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Causes and Effects of Urbanisation

Categories: Urbanization

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Published: Oct 11, 2018

Words: 1713 | Pages: 4 | 9 min read

Industrialisation, social benefits and services, modernization and changes in the mode of living, rural-urban transformation, technological and infrastructural advancements, housing problems, development of slums, traffic congestion, provision of essential services.

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Essay on Urbanization for Students and Children

500 words essay on urbanization.

Urbanization refers to the movement of the population from rural areas to urban areas. It is essentially the gradual increase in the proportion of people living in urban areas. Furthermore, urbanization is quite a popular trend in the contemporary world. Moreover, people mostly undertake urbanization due to more work opportunities and a better standard of living. According to the expert prediction, by 2050, 64% of the developing world and 86% of the developed world will be urbanized.

Causes of Urbanization

First of all, political causes play a big role in urbanization. Many people get forced to leave rural areas for urban areas due to political unrest. Therefore, many families go to urban areas in search of food, shelter, and employment .

Another important cause of urbanization is an economic cause. Furthermore, poverty is a widespread phenomenon in rural areas. Moreover, farmers are finding it very hard to earn enough money and make a living. Consequently, rural people move to urban areas in search of better job opportunities.

Education is a strong cause of urbanization. Urban areas offer opportunities for seeking high-quality education. Moreover, urbanization offers opportunities for studying at universities and technical colleges. Such handsome education opportunities attract many young people in rural areas to move to urban areas.

Environmental degradation also plays a part in contributing to urbanization. Deforestation destroys the natural habitat of many farming families. Furthermore, mining and industrial expansion also harm the natural habitat of farming families.

The social cause is another notable reason for urbanization. Many young rural people migrate to urban areas in order to seek a better lifestyle. Moreover, many young people want to escape the conservative culture of rural areas. Most noteworthy, urban areas offer a more easy-going liberal lifestyle. Furthermore, cities have clubs to attract youth.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Benefits of Urbanization

First of all, urban areas are much more efficient in providing resources than rural areas. Important and basic amenities like housing, clean water, and electricity are easily available in urban areas.

People in urban areas find it quite easy to access to various important services. Most noteworthy, these services are high-quality education, expert health care, convenient transportation, entertainment, etc. Furthermore, some or all of the services are unavailable in rural areas.

Urban areas offer better employment opportunities. Furthermore, these employment opportunities are the result of industrialization and commercialization.

Urban areas play a critical role as creators and disseminators of knowledge. This is because of the highly connected urbanized world. Most noteworthy, the geographical proximity of people in urban areas helps in the propagation of ideas.

Urban areas enjoy the benefits of technological development. Furthermore, many types of technologies get implemented in urban areas. Moreover, urban people quickly get in touch with the latest technology. In contrast, many rural individuals remain ignorant of many types of technologies.

To sum it up, urbanization is a process which is on a continuous rise. Furthermore, urbanization ensures the transformation of rural culture into urban culture. Moreover, the government must be vigilant to the rapidly increasing urbanization. A fully urbanized world looks like the ultimate destiny of our world.

FAQs on Urbanization

Q1 State any two causes for urbanization?

A1 Any two causes for urbanization are high-quality education and good job opportunities in urban areas.

Q2 Why urban areas offer better employment opportunities?

A2 Urban areas offer better employment opportunities due to high industrialization and commercialization.

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A cloak of smog gives Fresno, California, a hazy look. Smog, a hybrid of the words "smoke" and "fog," is caused when sunlight reacts with airborne pollution, including ash, dust, and ground-level ozone.

Urban Threats

Urbanization spurs a unique set of issues to both humans and animals.

The promise of jobs and prosperity, among other factors, pulls people to cities. Half of the global population already lives in cities, and by 2050 two-thirds of the world's people are expected to live in urban areas. But in cities two of the most pressing problems facing the world today also come together: poverty and environmental degradation.

Poor air and water quality, insufficient water availability, waste-disposal problems, and high energy consumption are exacerbated by the increasing population density and demands of urban environments. Strong city planning will be essential in managing these and other difficulties as the world's urban areas swell.

Intensive urban growth can lead to greater poverty, with local governments unable to provide services for all people.
Concentrated energy use leads to greater air pollution with significant impact on human health.
Automobile exhaust produces elevated lead levels in urban air.
Large volumes of uncollected waste create multiple health hazards.
Urban development can magnify the risk of environmental hazards such as flash flooding .
Pollution and physical barriers to root growth promote loss of urban tree cover.
Animal populations are inhibited by toxic substances, vehicles, and the loss of habitat and food sources.
Combat poverty by promoting economic development and job creation.
Involve local community in local government.
Reduce air pollution by upgrading energy use and alternative transport systems.
Create private-public partnerships to provide services such as waste disposal and housing.
Plant trees and incorporate the care of city green spaces as a key element in urban planning.

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Urbanization

The world population is moving to cities. Why is urbanization happening and what are the consequences?

By: Hannah Ritchie , Veronika Samborska and Max Roser

This article was first published in September 2018, and last revised in February 2024. We'd like to thank Diana Beltekian for great research assistance.

More than half of the world's population now live in urban areas — increasingly in highly dense cities. However, urban settings are a relatively new phenomenon in human history. This transition has transformed the way we live, work, travel, and build networks.

This topic page presents an overview of urbanization across the world, extending from the distant past to the present, and projections of future trends.

See all charts on urbanization ↓

Urbanization across the world today

Number of people living in urban areas, more than 4 billion people – more than half of the world – live in urban areas.

For most of human history, most people across the world lived in small communities. Over the past few centuries – and particularly in recent decades – this has shifted dramatically. There has been a mass migration of populations from rural to urban areas.

How many people live in urban areas today?

In the visualization, we see estimates of the number of people globally who live in urban and rural areas. More than 4 billion people now live in urban areas.

This means over half of the world lives in urban settings. The UN estimates this milestone event – when the number of people in urban areas overtook the number in rural settings – occurred in 2007.

You can explore the data on urban and rural populations for any country or region using the "Change country or region" toggle on the interactive chart.

Share of population living in urban areas

How does the share of people living in urban areas vary between countries?

In the chart shown below, we see the share of the population that is urbanized across the world.

Across most high-income countries – across Western Europe, the Americas, Australia, Japan, and the Middle East – more than 80% of the population lives in urban areas. Across most upper-middle-income countries – in Eastern Europe, East Asia, North and Southern Africa, and South America – between 50% to 80% of people do. In many low to lower-middle-income countries, the majority still live in rural areas.

But this is changing quickly. You can see how urbanization rates are changing with time using the "Edit countries and regions" toggle on the interactive chart. For many countries, you see a rapid migration of populations into towns and cities.

How urban is the world?

What we know about urban populations and why it matters.

Before looking in more detail at the differences in estimates of urban populations, we should first clarify what we do know:

Globally more people live in urbanized settings than not (disputes in these figures are all above the 50% urban mark);
The broad distribution and density of where people live across the world (sometimes at very high resolution);
Although it can seem like our expanding cities take up a lot of land, only a bit more than 1% of global land is defined as built-up area; 1
rates of urbanization have been increasing rapidly across all regions (in 1800, less than 10% of people across all regions lived in urban areas );
urbanization is expected to continue to increase with rising incomes and shifts away from employment in agriculture ; 2
disagreements in urban population numbers arise from definition or boundary differences in what makes a population 'urban'.

Whilst disagreement on the numbers can seem irrelevant, understanding cities, urbanization rates, the distribution, and the density of people matters. The allocation and distribution of resources — ranging from housing and transport access to healthcare, education, and employment opportunities — should all be dependent on where people live. Understanding the distribution of people in a given country is essential to make sure the appropriate resources and services are available where they're needed.

The UN's 11th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) is to " make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable ". If our aim is to develop resource-efficient, inclusive cities, understanding how many people they must provide for is essential for urban planning.

Let's, therefore, look at the conflicting estimates of how urban our world is, and where these differences come from.

UN estimates: More than half of the world’s population live in urban areas

At first glance, this seems like a simple question to answer. Figures reported by the United Nations (UN) deliver a straightforward answer. 3

In the chart here we see the share of the world's population living in urban and rural areas, extending from 1960. 4 This is based on nationally-collated census figures, combined with UN estimates where census data is unavailable. As of 1960, the rural segment constituted more than 60% of the population. By the year 2007, the distribution between urban and rural residents had equalized, representing a balanced share of the population. However, since then, the share of individuals residing in urban areas has escalated, exceeding 50% of the total population.

The UN figures are the most widely referenced and cited on global urbanization. However, they're not without their critics: some researchers suggest that far more people live in urban areas than these figures suggest. Why are they so contested?

How is an urban area defined?

'What defines an urban area?' lies at the center of these debates.

There is currently no universal definition of what 'urban' means. The UN reports figures based on nationally defined urban shares. The problem, however, is that countries adopt very different definitions of urbanization. Not only do the thresholds of urban versus rural vary, but the types of metrics used also differ. Some countries use minimum population thresholds, others use population density, infrastructure development, employment type, or simply the population of pre-defined cities.

In the table, we highlight the varied definitions across a selection of countries. The UN World Urbanization Prospects database also provides a full downloadable list of statistical definitions for each country.

National definitions of 'urban area' as used for a custom selection of countries 5

The table illustrates the broad range of definitions between countries which compromises cross-country comparisons. And since the reported global figure is simply the sum of nationally reported shares, the lack of a universal definition is also problematic for these aggregated figures.

Even if we could define a single metric to use — such as a minimum population threshold in a settlement — countries adopt very different thresholds.

In the chart here we have mapped the minimum population threshold for countries that adopt this within their definition of 'urban'. 2000 and 5000 inhabitants were the most frequently adopted threshold. However, the variation across countries was vast. Sweden and Denmark set this threshold at only 200 inhabitants; Japan at 50,000 (a 250-fold difference).

European Commission estimates: More than 8 in 10 people live in urban areas

Critics of current UN figures, therefore, say that such varied definitions of 'urban' lead to a significant underestimation of the world's urban population. Researchers from the European Commission, for example, reported that 85% of people live in urban areas. 6

Its project, Atlas of the Human Planet , combines high-resolution satellite imagery with national census data to derive its estimates of urban and rural settlements.

The European Commission applied a universal definition of settlements across all countries:

Urban centers (cities) : must have a minimum of 50,000 inhabitants plus a population density of at least 1500 people per square kilometer (km 2 ) or density of build-up area greater than 50%.
Urban clusters (towns and suburbs) : must have a minimum of 5,000 inhabitants plus a population density of at least 300 people per square kilometer (km 2 ).
Rural areas : fewer than 5,000 inhabitants.

Using these definitions, it reports that around 44% of the world lived in cities, 43% in towns and suburbs, and 13% in rural areas in 2020 . This makes the total urban share 87% in 2020 ( more than 6.8 billion people ). The reported urban share by continent is shown in the chart below.

The European Commission's estimates are also not without its critics. Researchers at the Marron Institute of Urban Management (New York University) challenged these figures as a gross overestimation. 7

The authors suggest multiple reasons why such figures are too high: based on agricultural employment figures, they estimate urban populations cannot exceed 60%; the low urban-density threshold adopted by the European Commission means entire cropland regions are classified as urban; and that this low-density threshold is inconsistent with observed population densities on the fringes of cities.

Will we ever reach a consensus on urban population?

Clearly how we define an urban area has a significant impact on its estimated population. The UN figures report one-third fewer people residing in urban areas compared to the figures reported by the European Commission.

While there are clear differences in estimates at the global level, the overall trend in urbanization at national levels (regardless of their definition) is still important. It's vital for India, for example, to know that since 1990, its urban population has more than doubled . The rate of this change is important for its evaluation of progress, demographic change, and national planning. The lack of consensus on figures at the global level therefore shouldn't overshadow what they represent at national levels.

But would the world adopt a standardized definition? The UN Statistics Division has convened multiple expert groups in recent years to try to work towards a common definition, but none have been successful.

With such a wide array of national definitions, achieving this would be a difficult task. Countries have the right to define what they consider to be urban and rural settlements. One proposed option is to maintain individual definitions for national figures but to adopt a new universal definition for estimating the global and/or regional share.

This may, at least, bring us one step closer to an agreement on how urban the world really is.

Urban slum populations

Share of people living in slums, just under 1-in-4 urban dwellers live in slum households.

Quality of living standards in urban centers is of course an important measure of wellbeing. One metric of living standards is the share of the urban population living in slum households. A slum household is defined as a group of individuals living under the same roof lacking one or more of the following conditions: access to improved water, access to improved sanitation, sufficient living area, and durability of housing.

The most recent global estimates suggest just under 1-in-4 people in urban areas live in slum households.

The share of the urban population living in slums by country is shown in the chart. This data is available from the year 2000. Here we see that in the latest data, most countries across Asia and Latin America had between 10 to 50% of urban populations living in slum households. Slum households are most prevalent across Sub-Saharan Africa; in most countries, more than half of the urban populations live in slum households, and in some (such as Chad) around 8 in 10 people live in slum households.

We see that over time, for most countries, the share of the urban population living in slums has been falling. For example, in Vietnam, almost half of the population lived in slums in 2000. This figure has dramatically reduced to approximately 5% in recent years.

Number of people living in urban slums

This map shows the total number of people living in urban slum households in each country.

Urban density

Urban agglomerations.

Although the definition of 'urban' gives us some indication of population densities, it does not differentiate between those who live in small versus large urban settings. In the chart, we show the percentage of the total population that lives in agglomerations greater than one million people (i.e. large urban agglomerations). These figures are available in absolute terms (the total number of people living in large urban settings), found here .

Here we see large differences across the world. Smaller city-based nations such as Kuwait, UAE, Japan, Puerto Rico, and Israel tend to have high rates of large urban agglomeration: more than half live in large cities. Across much of the Americas, 40 to 50% live in large urban agglomerations. Most other countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa lie somewhere in the range of 10 to 40%.

There are a few countries that have a very low prevalence of large cities — in Germany and Poland, for example, less than 10% of the population live in cities over 1 million despite having large urbanization rates .

Population in largest city

We can also look at this centralization effect through the share of the urban population that lives in the single largest city. This is shown in this chart.

Here we have a handful of countries — such as Mongolia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Liberia, and Armenia — where more than half of the country's urban population live in its largest city. Overall, this share tends to be higher in countries across Africa and Latin America; a share of 30 to 50% is common. Rates across Europe, Asia, and North America are highly variable, ranging from over 40% to less than 10%.

City populations

Population of the capital city.

In the chart below we see the world mapped based on the population of each country's capital city. In 2018, Japan's capital — Tokyo — had the largest population of the world's capital cities at over 37 million people. This was followed by Delhi (India) at over 28 million; Mexico City (Mexico) at 21 million; and Cairo (Egypt) at 20 million.

Across the world, the most common capital size was in the range of 1 to 5 million people.

Population of cities

Many cities across the world have grown rapidly over the past 50 years in terms of their total population. The chart shows the estimated population of the world's 30 largest cities (by 2015 population) from 1950 to 2015, with projections through to 2035. 8

Beijing in 1950, for example, had a population of around 1.7 million. By 2015 this was more than 10 times higher, at more than 18 million. By 2035 it's expected this will increase further to more than 25 million. Dhaka (the capital of Bangladesh) increased from less than half a million in 1950 to almost 18 million in 2015 (and is projected to reach more than 30 million by 2035). Using the "Edit cities" in the top-right of the chart, you can browse trends for the largest 30 cities.

Related chart – population density of cities. This chart shows the population density of cities across the world

Long-run history of urbanization

Urbanization over the past 500 years, migration to towns and cities is very recent – mostly limited to the past 200 years.

How has urbanization changed over longer timescales – over the past 500 years?

In the map below we see how the share of populations living in urban areas has changed in recent centuries. Data on urbanization dating back to 1500 is available only for select countries, with an estimated share at the global level. Using the timeline on the map (or by clicking on a country) you can see how this share has changed over time.

Here we see clearly again that urbanization has largely been confined to the past 200 years. By 1800, still, over 90% of the global (and country-level) population lived in rural areas. Urbanization in the United States began to increase rapidly through the 19th century, reaching around 40% by 1900. 9 By 1950 this almost reached 65% and by 2000 1 in 8 people lived in urban areas.

China and India had similar rates of urbanization until the late 1980s. 10 By then, both had around 1-in-4 living in urban areas. However, China's rate of urbanization increased rapidly over the 1990s and 2000s. Over this 30-year period, its urban share more than doubled to more than half. India's rise has continued to steadily rise to around 1-in-3 today.

Urbanization over the past 12,000 years

The recency of urbanization becomes even more pronounced when we look at trends for countries and regions over even longer timescales – the past 10,000 years. This is shown in the visualization here, derived from the work of the History Database of the Global Environment . 11

As we see, urban living is a very recent development. For most of our history, humans lived in low-density, rural settings. Prior to 1000, it's estimated that the share of the world population living in urban settings did not reach 5%. By 1800, this share reached around 8%; and by 1900 had increased to around 16%.

Related chart – urban land area over the past 10,000 years. This chart shows the change in urban land area dating back to 10,000 BC.

Future urbanization

What share of people will live in urban areas in the future, by 2050, more than two-thirds of the world will live in urban areas.

The past 50 years in particular have seen a rapid increase in rates of urbanization across the world. Are these trends likely to continue?

The UN World Urbanization Prospects provide estimates of urban shares across the world through 2050. These projections are shown in the chart — using the timeline you can watch this change over time.

Across all countries, urban shares are projected to increase in the coming decades, although at varied rates. By 2050, it's projected that 1 in 7 people globally will live in urban areas. In fact, by 2050 there are very few countries where rural shares are expected to be higher than urban. These include several across Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Pacific Island States, and Guyana in Latin America.

Why, when most countries are expected to be mostly urban , is the global total just over two-thirds? This seems low but results from the fact that many of the world's most populated countries have comparably low urban shares (either just over half or less). For instance, India, which is anticipated to become the world's most populous nation, is estimated to have slightly over half of its population living in urban areas by the year 2050.

The other map shown here provides a snapshot overview of how the world is expected to continue to become more urbanized. It shows, for any given country, whether more people (the majority) live in urban or rural areas. Using the timeline feature and "play" button in the bottom-left of the chart, you can explore how this has changed over time. In 1950, it was predominantly high-income countries across Europe, the Americas, Australasia, and Japan that were largely urban. A century later — in 2050 — it's projected that most countries will have more people living in urban areas than not.

How many people will live in urban areas in the future?

By 2050, close to 7 billion people are projected to live in urban areas.

In the chart, we see estimates of urban and rural populations in absolute terms, projected through to 2050. Projected population growth based on the UN's medium fertility scenario. By 2050, the global population is projected to increase to around 9.8 billion. It's estimated that more than twice as many people in the world will be living in urban than in rural settings.

These trends can be explored by country or region using the "Change country or region" function in the top-right of the chart.

Using our timeline map of urbanization you can explore how countries are expected to transition from predominantly rural to urban in the coming decades. There we see that by 2050 it's projected that the majority of countries will have a majority (greater than 50%) of people living in urban areas.

How do living standards change as people move to urban areas?

Populations urbanize as they get richer.

In the chart, we show the relationship between the share of the population living in urban areas on the y-axis, and average income (gross domestic product per capita) on the x-axis. Here we see a strong relationship between urbanization and income: as countries get richer, they tend to become more urbanized.

The link between urbanization and economic growth has been well documented. 12

Urbanization is complex, however: there are many recognized benefits of urban settings (when developed successfully) including high density of economic activity, shorter trade links, utilization of human capital, shared infrastructure, and division of labor. 13

Is there causal feedback by which urbanization is also a predictor of future economic growth? The evidence for this is relatively weak — assessments of this effect suggest that countries with a higher initial urban population share do not achieve faster or slower economic growth than countries with a low initial urban population share. 14

Urban populations tend to have higher living standards

There are many examples — across broad areas of development — that suggest that, on average, living standards are higher in urban populations than in rural ones. Some examples include:

in nearly all countries electricity access is higher in urban areas than in rural areas;
access to improved sanitation is higher in urban areas;
access to improved drinking water is higher in urban areas;
access to clean fuels for cooking and heating is higher in urban areas;
child malnutrition is lower in urban settings.

Note, however, that it is difficult to infer causality between urbanization and these examples. Since urbanization shows a strong correlation with income, such relationships may instead simply show the effect of higher incomes on electricity access, sanitation, drinking water, and nutrition. Furthermore, there can also be significant inequalities within urban areas; this is evidenced by the fact that across many low-to-middle-income countries, a high share of the urban population lives in slum households (which lack access to all of the basic resources).

Agricultural employment falls with urbanization

It would be expected that changing where populations live will have an impact on types of employment. Rural-urban migration has been empirically linked with the structural transformation process: as urban population shares increase, employment tends to shift from agriculture towards industry/manufacturing, or services. 15

In the chart, we see the share of people employed who are in agriculture (y-axis) versus the share of the population living in urban areas (x-axis). Here, in general, we see that agricultural employment tends to decline with urbanization. In our blog post 'Structural transformation: how did today's rich countries become deindustrialized?' we discuss and look at the data on this agriculture-industry-services shift in more detail.

Although this agriculture-urbanization link tends to hold true for most countries, there are a couple of clear outliers. Sri Lanka, Samoa, and Barbados, for example, appear to show relatively low levels of agricultural employment despite being predominantly rural. For Sri Lanka, this anomaly is explained by low urbanization rates, rather than relatively low levels of agricultural employment — a labor share of just under 30% in agriculture is similar to neighboring countries in the Asia-Pacific region. In the case of Barbados and Saint Lucia, low agricultural production and employment are common for many small island states .

Definitions and measurement

How is an urban population defined.

There is no universal definition of what constitutes an 'urban area'. Definitions of an urban settlement vary widely across countries, both in terms of the metrics used to define them, and their threshold level. The UN World Urbanization Prospects (2018) database provides a downloadable list of underlying data sources and the statistical concepts used to define 'urban' by country. 5

In the chart, we have mapped the minimum threshold level of the number of inhabitants in a settlement needed for it to be classified as an 'urban area'. The data shown for a given country is its nationally-defined minimum threshold. When we look at the frequency at which a given threshold level is used by a country, we see that 2000 and 5000 inhabitants are the most frequently adopted (by 23 countries each). However, these ranges vary widely: Sweden and Denmark, for example, use a threshold of only 200 inhabitants whereas Japan adopts a very high threshold of 50,000 inhabitants.

Note that 133 countries do not use a minimum settlement population threshold in their 'urban' definition. Some use a variation of population density, infrastructure development, pre-assigned city populations, or in some cases no clear definition.

The UN adopts national definitions in its reporting of urban versus rural populations. This means urban populations are often not comparable across countries. Global urbanization trends also encounter this issue: world urban population is reported as the sum of nationally defined urban populations (therefore summing metrics/thresholds that are not directly comparable).

How is a slum household defined?

UN-HABITAT defines a slum household as a group of individuals living under the same roof in an urban area who lack one or more of the following 16 :

Durable housing of a permanent nature that protects against extreme climate conditions.
Sufficient living space which means no more than three people sharing the same room.
Easy access to safe water in sufficient amounts at an affordable price.
4. Access to adequate sanitation in the form of a private or public toilet shared by a reasonable number of people.

Sometimes a fifth criterion is included:

Security of tenure that prevents forced evictions.

It should be noted that although a single categorization of a 'slum household' is given, the conditions and level of deprivation can vary significantly between slum households. Some households may lack only one of the above criteria, whereas others may lack several.

How is urban density defined?

The density of a geographic area is measured on the basis of the average number of people per unit of area (for example, the number of people per square kilometer, km 2 ). It's therefore calculated as the population divided by the land area for that given population.

But what does urban density mean? Here, again, we encounter difficulty in agreeing on the standard boundary definition of what constitutes an urban area. The standard metric adopted (and encouraged) by the UN for urban density is the so-called "urban agglomeration population density".

An urban agglomeration is defined by the UN as:

The term “urban agglomeration” refers to the population contained within the contours of a contiguous territory inhabited at urban density levels without regard to administrative boundaries. It usually incorporates the population in a city or town plus that in the suburban areas lying outside of, but being adjacent to, the city boundaries. Whenever possible, data classified according to the concept of urban agglomeration are used. However, some countries do not produce data according to the concept of urban agglomeration but use instead that of ‘metropolitan area’ or ‘city proper’. If possible, such data are adjusted to conform to the concept of ‘urban’ agglomeration. When sufficient information is not available to permit such an adjustment, data based on the concept of city proper or metropolitan area are used.

This figure, which shows the urban definition boundaries for Toronto, is used by the UN to demonstrate these differences. 17

Here we see that the most commonly used definition of "urban agglomeration" is based on the population and area size of the central city or town plus its close suburban sprawls.

Interactive charts on urbanization

Built-up area is defined as cities, towns, villages, and human infrastructure.

In 1800 when urbanization rates were low, agricultural employment was very high — including in today's rich countries. For example, around 60% of the workforce in France was employed in agriculture in 1800. Today this figure is only a few percent.

UN World Urbanization Prospects (2018). Available at: https://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/Download/ .

Note that this data can be viewed for any country or region using the "Change country or region" function in the top-right of the chart.

United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2018). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2018 Revision, Online Edition. Available at: https://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/ .

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Projections through to 2035 are published by the UN World Urbanization Prospects (2018) based on its medium fertility scenario of population growth and urbanization rates.

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Bloom, D. E., Canning, D., & Fink, G. (2008). Urbanization and the wealth of nations. Science , 319 (5864), 772-775. Available at: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/319/5864/772.short

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Understanding Global Change

Discover why the climate and environment changes, your place in the Earth system, and paths to a resilient future.

Urbanization

Urbanization is the transformation of unoccupied or sparsely occupied land into densely occupied cities. Urban areas can grow from increases in human populations or from migration into urban areas. Urbanization often results in deforestation , habitat loss , and the extraction of freshwater from the environment, which can decrease biodiversity and alter species ranges and interactions . Human activities in urban areas, such as the burning of fossil fuels and industrial waste also increases pollutants in the environment that can affect the health of humans and other species.

Downtown Los Angeles as viewed from Griffith Park, which is home to a various animals including deer, skunks, coyotes, and a mountain lion. Source: Flickr

Urbanization can impact the Earth system in a variety of ways, including:

Causing habitat loss and deforestation , which can decrease species populations , ranges, biodiversity, and alter interactions among organisms.
The evolution of life cycles and traits that help species survive and reproduce in distrubed or altered ecosystems. For example, some bird populations living in urban environments have altered their beak shape to be able to more effectively eat the seeds in human-made bird feeders.
The transmission of diseases . Humans living in densely populated areas can rapidly spread diseases within and, with the ease and volume of transportation, among populations.
Increasing the transport of invasive species , either intentionally or by accident, as people travel and import and export supplies in and out of cities. Urbanization also creates disturbed environments where invasive species often thrive and outcompete native species. For example, many invasive plant species thrive along strips of land next to roads and highways.
Increasing regional temperatures . The use asphalt and other dark colored materials in urban areas increases the amount of sunlight absorbed . This creates urban heat islands, whereby cities experience higher temperatures than surrounding areas.
Paving land with concrete can increase water runoff, increasing erosion and decreasing soil quality . This can also decrease water quality by increasing sediment and pollutants in rivers and streams.
Changing how much and how fast water cycles through the biosphere and atmosphere. Trees and other plants return a significant proportion of precipitation to the atmosphere via a process called transpiration. Thus, the loss of plant productivity and biomass decreases the amount of water cycling through the biosphere and atmosphere, while increasing plant productivity and biomass increase the amount of water cycling.

Can you think of additional cause and effect relationships between urbanization and other parts of the Earth system?

Visit the agricultural activities , deforestation and reforestation , and habitat loss and restoration pages to learn more about how processes and phenomena related to land use affect global climate and ecosystems.

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Learn more in these real-world examples, and challenge yourself to construct a model that explains the Earth system relationships.

Urban Evolution
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Ancient bones, modern problems: One scientist’s trash is another scientist’s data
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Understanding Evolution: Urban Evolution

Letter to the Editor
Open access
Published: 02 January 2020

Urbanization: a problem for the rich and the poor?

Md Abdul Kuddus 1 , 2 , 4 ,
Elizabeth Tynan 3 &
Emma McBryde 1 , 2

Public Health Reviews volume 41 , Article number: 1 ( 2020 ) Cite this article

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Urbanization has long been associated with human development and progress, but recent studies have shown that urban settings can also lead to significant inequalities and health problems. This paper is concerned with the adverse impact of urbanization on both developed and developing nations and both wealthy and poor populations within those nations, addressing issues associated with public health problems in urban areas. The discussion in this paper will be of interest to policy makers. The paper advocates policies that improve the socio-economic conditions of the urban poor and promote their better health. Further, this discussion encourages wealthy people and nations to become better informed about the challenges that may arise when urbanization occurs in their regions without the required social supports and infrastructure.

Urbanization refers to the mass movement of populations from rural to urban settings and the consequent physical changes to urban settings. In 2019, the United Nations estimated that more than half the world’s population (4.2 billion people) now live in urban area and by 2041, this figure will increase to 6 billion people [ 1 ].

Cities are known to play multifaceted functions in all societies. They are the heart of technological development and economic growth of many nations, while at the same time serving as a breeding ground for poverty, inequality, environmental hazards, and communicable diseases [ 2 ]. When large numbers of people congregate in cities, many problems result, particularly for the poor. For example, many rural migrants who settle in an urban slum area bring their families and their domesticated animals—both pets and livestock—with them. This influx of humans and animals leads to vulnerability of all migrants to circulating communicable diseases and the potential to establish an urban transmission cycle. Further, most urban poor live in slums that are unregulated, have congested conditions, are overcrowded, are positioned near open sewers, and restricted to geographically dangerous areas such as hillsides, riverbanks, and water basins subject to landslides, flooding, or industrial hazards. All of these factors lead to the spread of communicable and non-communicable diseases, pollution, poor nutrition, road traffic, and so on [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]. The problems faced by the poor spill over to other city dwellers. As the trend to urbanization continues, this spillover effect increases and takes on a global dimension as more and more of the world’s populations are affected [ 3 ].

Some of the major health problems resulting from urbanization include poor nutrition, pollution-related health conditions and communicable diseases, poor sanitation and housing conditions, and related health conditions. These have direct impacts on individual quality of life, while straining public health systems and resources [ 6 ].

Urbanization has a major negative impact on the nutritional health of poor populations. Because they have limited financial resources and the cost of food is higher in cities, the urban poor lack nutritious diets and this leads to illness, which contributes to loss of appetite and poor absorption of nutrients among those affected. Furthermore, environmental contamination also contributes to undernutrition; street food is often prepared in unhygienic conditions, leading to outbreaks of food-borne illnesses (e.g., botulism, salmonellosis, and shigellosis) [ 6 ]. Urban dwellers also suffer from overnutrition and obesity, a growing global public health problem. Obesity and other lifestyle conditions contribute to chronic diseases (such as cancers, diabetes, and heart diseases). Although obesity is most common among the wealthy, international agencies have noted the emergence of increased weight among the middle class and poor in recent years [ 7 ].

Populations in poor nations that suffer from protein-energy malnutrition [ 8 ] have increased susceptibility to infection [ 9 ] through the impact of micronutrient deficiency on immune system development and function [ 10 ]. Around 168 million children under 5 are estimated to be malnourished and 76% of these children live in Asia [ 11 ]. At the same time, the World Health Organization is concerned that there is an emerging pandemic of obesity in poor countries that leads to non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, hypertension, and stroke [ 12 ].

Obesity is caused by increased caloric intake and decreased physical activity [ 13 ], something historically associated with wealth. However, people in urbanized areas of developing countries are also now vulnerable to obesity due to lack of physical space, continually sitting in workplaces, and excessive energy intake and low energy expenditure. In these areas, infrastructure is often lacking, including sufficient space for recreational activities. Further, in developing countries, as in developed countries, large employers frequently place head offices in urban capitals and work is increasingly sedentary in nature [ 14 ]. Another culprit associated with the risk of developing obesity is the change in food intake that has led to the so-called nutrition transition (increased the consumption of animal-source foods, sugar, fats and oils, refined grains, and processed foods) in urban areas. For instance, in China, dietary patterns have changed concomitantly with urbanization in the past 30 years, leading to increased obesity [ 15 ]. In 2003, the World Health Organization estimated that more than 300 million adults were affected, the majority in developed and highly urbanized countries [ 16 ]. Since then, the prevalence of obesity has increased. For example, in Australia, around 28% of adults were obese in 2014–2015 [ 17 ].

Pollution is another major contributor to poor health in urban environments. For instance, the World Health Organization estimated that 6.5 million people died (11.6% of all global deaths) as a consequence of indoor and outdoor air pollution and nearly 90% of air-pollution-related deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries [ 18 ]. Poor nutrition and pollution both contribute to a third major challenge for urban populations: communicable diseases. The poor live in congested conditions, near open sewers and stagnant water, and are therefore constantly exposed to unhealthy waste [ 6 ]. Inadequate sanitation can lead to the transmission of helminths and other intestinal parasites. Pollution (e.g., from CO 2 emission) from congested urban areas contributes to localized and global climate change and direct health problems, such as respiratory illnesses, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer for both the rich and the poor.

In addition to human-to-human transmission, animals and insects serve as efficient vectors for diseases within urban settings and do not discriminate between the rich and poor. The prevalence and impact of communicable diseases in urban settings, such as tuberculosis (TB), malaria, cholera, dengue, and others, is well established and of global concern.

National and international researchers and policy makers have explored various strategies to address such problems, yet the problems remain. For example, research on solutions for megacities has been ongoing since the early 1990s [ 19 , 20 ]. These studies have concluded that pollution, unreliable electricity, and non-functioning infrastructure are priority initiatives; nevertheless, air pollution, quality of water in cities, congestion, disaster management issues, and infrastructure are not being systematically addressed [ 19 , 20 ].

The impact of inner city transportation on health, such as road traffic, is emerging as a serious problem. Statistics show that a minimum of 10 people die every day on the railways in the city of Mumbai, India [ 21 ]. Vietnam is another example of a country that has seen a remarkable increase in road traffic accidents [ 22 ]. Improvements to the country’s infrastructure have not been able to meet the increasing growth of vehicular and human traffic on the street. Vietnam reportedly has a population of 95 million and more than 18 million motorbikes on its roads. A deliberate policy is needed to reduce accidents [ 21 ].

Although urbanization has become an irreversible phenomenon, some have argued that to resolve the problems of the city, we must tackle the root causes of the problem, such as improving the socio-economic situation of the urban poor.

Until the conditions in rural areas improve, populations will continue to migrate to urban settings. Given the challenges that rural development poses, the root causes are unlikely to be addressed in the near future. Therefore, governments and development agencies should concentrate on adapting to the challenges of urbanization, while seeking to reduce unplanned urbanization.

Some examples of policies and practices that should be considered include (i) policies that consider whole-of-life journeys, incorporating accessible employment, community participation, mobility/migration and social transition, to break generational poverty cycles; (ii) policies addressing urban environmental issues, such as planned urban space and taxes on the use of vehicles to reduce use or to encourage vehicles that use less fuel as well as encourage bicycle use, walking, and other forms of human transportation; (iii) greater cooperative planning between rural and urban regions to improve food security (e.g., subsidies for farmers providing locally produced, unprocessed and low cost food to urban centers); (iv) social protection and universal health coverage to reduce wealth disparity among urban dwellers; including introduction of programs and services for health, for example by establishing primary healthcare clinics accessible and affordable for all including those living in urban slums [ 23 ].

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the editor for his/her thoughtful comments and efforts towards improving the manuscript.

This work was conducted as a part of a PhD programme of the first authors and funded by the College of Medicine and Dentistry at the James Cook University, Australia (JCU-QLD-933347).

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Kuddus, M.A., Tynan, E. & McBryde, E. Urbanization: a problem for the rich and the poor?. Public Health Rev 41 , 1 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40985-019-0116-0

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Urbanization: Concept, Mechanism, and Global Implications

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Urbanization has two types of impacts: positive and negative. On the one hand, urbanization brings positive impacts to society as it helps improve the social and economic aspects of people’s lives. On the other hand, urbanization brings negative social and ecological impacts, both locally and globally. This chapter discusses the concept of urbanization in the context of human geoscience, including its history, mechanism, and trend in the modern world. It presents an overview of the negative ecological and social impacts associated with urbanization, such as urban heat island, air pollution, flooding, health, urban poverty, crimes and violence, and traffic congestion. This chapter also discusses the inclusion of urbanization to the global sustainable development agenda, as well as the importance of geospatial technologies, such as geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing, for urban monitoring towards sustainable urban development.

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Murayama, Y., Estoque, R.C. (2020). Urbanization: Concept, Mechanism, and Global Implications. In: Himiyama, Y., Satake, K., Oki, T. (eds) Human Geoscience. Advances in Geological Science. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9224-6_19

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Urbanization: Problems and Remedies

Last updated on October 6, 2023 by ClearIAS Team

Urbanization is the movement of people from rural to urban regions, expanding cities and towns. It is the process through which cities grow as higher percentages of the population come to live in the city.

Urbanization involves a complex set of economic, demographic, social, cultural, technological, and environmental processes that increase the proportion of the population of a territory that lives in towns and cities.

Urbanization is often discussed in countries that are currently in the process of industrializing and urbanizing, but all industrialized nations have experienced urbanization at some point in their history. Moreover, urbanization is on the rise all over the globe.

Table of Contents

What leads to urbanization?

Industrialization: Industrialization has improved job prospects by allowing individuals to work in contemporary sectors in occupations that contribute to economic progress. Because of better job possibilities, more individuals have been drawn to relocate from rural to urban regions since the Industrial Revolution.

Commerce: Commercialization and commerce are associated with the belief that towns and cities provide better business possibilities and returns than rural regions.

Facilities: There are several social advantages to living in a city or town. Better educational facilities, higher living standards, improved sanitation and housing, improved health care, improved recreation facilities, and improved social life are only a few examples

Job prospects: Higher-value-added occupations are created and increased by services and industries, resulting in additional work possibilities

Cities also emerge when rural regions gradually transition into urban landscapes. Such a transition may be a result of mineral discoveries, resource exploitation, or agricultural operations.

Urbanization in India

India along with China and Nigeria are the most rapidly urbanizing countries as they account for 35% of world urban population growth projected for the 2018-2050 period.

In 2018 a large number of India’s cities had a population of between 300,000 and 1 million inhabitants. There are 120 medium-sized cities of such population size and only five urban settlements with 20 million or more inhabitants.

In India, the urban population amounts to 461 million people. This number is growing by 2.3 percent each year. By 2031, 75 percent of India’s national income is estimated to come from cities.

Providing the necessary urban infrastructure is the big challenge as 70 to 80 percent of the infrastructure that will be needed by 2050 has not been built yet, and the estimated investment gap amounts to approximately 827 billion US dollars.

Also read: Economic and Social Development – Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

State-wise data:

More than 75% of the urban population of the country is in 10 States: Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Kerala.
Maharashtra has 50.8 million persons which are 13.5% of the total urban population of the country.
Uttar Pradesh accounts for about 44.4 million, followed by Tamil Nadu with 34.9 million.
Goa is the most urbanized State with a 62.2% urban population.
Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra, and Gujarat have attained over 40% urbanization.
Among the North-Eastern States, Mizoram is the most urbanized with 51.5% urban population.
Bihar, Odisha, Assam, and Uttar Pradesh continue to be at a lower level of urbanization than the national average.
The NCT of Delhi and the UT of Chandigarh are most urbanized with 97.5% and 97.25% urban population respectively, followed by Daman and Diu and Lakshadweep.

Global scenario

At the international scale, levels of urbanization are closely correlated with levels of economic development, while rates of urbanization are inversely correlated with levels of economic development.

Demographic processes of immigration and migration, as well as natural population growth, are important determinants of urbanization, but these are in turn underpinned by other processes, especially structural economic change.

The most urbanized regions are Northern America with 82% of its population living in urban areas (as of 2018), Latin America and the Caribbean (81%), Europe (74%), and Oceania (68%).

Asia has about 50% level of urbanization in Asia and Africa remains mostly rural, with only 43% of its population living in urban areas.

Significance of Urbanization

Some of the beneficial effects of urbanization include job development, technical and infrastructure improvements, better transportation and communication, educational and medical facilities, and higher living standards.

Urban living is linked with higher levels of literacy and education, better health, longer life expectancy, greater access to social services, and enhanced opportunities for cultural and political participation.

Urbanization and economic growth are strongly related in terms of industrialization, employment generation, and increase in productivity.

Also read: Sustainable Livestock Production

Drawbacks of urbanization

Dwelling crisis: There is a continuous scarcity of housing as the number of people living in metropolitan areas grows.

Overcrowding: Overcrowding, urban congestion is a constant, and it is an element that is growing day by day as more people and immigrants migrate to cities and towns in quest of a better living.

Unemployment: Lack of highly skilled jobs is most prevalent in metropolitan areas, especially among educated individuals.

Slums: Industrialization is fast-paced but there is a shortage of developed land for housing. The increasing migration of rural immigrants to the city, and the inflated prices of land beyond the urban poor contribute to the rise of slums and squatters in metropolitan areas.

Sewage infrastructure: In most metropolitan areas, insufficient sewage infrastructure is observed concerning the rapid population growth.

Health crisis: Communicable illnesses like typhoid, dysentery, plague, and diarrhea eventually can spread rapidly. The COVID-19 pandemic is a live example of how overpopulated cities and medical facilities collapse under the weight of a pandemic.

Pollution: The need for transportation increases with the increase in population, resulting in traffic congestion and pollution.

Urban Heat Islands (UHI): These are significantly warmer urban areas than their surrounding rural areas due to human activities. Urban Heat Island is a major problem associated with rapid urbanization.

Crime rates: Shortage of resources, overcrowding, higher poverty rates, unemployment, and a loss of social services and education lead to social issues such as violence, drug misuse, and crime.

Government schemes to manage urbanization

Smart cities mission

The National Smart Cities Mission is an urban renewal mission launched in 2015, to promote cities to provide core infrastructure, a clean and sustainable environment, and a decent quality of life to their citizens through the application of ‘smart solutions’.

AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) mission

The purpose of AMRUT which is mainly for urban rejuvenation is to:

Ensure that every household has access to a tap with an assured supply of water and a sewerage connection.
Increase the amenity value of cities by developing greenery and well maintained open spaces (e.g. parks) and
Reduce pollution by switching to public transport or constructing facilities for non-motorized transport (e.g. walking and cycling).

Swacch Bharat mission

It was launched in 2014 to accelerate the efforts to achieve universal sanitation coverage and to ensure that the open defecation free (ODF) behaviours are sustained, no one is left behind, and that solid and liquid waste management facilities are accessible, the Mission is moving towards the next Phase II of SBMG i.e ODF-Plus.

Swacch Bharat mission Urban 2.0 was allocated funds in Union Budget 2021 . The goal of the Swachh Bharat Mission Urban 2.0 is to make all the cities garbage-free with sophisticated waste management systems.

HRIDAY (Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana)

National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) was launched on 21 January 2015 to bring together urban planning, economic growth, and heritage conservation in an inclusive manner to preserve the heritage character of each Heritage City.

PM Awas Yojana

The Housing for All scheme was an initiative of the Indian government to establish housing facilities for slum dwellers and was introduced by the Indian government’s Ministry of Housing and urban affairs. The mission has an Urban part and Gramin part to comprehensively acknowledge the diversity of the Indian landscape.

Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan

Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan (Self-reliant India Mission) is a campaign launched by the Central Government of India which included an Rs.20 lakh crore economic stimulus package and several reform proposals. The five pillars of the mission are- economy, infrastructure, system, democracy, and demand.

Way forward

Sustainable, planned, and eco-friendly cities: Governments’ efforts to build smart, safe, environmentally friendly, and affordable cities should get more boost and legal backing as well.

Private investments: More investments can be encouraged for green living and other urban initiatives for sustainable landscapes.

Access for all: every resident should be able to access all the services, without discrimination of any kind. Disabled friendly and inclusive infrastructure should be made mandatory in urban areas.

Employment: To mitigate the negative consequences of increasing urbanization while still protecting natural ecosystems, private investments in environmental resource utilization and employment creation should be promoted.

Health and Population management: population control is important to manage the spread of diseases. It will help in creating a healthy society with medical facilities accessible to all.

Poverty alleviation: A bottom-up approach can be adopted to better understand unique challenges faced by the urban poor and worked upon.

As we move forward in the 21st century, the global population is likely to continue growing. Urban areas will continue to grow with the population. By 2050, it is projected that two-thirds of the urban population will be living in urban areas, that are close to 7 billion people in cities alone.

This continual growth presents complex challenges as we prepare for the cities of the future. How we choose to manage urbanization will have consequences for our world for many years to come.

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Urbanisation Essay

500+ words urbanisation essay.

Urbanisation is an integral part of development. It is an index of transformation from traditional rural economies to modern industrial ones. The process of urbanisation started with the industrial revolution and resulted in economic development. Urban areas are an integral part of India’s development and growth. It accounts for two-thirds of India’s GDP. India’s urban population has increased rapidly over the past decade and this rapid urbanisation is set to continue in the future. This urbanisation essay discusses the opportunities that urban areas have and the major challenges faced by them. So, students must go through this essay to gather the information and then try to write the essay in their own words. They can also get the list of CBSE Essays on different topics to practise essays on various topics.

Meaning of Urbanisation

When people move from village or rural areas to towns/cities or urban areas for better job opportunities where they can get involved in non-agricultural occupations such as manufacturing industry, trade, management etc. is known as urbanisation. People mainly migrate to cities in search of jobs, new opportunities and to have a better lifestyle.

Urbanisation in India – History and Present Situation

Urbanisation in India is said to have begun somewhere around 600 B.C. culminating in the formation of early historical cities. During ancient and medieval periods of Indian history, the kings established various capital regions, which developed into towns. For example, Pataliputra (now Patna) and Vaishali developed as towns during the Magadh rule. Kanauj was the capital town of Harshavardhana in Uttar Pradesh. The establishment of the East India Company and the onset of British colonial control of India from the seventeenth century led to the growth of the urban centres of Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. These cities (except Delhi) developed along the seacoast in the respective regions where the British had established administrative systems in various provinces.

In the present scenario, the urban population is growing rapidly. Because of this, opportunities are also increasing. Urbanisation in India is mainly due to the expansion of cities and the migration of people. Investments are made in housing, urban transport, road network, water supply, smart cities, power-related infrastructure and other forms of urban management.

Consequences of Rapid Urbanisation

Rapid urbanisation often leads to both healthy and unhealthy consequences and aspects.

Positive Aspect of Urbanisation

Urbanisation resulted in the development and setting up of many industries in the cities. Manufacturing units and the service sector started to grow in the urban areas. This has created employment opportunities for the people. This has resulted in rural-urban migration and caused the “industrialisation urbanisation process” to set in. The growth of cities has given rise to external economies. Urbanisation results in changes in the attitudes and mindset of the urban people resulting in modernisation in behaviour. This indirectly helped the country to attain faster economic development.

Negative Aspect of Urbanisation

Growing urbanisation has increased the congestion in urban areas, which has resulted in problems like traffic jams and too much concentration of population. Too much population is another unhealthy aspect of urbanisation. It has created urban chaos related to housing, education, sanitation, pollution, medical facilities, growth of slums, unemployment, violence, inadequate water supply, overcrowding etc. All these resulted in deteriorating the quality of human life.

Students must have found “Urbanisation Essay” useful for improving their essay writing skills. Visit BYJU’S website to get the latest updates and study material on CBSE/ICSE/State Board/Competitive Exams at BYJU’S.

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Urbanization Negative Impacts Essay

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Introduction

Negative social and economic impacts, references list.

Change within a society may have political, social and economic effects on the society. In some cases, the effects may either be positive or negative. This essay examines the negative economic and social impacts of changes that are associated with urbanization.

Urbanization can be defined as the growth of a given city center occasioned by the migration of individuals from rural areas. 1 This represents a change from a rural-based to urban-based society. Urbanization changes are considered to take place as a result of social, political and economic developments. It is important to note that these changes have negative economic and social effects on society. 2

It is argued that urbanization has specific negative effects on society as a whole. The process results in rising numbers of poor residents who form a part of the low-income class. 3 Besides, urbanization also negatively impacts the supply of water, food security and people’s health. This claim is supported by Li’s text 4 .

Besides, people living in urban centers are susceptible to diseases and natural calamities, which are inherently social challenges that face overpopulated areas. The increasing number of people migrating to urban areas exert pressure on limited state resources. This leads to coordination problems that directly affect the administration and planning processes. 5

Urbanization has also had negative economic impacts. The urbanization process creates an unprecedented increase in urban populations; this puts much pressure on the already limited natural resources and infrastructure. 6 Also, the process of urbanization has necessitated the use of land for residential rather than production purposes. 7

This means that the land used for production purposes may be used for residential purposes to provide accommodation for the growing urban population; the consequence of this is a rise in the poverty levels among urban residents. The crises emanating from the growing urban population have raised the economic costs of taking care of urban residents’ problems. 8

Urbanization is defined as a change from a rural society to an urban society. Urbanization is associated with changes that may have either positive or negative impacts on society. However, this essay has taken the position that it has negative economic and social impacts, which include the threat to health, food insecurity, poverty, high economic costs, and environmental pollution.

Hu, J, ‘Socio-Ecological Impacts of Urbanisation’, Reading/ Writing Examination , 2006.

Li, M, ‘Urbanisation and the Environment’, Reading/ Writing Examination , 2006.

1 J Hu, ‘Socio-Ecological Impacts of Urbanisation’, Reading/ Writing Examination, 2006, para 1.

2 Ibid., para 3.

6 Ibid., para 3.

7 M Li, ‘Urbanisation and the Environment,’ Reading/ Writing Examination, 2006, para 1.

8 Ibid., para 5.

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Published: 17 February 2021

Urbanization and economic complexity

Riccardo Di Clemente ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8005-6351 1 , 2 ,
Emanuele Strano 3 &
Michael Batty 2

Scientific Reports volume 11 , Article number: 3952 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

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Applied mathematics
Complex networks
Statistical physics

Urbanization plays a crucial role in the economic development of every country. The mutual relationship between the urbanization of any country and its economic productive structure is far from being understood. We analyzed the historical evolution of product exports for all countries using the World Trade Web with respect to patterns of urbanization from 1995 to 2010. Using the evolving framework of economic complexity, we reveal that a country’s economic development in terms of its production and export of goods, is interwoven with the urbanization process during the early stages of its economic development and growth. Meanwhile in urbanized countries, the reciprocal relation between economic growth and urbanization fades away with respect to its later stages, becoming negligible for countries highly dependent on the export of resources where urbanization is not linked to any structural economic transformation.

The economic commitment of climate change

A unifying modelling of multiple land degradation pathways in Europe

The impact of artificial intelligence on employment: the role of virtual agglomeration

Introduction.

It is an established fact that urbanization in developed countries is accompanied by economic growth and industrialization which mutually self-reinforce one another 1 . This historic pattern generates an expectation of a virtuous circle between economic growth and urbanization regardless of local conditions 2 , 3 . From classic urban economic theories 4 , 5 to the more recent scaling approach to cities 6 , 7 , the growth of urban population has routinely been used as a proxy for economic growth. This pattern has also been observed in rapidly developing countries such as China and India but it cannot be considered a universal blueprint 8 for deviations from this norm have not yet been fully explained.

In fact, as pointed out in several studies 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , the increasing urbanization rate in persistently poor and non-industrialized countries poses an important dilemma for urban economic theory. Why, given the same rate of urbanization, does Asia contain a number of explosive economies while sub-Saharan Africa has seen very little growth? Moreover, in developed and advanced industrialized economies, is there appears to be a competitive advantage in continuing this urbanization process indefinitely?

There are several theories aimed at explaining urbanization processes. Some argue that rural poverty moves people to cities as was clearly the case in nineteenth century Europe and America 13 , driving the transformation from an agricultural to an industrial-service based economy 14 , 15 . Others argue that in the last decades there has been urban-biased public policy that has led to over-urbanization 12 .

The most intriguing approach however is rooted in the mutual indirect effects of the World Trade Web (WTW) on global urbanization 16 , 17 . The dominant idea is that in open economies, domestic communities (such as cities) can trade easily with other communities, boosting their exports in substituting industrialization for urbanization policy 18 . In simple terms, the commodities can flow more freely using urban agglomerates as nodes in the trading networks between countries, generating the ever present virtuous circle between economic growth and urbanization.

Starting from this theory, we analyze the WTW to explore the mutual relationship between the urbanization of the countries and their economic production structure using the Economic Complexity (EC) framework. Economic Complexity 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , is a new and expanding field in the economic analysis, which proposes “Fitness” and “Complexity” metrics to quantify the fitness or competitiveness of countries and the complexity of products from a country’s basket of exports. The main focus of EC is based on a bipartite representation of the World Trade Web where the nodes represent the set of world-countries and the set of exported products defined as different entities. Countries and products are connected to one another by imposing a threshold based on their Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) 28 which defines the criterion for the existence of relations.

The Fitness and Complexity algorithm is a kind of PageRank method applied to WTW, where Fitness \(F_c\) is the quantity for country c , and Complexity \(Q_p\) is the quantity for products p . The idea at the basis of the algorithm is that the countries with the highest fitness are those which are able to export the highest number of the most exclusive products i.e. those with the highest complexity. On the other hand this complexity is non linearly related to the fitness of its exporters so that products exported by low fitness countries have a low level of complexity and high complexity products are exported by high fitness countries only.

The Fitness metric is valuable in quantifying a country’s productive structure and structural transformations which enable one to predict its future economic growth 23 . It correlates with the extent of economic equality 29 and it has been used to analyze the country’s growth path to industrialization 30 .

In this work, we used a data driven approach borrowing tools recently introduce by statistical physics and network science to improve our understanding of the complex dynamics of human societies, with the aim of finding innovative insight 31 to link urbanization process with the evolution of the international trade.

We couple the WTW data with the urbanization level of more than 144 countries worldwide, and analyze this between 1995-2010 thus capturing the fingerprint of urbanization on countries’ productive systems through the lens of their exports. We notice that in rural economies, the increase in urban population fosters structural changes in industrial exports. It boosts the country’s diversification improving the country fitness, and allowing the export of more complex products. These economic transformations fade away in countries that already have a high level of urban population (more than \(60\%\) ) where there is no relation between the urbanization process and the country’s fitness.

Within the sub-Saharan countries, we capture those where the virtuous circle between economic growth and urbanization is fostering structural changes in those countries’ productive systems. On the other hand within countries with economies based on raw materials, we assess the implementation of policy leading to urbanization that does not support any structural transformations of their basket of exports.

Economic complexity and urbanization

We represent the WTW as a bipartite network, i.e. by considering the set of world-countries and the set of products as different entities and linking a given country to a given product if (and only if) the former exports to the latter above a certain threshold (the so-called Revealed Comparative Advantage—RCA) 28 . RCA is a general criterion adopted in order to understand whether a country can be considered, or not, a producer of a particular product. It quantifies how much the export of a given product p is relevant for the economy of a country c in relation to the global export of p for all countries (See “ Methods ” Section).

The country’s fitness and product’s complexity are the result of a non-linear iterative map applied to the WTW matrix M 19 , 20 , 32 (See “ Methods ”).

Through the algorithm’s iterations, products exported by low fitness countries have a low level of complexity while high complexity products are exported by high fitness countries only. The countries’ composition of their export basket depends on their fitness. Fitness and Complexity are thus non-monetary indicators of the economy’s development: the fitness represents a measure of tangible and intangible assets and capabilities, which drive the country’s development, such as political organization, its history, geography, technology, services, and infrastructures 21 . Meanwhile complexity measures the necessary capabilities which must be owned by a country in order that it can produce and then export the resulting product.

Within this framework, we include the dimension of a country’s degree of urbanization defined as the percentage of the total population living in urban areas. Our aim is to quantify the link between a country’s urbanization process and their exports as a proxy for their industrial economic system. To disentangle the relation between country productivity systems and their urbanization, we have divided the set of countries in terms of their degree of urbanization, defined by the Urban Range, which is expressed in four quantiles [ Q 1, Q 2, Q 3, Q 4] (see urban range division in Fig. 1 B top).

( A ) Distribution of exported products complexity by different urbanization levels through the 2000–2010. There is a shift of lower urbanized countries towards the export of more complex products ( B ) Distribution of the Urban Range (percentage of the total population living in urban areas) of the 144 countries analyzed. ( B ) Ranked country fitness versus products export diversification, the highly diversified countries are one’s with more fitness and high urbanization, meanwhile low urbanized country are in the center bottom of the scatter plot, with some exceptions such as those with links to the oil countries. ( C ) Matrix of the country exports in 2010, reordering the countries and products by fitness and complexity; the color dots represent an exported product under the RCA threshold Eq. ( 2 ), the color gradient follows the urban range definition.

More urbanized countries [Q3,Q4] in the early 2000s, export a wide range of complex products such as: textiles, heavy manufacturing industries, and IT while rural countries [Q1,Q2] export products that require a low level of sophistication such as raw materials and agricultural products (Fig. 1 A).

Highly urbanized countries maintain a similar distribution across the analysis years, with a long tail of low complexity products and a consistent increase in the number of high complexity products. On the other hand starting from 2005, we have noticed that rural countries change their export basket towards higher complexity products. This shift is shown by the cumulative distribution functions of the different Urban ranges that decrease their distance from one another over time (see Fig. 1 A inset) together with their median and peak distance.

We notice that countries within the higher quantile of the Urban Range, Fig. 1 B, are the ones with higher fitness and higher diversification, whilst low urbanized countries have a low diversification and fitness. Notable exceptions are countries with exports based on raw materials (i.e. Qatar, Kuwait, Gabon, Iraq, Libya). These countries reached higher levels of urbanization as result of policy decisions 33 meanwhile their exports are limited to a few products with low complexity.

The representation of the WTW in Fig. 1 C shows country exports in 2010 rearranged by ranked fitness and complexity. The country exports’ diversification is related to the urbanization level. Low urbanized countries are at the bottom of the matrix with low fitness and lower degree of diversification, whilst the urbanized countries, with the most advanced economies lie at the top, with a high degree of product diversification with different levels of complexity and high fitness.

Exports diversification and urbanization

It is known that low fitness countries have similar economies with low degrees of diversification and high similarity with respect to their export baskets 20 , 34 , 35 i. e. they produce and export few of the same low technology products. We captured a shift in the distribution of the exported products within the rural countries (Fig. 1 A). In particular, we noticed that rural countries start to produce and export more sophisticated products. This productive systems transformation in the EC literature is related to the development of new capabilities 22 , 36 , 37 .

Some questions from this analysis emerge: do the rural countries evolve their productive systems in the same way? and do they continue to produce and export the same products? Is the pattern of economic development entangled with urbanization in same fashion for each rural country?

We can measure indirectly the transformation of the productive systems by analyzing the evolution of WTW topology 38 . In particular we can assess the changes of countries’ similarities in their exports studying the abundance evolution of network motifs 39 . A network motif is a particular pattern of interconnections occurring between the nodes of the network (i.e. between the countries and their products). In our case we are interested in the abundance of the similarity motif \(\mu _{sim}\) in Fig. 2 B (motifs 6 40 , or X motif 35 ): it quantifies the co-occurrence of any two countries as producers of the same couple of products as Eq. ( 7 ) (and, viceversa, the co-occurrence of any two products in the basket of the same couple of countries). This represents the simplest motifs 40 that can quantify the similarities in the export countries’ diversification which maintains a pairwise correlation within the products exported. Two economies with a fixed number of products exported are diversifying if the values of \(\mu _{sim}\) is decreasing while their production similarity increases with high values of \(\mu _{sim}\) .

( A ) Z-score of the export similarity motif by country groups with different Urban Ranges and the Z-score of the whole WTW in black. ( B ) Similarity motif as the co-occurrence of any two countries as producers of the same couple of products 35 , 40 .

To provide a benchmark and asses the \(\mu _{sim}\) statistical significance of the WTW we use the Bipartite Configuration Model (BiCM) 34 as a null model. This framework is valuable in the analysis of the abundance of the bipartite motifs 40 , enabling us to detect financial crisis effects on a country’s export basket 35 as well as export similarities between countries with same level of economic development 41 .

We generated 1000 matrices using the BiCM 34 (see “ Methods ” Section) and we compare the observed abundances of the similarity motif (Eq. 7 ) in the real network with the corresponding expected values in the null ensemble using the Z-score.

The whole WTW manifests a progressive increase of the abundance of similarity motifs with respect to the null case 35 (Black line Fig. 2 A). Highly urbanized countries show a similar trend of increasing similarity in their products exports. This measure implies that rural economies are very similar with a higher abundance of the similarity motif with respect to the random case having a high value Z-score. Interestingly, low urban range countries diversifying between each other manifest an opposite trend. The exports diversification trends of the low urbanized countries coupled with the increasing complexity of the product exported imply a nontrivial connection between urbanization and production capabilities. This measure outlines how rural economies follow different development patterns based on their production systems. The urbanization phenomenon coupled with the capabilities already presented in the country enable the production of different sophisticated products depending on their environment.

Urbanization growth and country fitness

The economic transformation of a rural country has an impact on its overall fitness value, and the competitiveness of its productive system. In this respect, the urbanization process is key element in a country’s development and its economic growth 33 , 42 . To assess the relation between the country’s fitness and the urbanization process we analyzed the Urban Range growth rate in relation to the growth rate of country fitness ranking between 1995 and 2010, as we show in Fig. 3 . The country fitness ranking is the country’s ordered position with respect to the country’s fitness value in a given year. The growth rate of the country’s fitness ranking is an easily understood tool to compare the transformations of a country’s productive systems with respect to its competitors. It has been proven a reliable tool in quantifying the country’s relative degree of competitiveness across different years providing a more stable measurement than the raw fitness value 43 .

( A ) The Fitness Ranking Growth Rate versus Urbanization Growth Rate. The effect of urbanization growth on the transformation of the economic systems (or vice-versa) is more relevant in low urbanize countries. The dashed lines represent the 95% Confidence Interval (CI) of the linear regression. ( B ) Slope coefficient of a sliding window across \(25\%\) of the countries (corresponding to 36 countries) of its fitness ranking growth rate versus urban population growth rate. The error bar corresponds to the fit’s \(95\%\) confidence interval. The colors follow the Urban Range Scheme.

For each of the four Urban Range quantiles we find a linear relation between the urbanization rate and the Fitness ranking growth rate in Fig. 3 b. Increasing urbanization within lowly urbanized countries is interwoven with increasing Fitness. Meanwhile, the effects are minimal in highly urbanized countries (Urban Range Q3,Q4). We validate the urbanization/fitness relation analyzing a \(25\%\) quantile sliding window on the whole urbanization distribution, which we show in black in Fig. 3 B.

We notice that in many rural economies, the urbanization process affects or has been affected by structural changes in its economic production. (An example are countries such as Uganda, Nepal, Somalia.) On other hand, there are many countries (such as IvoryCoast, Paraguay, Chad) where the urbanization process does not provide improvement in the fitness ranking 44 .

The self-reinforced mechanism between urbanization and fitness reaches a plateau within the urbanized countries (Q3,Q4), where the urbanization does not affect or has not been affected by changes in fitness ranking. In this respect, the resource exports countries manifest a shift toward a negative relation between urbanization and fitness. In fact in countries that are heavily dependent on resource exports, urbanization appears to be concentrated in the cities where the economies consist primarily of non-tradeable services 45 . To support our result we provide the same analysis using instead of the Fitness Ranking metric, the Fitness, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and GDP Ranking respectively (see “ Methods ” section: Urban Range vs Fitness and GDP). We do not find any evidence of relation between the other three metrics and the urbanization rate.

Urban fitness trends

The process of urbanization is often entangled with a country’s industrialization 11 . As countries develop, people move out of rural areas and agricultural activities into urban centers, where they engage in manufacturing products 46 which are more sophisticated with higher complexity. This transformation is outlined by the increasing level of fitness of low urbanized countries that are involved in the urbanization process. To leverage this information and capture its trends, we define the country Urban Fitness \(F_{c}^{\text{ urb }}(t)=F_c(t)*U_c(t)\) ; this is the value of country fitness \(F_c\) weighted by the percentage of urban population \(U_c\) .

( A ) Clusters of normalized Urban Fitness Trends. ( B ) Correlation Matrix of the countries urban fitness trends clustered with the Louvain algorithm. ( C ) Geographical cluster distribution. The map in this figure was created using the software QGIS.

We cluster the countries Urban Fitness trends using the Louvain algorithm 47 which is based on their correlation matrix shown in Fig. 4 B. Three clusters emerge with high correlations disentangling the non-trivial geographical relations we show in Fig. 4 A–C.

In Fig. 4 A countries with a clear urbanization trend (in orange) are ones with a stable increase in fitness ranking. Meanwhile the blue cluster contains developed countries, where the urbanization does not provide any new input to the economic development and resource dependent countries, where the urbanization is not only lead by deep structural economic change. These results are in agreement with the Urban Range study in Fig. 3 that show a poor effect of the urbanization on the country fitness, implying that over a given value of urbanization, other factors have a more important role in economic development and growth. Finally, the third cluster (in red) are the countries without any clear trend and are thus uncategorized.

It is well-known that urbanization provides several advantages to the economics of scale and division of labour, boosting productivity and competition. It helps in accessing the labor force and inputting materials to the production process as well as decreasing the geographical distance between firms, reducing transaction costs, and fostering competition 48 . These urbanization advantages 49 together with the appropriate bureaucratic environment 33 , investment in infrastructures 50 and companies market structure 51 , are some of intangible attributes, the capabilities, that a country needs to drive economic growth and innovation 36 . We noticed that the country Fitness, the production and export of goods, is interwoven within the urbanization process during the early stages of country’s economic development and growth. We show that the information carried by WTW can provide a different perspective on analyzing the complex process of urbanization, enlightening the relation between a country’s exports, economic development and its urban growth.

World trade web

The dataset used in this work is the BACI (Base pour l’Analyse du Commerce International) World Trade Database (Gaulier, S. Baci: International trade database at the product-level http://www.cepii.fr/CEPII/fr/publications/wp/abstract.asp?NoDoc=2726 Date of access: 18/01/2021). The data contains information on the trade of 200 different countries for more than 5000 different products, categorized according to the 6-digit code of the Harmonised System 2007 ( http://www.wcoomd.org/ Date of access: 18/01/2021). The products’ sectors follows the UN categorization ( http://unstats.un.org/unsd/cr/registry/regcst.asp?Cl=8 Date of access: 18/01/2021). We create a map between the two systems converting the HS2007 in to the ISIC revision 2 code at 2-digit ( http://www.macalester.edu/research/economics/PAGE/HAVEMAN/Trade.Resources/TradeConcordances.html#FromISIC Date of access: 18/01/2021). We represent the trade relation between the 144 countries \(c\in [1,C]\) and the 1131 products \(p\in [1,P]\) between the years [1995, 2010] throught the bipartite matrix \({\tilde{M}}\) with dimension \((C\times P)\) where each entry \({\tilde{m}}_{c,p}\) measures the export in US dollars. The framework of the Economic-Complexity 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 based on the interaction between countries and products is expressed by the application of the Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) 28 threshold over the entries \({\tilde{m}}_{c,p}\) :

Finally, we define the entries of the biadjacency matrix M of the undirected bipartite network analyzed in this work as:

This indicates that the connection (country-product link) is established if and only if the relative RCA is relevant (over the threshold), otherwise it can be ignored. Each row of M represents the export basket of a given country (or its diversification \(k_c\) ), while each column represents the subset of producers of a given product (or its ubiquity \(k_p\) ) 52 .

Urbanization

The data of the urban population from 1995 to 2010 are available at the World Bank database ( https://data.worldbank.org/ Date of access: 18/01/2021).

Fitness and complexity

Fitness and Complexity are a metric for countries and products applied to bipartite binary matrix M of the WTW 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 24 . The basic idea of EC is to define a non-linear map through an iterative process which couples the Fitness of countries to the Complexity of products. At every step of the iteration, the Fitness \(F_c\) of a given country c is proportional to the sum of the exported products, weighted by their complexity parameter \(Q_p\) . In particular, the Fitness \(F_c\) for the generic country c and Quality \(Q_p\) for the generic product p at the \(n-\) th step of iteration, are defined as:

where the symbols \(\langle \cdot \rangle\) indicate the average taken over the proper set. The initial condition are taken as \(F_c^0=Q_p^0=1\,\,\forall c\in N_c,\,\forall p\in N_p\) , where \(N_c\) and \(N_p\) are the number respectively of countries and products (the convergence of the algorithm described by Eq. ( 4 ) depends on the shape of the matrix M , as it has been discussed in 43 ).

Bipartite configuration model (BICM)

The Bipartite Configuration Model (BICM), as defined by 34 , 35 , is a null model of general applicability that is able to generate a grandcanonical ensemble of bipartite, undirected, binary networks in which the two layers Country and Products have respectively C and P nodes. The ensemble generate by the BICM constrained the number of connections for each node, on both layers (in our case \(d_c\) and \(u_p\) ) to match, on average, the observed one. Each network \({\mathbf {M}}\) in such ensemble is assigned a probability coefficient:

\(x_c\) and \(y_s\) are the Lagrange multipliers associated to the constrained degrees.

Constraining the ensemble average values of countries and products degree induces the probability that a link exists between country c and industry sector p independently of the other links:

The numerical values of the unknown parameters \({\mathbf {x}}\) and \({\mathbf {y}}\) have to be determined by solving the following system of \(C+P\) equations, which constrains the ensemble average values of countries diversification and products ubiquities to match the real values, \(\langle d_c\rangle =d_c^*,\,c=1\dots C\) and \(\langle u_p\rangle =u_p^*,\,p=1\dots P\) .

Where \(\{d_c^*\}_{c=1}^C\) and \(\{u_p^*\}_{p=1}^S\) are the real degree sequence of countries, and industry sectors respectively, and \(\langle \cdot \rangle\) represents the ensemble average of a given quantity, over the ensemble measure defined by Eq. ( 6 )—as \(\langle d_c\rangle =\sum _sp_{cp}\) and \(\langle u_s\rangle =\sum _cp_{cp}\) . Indicated with an asterisk, “ \(*\) ” are the parameters that satisfy the systems.

Similarity motifs

In the present work we have sampled the grand canonical ensemble of binary, undirected, bipartite networks induced by the BiCM, according to the probability coefficients \(P({\mathbf {M}}|{\mathbf {x}}^*, {\mathbf {y}}^*)\) and calculated the average and variance of the motif \(\mu _{\text{ sim }}\) , define as b-motif6 in 40 .

The Similarity Motif represents the symmetric and complete connections between two countries \(c,c'\) and two industry sectors \(p,p'\) . The number of similarity motifs is:

with \({\fancyscript {Z}}\) is the matrix of dimension ( C , C ), that represents the projection of M over the countries. Each entry \({\fancyscript {Z}}_{cc'}\) counts the number of industry sectors in common between the countries c and \(c'\) , it is defined as: \({\fancyscript {Z}}_{cc'}=\sum _{s=1}^S M_{cs}M_{c's}=MM^T\)

This motif represents the co-occurrence of two products in two countries’ export basket within the bipatite matrix of the country exports. The accuracy of the BiCM prediction in reproducing the value of quantity \(\mu _{sim}\) please follows 34 .

Slope coefficient of a sliding window across \(25\%\) of the countries (corresponding to 36 countries) of respectively its Fitness Growth Rate ( A )— GDP Growth Rate ( B )— GDP Ranking Growth Rate ( C ) versus Urban Population Growth Rate. The error bar corresponds to the fit’s \(95\%\) confidence interval. The colors follow the Urban Range scheme.

Urban range versus fitness and GDP

To validate our analysis of the relation between the country’s fitness and the urbanization process we analyzed the urbanization growth rate in relation to the growth rate of three different metrics: the country Fitness (Fig. 5 A), country GDP (Fig. 5 B), and country GDP ranking (Fig. 5 C) between 1995 and 2010.

We study the variation of the slope coefficient of a sliding window across \(25\%\) of the countries urban range and the three metrics above. Both the metrics extracted from the GDP do not have statistical significant results. Although the growth rate of fitness in relation with the urbanization growth rate manifests a linear relation (Fig. 5 A) with an \(R^2=0.53\) , as Fig. 3 B, we notice that the fitness ranking is a more reliable tool than the raw fitness value 43 . The fitness ranking provides a more stable metric across each sliding window.

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Acknowledgements

Riccardo Di Clemente as Newton International Fellow of the Royal Society acknowledges support from the Royal Society, the British Academy, and the Academy of Medical Sciences (Newton International Fellowship, NF170505). The authors would like to thank Fabio Saracco, Enrico Ubaldi, Bernardo Monechi, Andrea Zaccaria, Andrea Gabrielli, Luciano Pietronero and Marta C. González for the insightful discussions and comments.

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R.D.C. and E.S. designed the study and performed the research. R.D.C. analyzed the data and generated the plots, E.S. created the Map. R.D.C., E.S. and M.B. wrote the paper. All the authors gave the final approval for the publication.

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Di Clemente, R., Strano, E. & Batty, M. Urbanization and economic complexity. Sci Rep 11 , 3952 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-83238-5

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The Evolution and Impact of Rapping: from Roots to Modern Day

This essay about the evolution and impact of rapping explores its origins in African and Caribbean oral traditions, its rise in the Bronx during the 1970s, and its journey to global prominence. It highlights key eras, influential artists, and the genre’s intersection with various musical styles. The text also addresses rap’s cultural significance, its role in social movements, and the challenges it faces, emphasizing its ongoing evolution and broad impact on society.

How it works

The art of rapping, often regarded as the rhythmic delivery of rhymes and wordplay over a beat, has evolved dramatically since its inception, leaving an indelible mark on the cultural landscape. Its journey from the streets of urban America to global mainstream prominence is a testament to its adaptability, resilience, and universal appeal.

Rapping’s roots can be traced back to the oral traditions of African and Caribbean cultures. Griots, West African storytellers and poets, played a pivotal role in preserving history and culture through their spoken word performances.

Similarly, Jamaican toasting, a practice where DJs spoke over instrumental tracks, heavily influenced the early development of rap. Toasting emphasized rhythm, improvisation, and social commentary—elements that would become foundational in rap music.

The modern era of rap began in the late 1970s in the Bronx, New York City. This was a time of significant economic and social upheaval, with high unemployment rates and deteriorating urban infrastructure. In these challenging circumstances, young African American and Latino communities sought ways to express their frustrations and aspirations. Hip-hop culture, encompassing graffiti, breakdancing, DJing, and rapping, emerged as a powerful outlet. DJ Kool Herc is often credited with pioneering hip-hop by extending breakbeats, allowing MCs to rhyme over the instrumental sections of tracks. This laid the groundwork for the birth of rap as a distinct musical genre.

The Sugarhill Gang’s 1979 hit “Rapper’s Delight” was a watershed moment for rap music, bringing it to a broader audience and proving its commercial viability. This success paved the way for other artists and labels, leading to a flourishing scene in the 1980s. During this period, artists like Grandmaster Flash, Run-D.M.C., and LL Cool J began to gain mainstream recognition. Their work demonstrated rap’s potential for lyrical complexity and diverse thematic content, ranging from party anthems to social and political commentary.

The 1990s are often referred to as the “Golden Age” of rap. This era saw a proliferation of styles and regional sounds, with East Coast, West Coast, and Southern rap scenes each developing unique identities. East Coast rappers like Nas, Notorious B.I.G., and Wu-Tang Clan emphasized intricate lyricism and storytelling, while West Coast artists such as Tupac Shakur and Dr. Dre brought G-funk and gangsta rap to the forefront, often highlighting the harsh realities of urban life. The Southern rap scene, led by artists like OutKast and UGK, introduced innovative beats and flows, expanding the genre’s sonic palette.

As rap music continued to evolve, it increasingly intersected with other genres and media. The late 1990s and early 2000s saw the rise of rap-rock fusion, popularized by artists like Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit. Collaborations between rappers and pop artists also became commonplace, further broadening rap’s appeal. This era also marked the emergence of influential labels like Death Row Records, Bad Boy Records, and Roc-A-Fella Records, which played critical roles in shaping the industry and launching the careers of iconic artists.

The 2000s and 2010s witnessed the digital revolution, which transformed the music industry and rap’s role within it. The advent of social media and streaming platforms democratized music distribution, allowing independent artists to reach global audiences without traditional industry gatekeepers. This shift contributed to the rise of artists like Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and Nicki Minaj, who have achieved massive success through a combination of lyrical prowess, innovative production, and savvy use of digital platforms.

Drake’s ability to blend rap with R&B and pop elements has made him one of the most commercially successful artists of all time. Kendrick Lamar’s deeply introspective and politically charged lyrics have garnered critical acclaim, earning him a Pulitzer Prize for his album “DAMN.” Nicki Minaj’s versatility and charismatic persona have shattered numerous barriers for female rappers, proving that women can dominate in a genre historically dominated by men.

The modern rap landscape is characterized by its diversity and global reach. Subgenres like trap, drill, and emo rap have emerged, each bringing new sounds and themes to the forefront. Trap music, with its heavy use of 808 drum machines and rapid hi-hats, has become a dominant force, thanks to artists like Future, Migos, and Travis Scott. Drill music, originating from Chicago, is known for its dark, gritty lyrics and aggressive beats, influencing artists in both the United States and the UK. Emo rap, blending elements of hip-hop and emo rock, has resonated with younger audiences, with artists like Juice WRLD and Lil Peep addressing themes of mental health and emotional struggles.

Rap’s impact extends beyond music, influencing fashion, language, and social movements. The genre’s fashion statements, from oversized clothing and gold chains to designer brands and streetwear, have become integral to global style trends. Rap’s vernacular has infiltrated everyday language, with slang terms and phrases becoming part of mainstream vocabulary. Moreover, rap has played a crucial role in advocating for social justice and political change. Songs like Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power,” Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright,” and Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” have become anthems for movements addressing racial inequality, police brutality, and systemic injustice.

In recent years, rap has also embraced its role as a platform for diverse voices and narratives. Artists from various backgrounds and identities are using rap to share their experiences and challenge societal norms. LGBTQ+ rappers like Lil Nas X and Kevin Abstract are breaking barriers and broadening the genre’s inclusivity. International artists are also making significant contributions, with rappers from countries like South Korea, the UK, and Nigeria gaining global recognition. The global success of acts like BTS, Stormzy, and Burna Boy underscores rap’s universal appeal and its ability to transcend cultural boundaries.

Despite its commercial success and cultural influence, rap continues to face challenges and controversies. Issues such as appropriation, misogyny, and violence in lyrics are ongoing debates within the genre and the broader society. Critics argue that mainstream rap often perpetuates negative stereotypes and fails to represent the diversity and complexity of the communities from which it originates. However, many artists and fans counter that rap is a reflection of reality and a form of artistic expression that should not be censored or sanitized.

The future of rap promises to be as dynamic and transformative as its past. As technology advances and new generations of artists emerge, rap will undoubtedly continue to evolve, pushing boundaries and exploring new creative horizons. The genre’s enduring relevance and adaptability ensure that it will remain a vital and influential force in the music industry and beyond.

In conclusion, the evolution and impact of rapping from its roots to the modern day is a story of resilience, creativity, and cultural significance. From the oral traditions of African griots to the digital age’s global superstars, rap has continually reinvented itself while remaining a powerful voice for marginalized communities and a catalyst for social change. Its journey reflects not only the history of a musical genre but also the broader narrative of cultural innovation and the enduring human desire for expression and connection.

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