i have to agree with your statement india is an enormous agricultural country and is technically a subcontinent and same can be said for china/east asia however, even comparing all of europe to india subcontinent alone, india still outnumbers europe in population as well as number of megacities as of 2030 indian subcontinent has 9 megacities europe has 4 megacities (including istanbul) but when compared to east and southeast asia, indian subcontinent has relatively the same amount of cities as of 2030 india has 9 megacities east and southeast asia has 10 megacities so india subcontinent region population is roughly equal to that of east asia region. two biggest regions of the world = indian subcontinent and east/southeast asia the rest are sparsely populated.

[@Stan82826]

Brixton bully

[@Stan82826]

@@TwitchClipsTC kk n¡gg@

[@traveler5973]

you just love Africa huh?

[@elecman6964]

😳

[@robertoeverton6473]

Paris is not a megacity

[@charliemainful]

roberto everton Paris has a metro area of 12.5 million people so it is a mega city

[@kikikitotomo]

インド強い

[@Grandesecole]

WTF? Seoul is not a megacity?

[@jjk4002]

almost. needs like 240,000 more people

[@jjk4002]

actually i was wrong. its metro area is like 25 million people which counts it as a megacity. its population however is around 9,760,000

[@ethanjohnson1273]

The populations of NYC and Tokyo are less than 10 million people. Seoul has a larger population than both of them. Your definition of "megacity" and your counting of them seem flawed.

[@iteachyou1575]

Tokyo : 42 Millions Jakarta : 31 M Delhi : 26 M Seoul : 25 M Tokyo has clearly the lead

[@williamtwo8636]

:{) Wasted ur time ;)

[@muhamad.firdaus_a1713]

Seoul are you forget

[@user-wf2yd3zb7x]

Seoul = megacity.

[@siemendoornaert9869]

yowww de manne

[@lowiedeman615]

Juwwww

[@siemendoornaert9869]

oe ist mejou

[@quintendelrue2063]

Sup

[@williamtwo8636]

dude this video is dead