Taps Coogan – March 10th, 2021

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The following map, from Statista, highlights the fastest growing cities in the world according to U.N. Population estimates for the next five years.  

According to those UN estimates, 144 cities with populations over 300,000 are growing at an average annual rate of over 4%. A whopping 80 of those cities are located in Africa, with the rest in Asia and the Middle East. There is only one such city anywhere in North, Central, or South America, Europe, or Oceania currently growing at over 4% on a sustained basis according to the UN: Houston, Texas. Anyone who doubts the magnitude of the exodus from California, Chicago, and New York City might want to take note. It’s real and it’s a historic phenomenon.

The fastest growing city in the world is Gwagwalada, Nigeria, an offshoot of its capital city Abuja. The massive growth of mid-sized cities like Gwagwalada and mega-cities like Lagos, Nigeria will pose major demographic challenges and economic opportunities for the Africa. As Statista notes, around 55% of urban population in Africa lives in slums, compared with around 30% in Asia and around 20% in Latin America.

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