---
title: "Urbanisation and the Growth of Cities"
description: "More than half the world now lives in urban areas, and most of the growth is in Asia and Africa. Cities grow both from people arriving and from births inside them, and housing and services usually arr"
canonical: https://lightmysky.com/learn/geography/urbanisation-and-the-growth-of-cities-mt_EF-n2IXJ3-
source: https://lightmysky.com/learn/geography/urbanisation-and-the-growth-of-cities-mt_EF-n2IXJ3-.md
retrieved: 2026-09-12
---

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# Urbanisation and the Growth of Cities

More than half the world now lives in urban areas, and most of the growth is in Asia and Africa. Cities grow both from people arriving and from births inside them, and housing and services usually arrive late.

Subject: Geography · Area: People & Environments · Ages 14 to 16
Page: https://lightmysky.com/learn/geography/urbanisation-and-the-growth-of-cities-mt_EF-n2IXJ3-

## Ready when they can

- Say what urbanisation means and roughly what share of the world now lives in urban areas
- Name the two ways a city's population grows: people arriving, and births inside the city
- Describe what an informal settlement is and why it forms
- Give one thing a city does better than scattered settlement, such as transport, services, or jobs per hectare

## Lesson: Why cities swell so fast

Urbanisation means a rising share of people living in towns and cities. Well over half the world is urban today, up from only three in a hundred in 1800. The tipping point came in 2008, when city dwellers first outnumbered rural ones.

**Example.** American cities swelled between 1870 and 1920 as eleven million moved in from the countryside and millions of newcomers stayed where they landed. Factories ran all day and night, and workers on twelve-hour shifts had to live close by. By 1920 more Americans lived in towns and cities than outside them.

Cities grow only two ways: newcomers arriving, and more births than deaths inside. Keep movement and natural increase apart in every answer, since each needs its own proof. Two hundred years ago only Beijing held over a million people, while today more than five hundred cities do.

**Tip.** Remember what arrives late: sewers, water, housing, and services trail behind fast growth. Crowded rooms with no drains breed slums, disease, and fire, until codes, parks, and transit catch up. Name one city edge too, like jobs, transport, or services packed per hectare.

**Recap.** Cities swell from arrivals plus births, while housing and services trail behind.

## Practice

8 questions on this page, each with its working shown.

## Needs first

- [Where People Live and Why](https://lightmysky.com/learn/geography/where-people-live-and-why-mt_r1SD8eMOxU)
- [Migration at World Scale](https://lightmysky.com/learn/geography/migration-at-world-scale-mt_xZ-ZHtIrvF)

## Opens up

- [Measuring Development Gaps](https://lightmysky.com/learn/geography/measuring-development-gaps-mt_bboR-ofYrR)
- [Places Change, and Not for Everyone](https://lightmysky.com/learn/geography/places-change-and-not-for-everyone-mt_Irdf-DD3OQ)