Urbanization. Life (compendium)

world's population lives in settlements of two types: urban and rural. Urban settlement is where most people work in industry and services sector. In a rural environment most of the residents engaged in agriculture sector. Note that the only criterion for inclusion of all the settlements to the city or village does not exist. Some States take on a legally set forth the number of residents in the settlements.

Urbanization (from Latin - City ) - a process of urban growth, increasing urban population, increasing the role of cities in society and the spread of urban lifestyles.

in 2000 in the urban population of more than half the population. Arguably, Wellness now assumed a global character. The modern stage of its three inherent characteristics.

1. Rapid rates of urban population share:

the beginning of the nineteenth century. the town's population of 3% of world population;

the beginning of the twentieth century. lived in urban areas 14% of world population;

the beginning of the XXI century. living in urban areas 51% of the world.

2. Further concentration of population and economy in large (over 100 thousand inhabitants) towns and cities.

in 2000 in the world, there were 400 cities. The largest city in the world believe Tokyo, which lives more than 26 million people.

3. Expansion of towns and cities merging closely located, interlinked political, labor, cultural, domestic, industrial, administrative and managerial constraints in one unit - the urban agglomeration (from Latin - to attach ) .

At the beginning of the third millennium in the world there were 20 urban agglomerations and their number is constantly growing. High current stage of urbanization process is the formation megalopolis (from the Greek - big city ), arising from the merger of neighboring agglomerations to form a unified infrastructure. At the end of the twentieth century. the world was six megalopolis, of which:

three in the U.S.:

BosVash - along the Atlantic from Boston to Vashnhtona with a population of 50 million inhabitants;

lakeside - on the southern coast of the Great Lakes, with a population of 35 million inhabitants;

California (18 million inhabitants).

two in Europe:

English (combines metropolitan London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool);

Pryreynskyy (Randstad agglomeration in the Netherlands and the Rhine-Ruhr, Rhine-Main in Germany and other .).

one in Japan

Tokaido (metropolitan Tokyo, Yokohama and Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto).

Significant differences exist between the level and pace of urbanization. Highest level achieved in developed countries, most developing countries, relatively low level of urbanization, but the urban population is growing rapidly due to migration of rural population. This phenomenon is called false urbanization, as a sharp increase in urban population is not accompanied by the spread of urban lifestyles.

During an average expected life expectancy demographers understand number of years that this generation will live as long as lifetime of this generation mortality of individual age groups equal to the initial level.

in the world, with the development of civilization, there is a general trend to increased life expectancy, but among countries, this figure is very different. Thus, in industrialized countries it highest (75 years and over), and in developing countries - less than 60 years.

Among developing countries, somewhat higher life expectancy allocated new industrial countries of Asia and Latin America, countries rich naftoeksportery (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Libya, Brunei) and wealthy island Caribbean, Seychelles and Reunion (France) in the Indian Ocean, Nauru, Guam (USA) and some others - in the Pacific.

lowest life expectancy - in most African countries. This is extremely low overall level of life on the continent, poor medical care, frequent military and ethnic conflicts.

Natural growth rate - a measure which, together with indicators of fertility and mortality characterizing the dynamics of the continuous renewal of generations of people, ie the process of population reproduction. Quantities characterizing the natural increase is natural growth rate . It is calculated as the difference between fertility rates and mortality rates (per 1000 of population).