Urbanization in the Global South

• The urban population of the global South was estimated to be 3.002 billion people in
2015, which was 75.4% of the total global urban population. The total global urban
population is expected to increase by about 793 million people from 2015 to 2025—about
745 million of this increase (93.9% of the increase) will be in the global South.

The Drivers of Urbanization in the Global South

The immediate causes of urbanization typically are a combination of different factors. In the
Global South, the increase of the urban population is typically made up as follows:
1. 60% from natural population increase, as a result of low urban mortality rates
and youthful and fertile urban age profiles
2. 20% from migration from rural areas to urban areas
3. 20% from the reclassification of rural areas as urban, as urban areas grow and
rural areas gradually transform into urban areas

Key Characteristics of Urbanization in the Global South

Increase in the Number of Megacities
In 1970, there were only three megacities, all in the global North (New York
in the United States and Tokyo and Osaka in Japan). By 2018, the number of megacities had
increased more than 10 times to 33, of which 27 were in the global South (UNDESA, 2019).
Strong Urban–Rural Linkages
All urban areas have linkages with their surrounding rural hinterlands, but
urban and rural are particularly porous concepts in the global South, with urban lifestyles
permeating rural areas and vice versa, with many people having a simultaneous foothold in
both urban and rural areas, and with fuzzy and shifting boundaries between urban and rural
(e.g., Kombe, 2005).
Urban Sprawl and Fragmentation
Over time, many cities in the global South are becoming less dense and compact
and are “expanding in a discontinuous, scattered and low-density form that is not
sustainable” (UN-Habitat, 2013, p. 32).
Intra-urban Inequalities
The net results of rapid urbanization and the inability of the state to manage cities
adequately are the rise of inequality, the increasing prevalence of elite gated developments,
and growing informal settlements and other types of slums.
Southern Urbanism
 There is an ongoing debate about the nature of urbanism in the global South. Some
scholars hold the view that there is no dichotomy between cities in the North and South (or
urban and rural). Other scholars, however, are of the view that urbanism in the South is
different from urbanism in the North as an obvious key characteristics of most cities in the
global South are their higher levels of poverty and inequality, their higher levels of
informality, and their relatively weaker government capacities,

Urban Health in the Global South

- Urbanization processes in the global South have contributed to the growth and
complexity of the burden of disease. Infectious diseases have continued at high
levels due to poor environmental conditions in many parts of cities, particularly
in informal settlements and other types of slums. Noncommunicable diseases are
also growing rapidly in the global South, linked to changes in living conditions
and lifestyle associated with urbanization.

- It is anticipated that the burden of disease in cities of the global South will
continue to increase as urbanization continues, as a result of increased traffic
injuries and respiratory disease resulting from increased numbers of motor
vehicles; growing levels of violence due to growing levels of poverty and
inequality in many cities; growing obesity as a result of changed lifestyles
associated with urbanization; growing numbers of unsafe settlements in
hazardous areas; and a high risk of infectious diseases.