What are the findings of the economic outlook update on the Urbanisation trends?

The economic outlook update released by the Asian Development Bank highlights the following trends in urbanization based on the World Urbanization Prospects data.

Trends in Urbanisation

• The number of the urban population in developing Asia has increased almost five-fold since 1970. Developing Asia refers to a group of 45 countries that are members of the ADB.
• The urban population in developing Asia grew from 375 million to 1.84 billion between 1970 to 2017. This accounted for 53 per cent of the global increase in the urban population in this period.
• The urbanization was faster in Developing Asia than the rest of the world not only in terms of absolute growth but also in terms of growth rate.
• The urban population increased in developing Asia at an average of 3.4 per cent per annum from 1970 to 2017. This was much faster than the 2.6 per cent in the rest of the developing world and 1.0 per cent in the developed world.
• About two-thirds of the nearly 1.5.billion additional city dwellers in Developing Asia belong to China and India.

Trends within Developing Asia

Within the Developing Asia region, East Asia had an annual urbanization rate of 3.7 per cent. This was the highest annual growth rate for developing Asia.

East Asia was followed by Southeast Asia at 3.6 per cent and South Asia at 3.3 per cent. The Pacific saw an annual growth rate of 2.9 per cent in the urban population, and Central Asia witnessed a 1.6 per cent annual growth.