Urban area

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The world's urban population in 1950 of just 746 million has increased to 3.9 billion in the decades since.[2] In 2009, the number of people living in urban areas (3.42 billion) surpassed the number living in rural areas (3.41 billion), and since then the world has become more urban than rural.[3] This was the first time that the majority of the world's population lived in a city.[4] In 2014 there were 7.2 billion people living on the planet,[5] of which the global urban population comprised 3.9 billion. The Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs at that time predicted the urban population would grow to 6.4 billion by 2050, with 37% of that growth to come from three countries: China, India and Nigeria.[2]

The UN publishes data on cities, urban areas and rural areas, but relies almost entirely on national definitions of these areas. The UN principles and recommendations state that due to different characteristics of urban and rural areas across the globe, a global definition is not possible.[6]



The concept of an "urban area" as used in economic statistics should not be confused with the concept of the "urban area" used in road safety statistics. The last concept is also known as "built-up area in road safety". According to the definition by the Office for National Statistics, "Built-up areas are defined as land which is 'irreversibly urban in character', meaning that they are characteristic of a town or city. They include areas of built-up land with a minimum of 20 hectares (200,000 m2; 49 acres). Any areas [separated by] less than 200 metres [of non-urban space] are linked to become a single built-up area.[7]

Urban land area (km²), 2010[8]
Urban areas with at least one million inhabitants in 2006


European countries[which?] define urbanized areas on the basis of urban-type land use, not allowing any gaps of typically more than 200 metres (220 yd), and use satellite imagery instead of census blocks to determine the boundaries of the urban area. In less-developed countries[which?], in addition to land use and density requirements, a requirement that a large majority of the population, typically 75%, is not engaged in agriculture and/or fishing is sometimes used.[citation needed]

East Asia[edit]


Since 2000, China's cities have expanded at an average rate of 10% annually. It is estimated that China's urban population will increase by 292 million people by 2050,[2] when its cities will house a combined population of over one billion.[9] The country's urbanization rate increased from 17.4% to 46.6% between 1978 and 2009.[10] Between 150 and 200 million migrant workers work part-time in the major cities, returning home to the countryside periodically with their earnings.[11][12]

Today, China has more of cities with one million or more long-term residents than any other country, including the three global cities of Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai; by 2025, the country will be home to 221 cities with over a million inhabitants.[9] The figures in the table below are from the 2008 census, and are only estimates of the urban populations within administrative city limits; a different ranking exists when considering the total municipal populations (which includes suburban and rural populations). The large "floating populations" of migrant workers make conducting censuses in urban areas difficult;[13] the figures below include only long-term residents.

Panoramic view of Pudong's Skyline from the Bund in Shanghai.





South Korea[edit]


South Asia[edit]





In Pakistan, an area is a major city and municipality if it has more than 100,000 inhabitants according to census results. Cities include adjacent cantonments. Urbanisation in Pakistan has increased since the time of independence and has several different causes. The majority of southern Pakistan's population lives along the Indus River. Karachi is its most populous city.[18] In the northern half of the country, most of the population lives in an arc formed by the cities of Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Gujrat, Jhelum, Sargodha, Sheikhupura, Nowshera, Mardan and Peshawar. During 1990–2008, city dwellers made up 36% of Pakistan's population, making it the most urbanised nation in South Asia. Furthermore, 50% of Pakistanis live in towns of 5,000 people or more.[19] Karachi is the most populated city in Pakistan closely followed by Lahore according to the 2017 Census.


In Bangladesh, there are total 532 urban areas, which are divided into three categories. Those are- City Corporation, Municipal Corporation (Pourasova) and Upazila town. Among those urban areas, Dhaka is the largest city by population and area, with a population of 19.10 million.[21] In Bangladesh, there are total 11 City Corporations and 329 Municipal Corporations and 203 Small towns, which serves as the center for Upazilas. According to 2011 population census, Bangladesh has an urban population of 28%, with a growth rate of 2.8%.[22] At this growth rate, it is estimated that the urban population of Bangladesh will reach 79 million or 42% of total population by 2035.

Southeast Asia[edit]


With an estimated population of 16.3 million, Metro Manila is the most populous metropolitan area in the Philippines and the 11th in the world. However, the greater urban area is the 5th largest in the world with a population of 20,654,307 people (2010 estimate).[24] Including, the Philippines has three metropolitan areas as defined by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). These are Metro Cebu, Metro Manila, and Metro Davao.






In Vietnam, there are 6 types of urban areas:





In France multiple words exist to define various kinds of urban area. One of the first word used was the word agglomération, which first was used to deal with a group of people. The word was used for instance in the law from 5 April 1884 (loi du 5 avril 2020 whose article 98 gives to the mayor police power (pouvoirs de police, where French police word comes from the latin word politia or from the greec word πόλις both retalted to the city) meaning authority on the city, but only within the agglomération. That law was used by a jurisprudence from year 1907 to forbid a mayor to set a speed limit on the road next to a farm considering that at that time, a group of houses inside a farm might be an agglomération, but the road next to it was not inside the agglomération.[28][29]

Later, in the 1920s, the concept of agglomération was used in the code de la route (Highway code) to define specific law within/outside such a zone.

In 1968, the French word agglomération was introduced in the French version of the Vienna convention on road traffic in the place where the English word built-up area was used in the English of this exact same treaty. In this treaty, the word is only defined as a concept signaled by an entry sign and an exist sign, even if allowing members of the treaty to have different definition.

Nowadays, with globalisation words from English origin or english meaning tend to be introduced in French language to introcuce in France new concepts or new words or new meanings for old words and/or to change the size and the power a mayor can have. Such words are Aire urbaines (urban area), Métropole, Agglomération (agglomeration), Communauté urbaine, Gand something (Grand Paris, Grand Toulouse), and probably other words.

As a member of the European Union, the OECD and the European Union, for statistical purpose, France might need to cope with inside/outside built-up area meaning inside/outside the limits of an urban area.accessdate

In France, an urban area (Fr: aire urbaine) is a zone encompassing an area of built-up growth (called an "urban unit" (unité urbaine)[30] – close in definition to the North American urban area) and its commuter belt (couronne). Americans would find the INSEE definition of the urban area[31] to be similar to their metropolitan area, and the INSEE sometimes uses the term aire métropolitaine[32] to refer to the country's largest aires urbaines.










United Kingdom[edit]









In Australia, urban areas are referred to as "urban centres" and are defined as population clusters of 1,000 or more people, with a density of at least 200/km2 (518/sq mi)[56] Australia is one of the most urbanised countries in the world, with more than 50% of the population residing in Australia's three biggest urban centres.

New Zealand[edit]


North America[edit]



Largest cities or towns in Canada
Rank Name Province Pop. Rank Name Province Pop.
1 Toronto Ontario 2,731,571 11 Quebec City Quebec 531,902
2 Montreal Quebec 1,704,694 12 Surrey British Columbia 517,887
3 Calgary Alberta 1,239,220 13 Laval Quebec 422,993
4 Ottawa Ontario 934,243 14 Halifax Nova Scotia 403,131
5 Edmonton Alberta 932,546 15 London Ontario 383,822
6 Mississauga Ontario 721,599 16 Markham Ontario 328,966
7 Winnipeg Manitoba 705,244 17 Vaughan Ontario 306,233
8 Vancouver British Columbia 631,486 18 Gatineau Quebec 276,245
9 Brampton Ontario 593,638 19 Saskatoon Saskatchewan 246,376
10 Hamilton Ontario 536,917 20 Longueuil Quebec 239,700


United States[edit]



The largest urban area in the United States is the New York metropolitan area. The population of New York City, the core of the metropolitan area, exceeds 8.5 million people, its metropolitan statistical area has a population that is over 20 million, and its combined statistical area population is over 23 million. The next seven largest urban areas in the U.S. are Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Houston, and Atlanta.[65] About 82 percent of the population of the United States lives within the boundaries of an urbanized area as of December, 2010.[66] Combined, these areas occupy about 2 percent of the land area of the United States. Many Americans live in agglomerations of cities, suburbs, and towns that are adjacent to a metropolitan area's largest city.[citation needed]

The concept of Urbanized Areas as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau is often used as a more accurate gauge of the size of a city, since in different cities and states the lines between city borders and the urbanized area of that city are often not the same. For example, the city of Greenville, South Carolina has a city population just over 68,000 and an urbanized area population of around 400,000, while Greensboro, North Carolina has a city population just over 285,000 and an urbanized area population of around 300,000 — meaning that Greenville is actually "larger" for some intents and purposes, but not for others, such as taxation, local elections, etc.


Leading population centers (see complete list)
Rank Core city (cities) Metro area population Metropolitan Statistical Area Region[68]
New York
New York

Los Angeles
Los Angeles



5 Houston 6,997,384 Houston–The Woodlands-Sugar Land MSA South
11 Phoenix 4,857,962 Phoenix–Mesa–Chandler, AZ MSA West
12 San Francisco 4,729,484 San Francisco–Oakland–Berkeley, CA MSA West
14 Detroit 4,326,442 Detroit–Warren–Dearborn, MI MSA Midwest
15 Seattle 3,939,363 Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue, WA MSA West
19 Denver 2,932,415 Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO MSA West
Based on 2018 MSA population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau

South America[edit]



Córdoba has around 1.5 million people living in the urban area, while Rosario, Mendoza and Tucumán have around 1.2 million inhabitants each[70] and La Plata, Mar del Plata, Salta and Santa Fe[70][71] have at least 500,000 people each.



According to IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) urban areas already concentrate 84.35% of the population, while the Southeast region remains the most populated one, with over 80 million inhabitants.[73] The largest metropolitan areas in Brazil are São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Belo Horizonte — all in the Southeastern Region — with 21, 12, and 5 million inhabitants respectively.[74] In general, state capitals are the largest cities in their states, except for Vitória, the capital of Espírito Santo, and Florianópolis, the capital of Santa Catarina. There are also non-capital metropolitan areas in the states of São Paulo (Campinas, Santos and the Paraíba Valley), Minas Gerais (Steel Valley), Rio Grande do Sul (Sinos Valley) and Santa Catarina (Itajaí Valley).[75]



In Colombia the largest Metropolitan area is Bogotá's, which has around 9.8 million inhabitants and includes municipalities like Cota, La Calera, Chía, Soacha, Usaquen, Suba, among others. It's one of the most important cities in Latin America, especially in business, art and culture. Bogotá has been the International City of the Book and has unique places like Monserrate, Torre Colpatria, Bolivar Square, BD Bacatá, Corferias, National University etc.[80][81]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Baten, Joerg (2003). "Creating Firms for a New Century: Determinants of Firm Creation around 1900". European Review of Economic History. 7 (3): 301–329. doi:10.1017/S136149160300011X. hdl:10419/76463 – via EBSCO.
  3. ^ "United Nations Population Division – Department of Economic and Social Affairs".
  4. ^ "Urban population growth". World Health Organization.
  6. ^ http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docgener/work/2014_01_new_urban.pdf
  7. ^ "2011 Census: Characteristics of Built-Up Areas (4. Introduction)". Office for National Statistics. 28 June 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  8. ^ "Urban land area (km²)". Our World in Data. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
  20. ^ http://www.citypopulation.de/Pakistan-100T.html
  21. ^ "Bangladesh Population & Housing Census-2011" (PDF). Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. March 2014. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 December 2015.
  22. ^ Population and Housing Census 2011 - Volume 3: Urban Area Report (PDF), Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Aug 2014
  26. ^ "Locality – Concepts". Statistics Finland.
  27. ^ "Alueluokkien kuvaukset". Ymparisto.
  28. ^ http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5809154m/f31.item
  29. ^ "Gallica - Erreur".
  33. ^ "Résultats de la recherche" [Search results]. INSEE.
  35. ^ "CBS Statline". opendata.cbs.nl.
  36. ^ "Fortsatt stor ökning av befolkning i tätorter". Statistics Sweden. Archived from the original on 2012-01-12. Retrieved 2011-06-24.
  37. ^ KS01 Usual resident population: Census 2001, Key Statistics for urban areas
  42. ^ "Polish official population figures".
  54. ^ "Численность постоянного населения Удмуртской Республики /Утверждено Росстатом (письмо от 3. 3. 2017. г., No. 08-08-4/891-ТО)/". udmstat.gks.ru. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
  56. ^ "1216.0 – Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC), 2001". Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2001-09-28. Retrieved 2007-10-09.
  57. ^ "3218.0 - Regional Population Growth, Australia, 2018-19". Australian Bureau of Statistics.
  59. ^ "Subnational Population Estimates: At 30 June 2019". Statistics New Zealand. 22 October 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  65. ^ United States Census Bureau 2010 Census Urban Area List "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-10-10. Retrieved 2013-05-16.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) 2010 Census Urban Area List. Retrieved May 7, 2013.
  66. ^ [1] – accessed January, 2012
  67. ^  This article incorporates public domain material from the Congressional Research Service document: Jasper Womach. "Report for Congress: Agriculture: A Glossary of Terms, Programs, and Laws, 2005 Edition" (PDF).
  69. ^ "Field listing – Urbanization". The World Factbook. CIA.
  75. ^ "Principal Cities". Encarta. MSN. Archived from the original on 29 October 2009. Retrieved 2008-06-10.[dubious ]
  81. ^ "Bright lights, big cities. Urbanisation and the rise of the megacity". The Economist. economist.com. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  82. ^ "Largest cities" (PDF). Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadistica (DANE). Retrieved 10 February 2020.

External links[edit]