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The Challenge of Feeding the CitiesAwake!—2005 | November 22
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Some cities in the developing world are already big and are destined to become even bigger. By 2015, Mumbai (formerly called Bombay) is expected to have 22.6 million inhabitants, Delhi 20.9 million, Mexico City 20.6 million, and São Paulo 20 million. It is estimated that a city of ten million people—such as Manila or Rio de Janeiro—has to import as much as 6,000 tons of food per day.
That is no simple feat, and it is not getting any easier, especially in areas that are experiencing rapid growth. Lahore, Pakistan, for example, not only has a high birth rate (2.8 percent) but also has what is defined as an “alarmingly” high rate of migration from rural areas. Many developing nations are seeing millions of new inhabitants flow into already overcrowded cities in search of better living conditions, jobs, goods, and services. Because of such migration, the city of Dhaka, Bangladesh, is expected to grow by one million or more per year for the foreseeable future. According to projections, by 2025 the population of China, now two-thirds rural, will become predominantly urban. By the same time, 600 million people are expected to be living in the cities of India.
The migration of people to cities is changing the overall character of many parts of the world. In West Africa, for example, only 14 percent of the population lived in urban areas in 1960. By 1997 the urban population was 40 percent, and by 2020, it is believed, the figure will rise to 63 percent. In the horn of Africa, urban populations are expected to double within a decade. And it is predicted that 90 percent of total population growth in developing countries in the near future will take place in towns and cities.
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The Challenge of Feeding the CitiesAwake!—2005 | November 22
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[Box on page 5]
GROWING CITIES
◼ Almost all population growth expected worldwide in the next 30 years will be concentrated in cities.
◼ It is expected that by 2007, more than half the world’s population will live in urban areas.
◼ The number of people living in cities worldwide is projected to grow at an average of 1.8 percent annually; at this rate, urban populations will double in 38 years.
◼ The number of cities with five million or more inhabitants is expected to rise from 46 in 2003 to 61 in 2015.
[Credit Line]
Source: World Urbanization Prospects—The 2003 Revision, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division
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