Courtesy of: Visual Capitalist
The map [click to enlarge] shows the Earth's thirty-three megacities--those cities with 10 million or more inhabitants. Six megacities will develop by 2030, mostly located in the developing world. However, Chicago is expected to join the ranks by 2030, as it has been hovering near the 10 million mark for a while. New York, of course, was the first metropolis to pass the mark in the 1930s. Who would want to live in a city that large and frenetic? Some people have no choice; these cities are like magnets for economic activity. In a country that is poor and largely rural it is difficult to resist the lure of lucrative opportunities. Megacities house about 9% of the global population, and 15% of global GDP.
Some surprising projections:
- Luanda, the capital of Angola in southwest Africa, will reach 10 million by 2030. It is the fastest growing of the projected new megacities, but will still be much smaller than Cairo which will be Africa's biggest megacity at 29.8 million residents;
- Jakarta will be the world's biggest city with 35.6 million inhabitants;
- Tokyo will fall from the top spot as an aging population shrinks its growth to negative;
- Chennai on India's Bay of Bengal will be the most densely populated but its economy will only be one-twelfth of Chicago's.