The world’s population reached the 8bn mark this month, but it had already passed two other significant milestones: the total number of people aged under 15 has peaked at 2bn, and more than half of us now reside in cities.
Estimates from the UN-Habitat agency indicated that, as of 2021, 56 per cent of the planet’s inhabitants were living in urban areas. By 2050, that figure will have risen to 68 per cent — an additional 2.2bn people, most of them in Africa and Asia.
That growth reflects the enormous pull cities have long had in the form of economic opportunities, reflecting the powerful concentration of talent, resources and youthful energy that they harbour.
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