Family Life

03.14.11 | Sarah Harnisch

The world's big cities are already bursting at the seams but are set to grow even larger, with experts predicting that some 70% of the world's population will be urban by 2050. In 1900, around 14% of the world's population lived in cities. By 1950, this had risen to 30% and today is 50%. Currently, there are more than 400 cities with a population over a million, 19 of which have over 10-million inhabitants. Experts say much of this surge in the next 40 years will occur in cities in emerging countries such as China, India, Asia, Latin America and Africa.