In 1950 what was the largest city in the world

This dropped to three in and two in It rose to 12 in and is projected to reach 19 in But it has seen peaks and troughs: 64 in dropping to 22 in and rising again to 58 in The growing proportion of the largest cities from reflects economic success in many Asian nations.

But this proportion is projected to fall to 54 by , largely because some very large sub-Saharan African cities with more rapid rates of natural increase will displace very large Chinese cities. By , it had more than a fifth of the largest cities and it maintains its share in and into Figure 3. This reflects the impact of the industrial revolution on the scale and scope of large city growth in the region.

All these cities have more than 13 million inhabitants. In , Northern America had none of the world's largest cities. It had six in , rising to 20 in before dropping to 11 in and 10 for projections.

Of these, only Chicago made the list in Oceania had no city in the largest list in or but from , Melbourne and Sydney joined. In , neither of the two largest US cities Philadelphia and New York were large enough to be in the top As noted above, Northern America now has 11 of the hundred largest cities.

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By clicking the "I accept" button, you consent to the use of these cookies. The rise and fall of civilizations over the past 4, years is reflected by the rise and fall of the number of people living in their great cities. Between BC and the projected populations of , the global centres of civilization have swung between the Middle East, Asia, Europe and North America.

Other Egyptian cities to feature during this early 2,year period included Thebes and Alexandria, which had a peak of , in BC and was the largest population of any city up to BC.

While Alexandria had the largest population, and the Chinese cities of Yinxu and Chengzhou also featured, this early period was dominated by the large populations of the ancient cities located in modern-day Iraq.

Urbanisation in Africa will ideally bring the scale of poverty reduction achieved in countries like China, though clearly there are many challenges and huge diversity across the region. Analysis page - Query the city data and select cities according to their population and growth during different time periods. UN World Urbanisation Prospects - The dataset used to make this visualisation, with detailed reporting on the future of the world's cities.

Mapping tools used - more information on how this visualisation was created. World City Populations - Circle areas proportional to populations in-. Map Guide Analysis. Waves of Growth We can see distinct waves of urban growth and stagnation over time. And above all, densely populated areas make it possible to protect other open spaces to serve as wildlife habitat, farmland, conservation areas, or oxygen-producing forests.

But of course, there are ecological downsides to cities as well. Concentrations of people mean concentrations of pollutants and trash. Cities produce up to 70 percent of global CO2 emissions and smog is becoming a common feature in many urban landscapes. Large swaths of continuous pavement prevent water drainage and boost temperatures. Without proper infrastructure, cities also risk having waste — both trash and human waste — clogging waterways and causing damage.

It is predicted that most future urban growth will happen in settlements currently home to between , and ,00 people, and if this is to be done sustainably, planning is a must. You are using an outdated browser Internet Explorer not supported. Please upgrade your browser to engage in this experience. The Rise of Slums In less developed countries, densely populated slums form both on the edges and within the largest cities.

The Emergence of Megacities The urban shift over time has led to the emergence of the megacity — a city with a population of 10 million or more.