The charts below show the growth in the population in some of the world’s largest cities as well as the population distribution in urban and rural areas.

The line graph illustrates data about the

proportion

of the residents of four Asian countries who live in

cities

in a 50-year period, between 1970 and 2020. It

also

provides predictions for 2030 and 2040.

Overall

, the percentage of the population living in

cities

increased significantly,

while

Malaysia headed the list. The general upward trend is estimated to continue until 2040. In 1970, less than 40% of each country’s residents were living in a city. The highest

proportion

was for the

Philippines

which was slightly more than 30%. Over the next decade,

while

the figure for the

Philippines

remained constant, The

proportion

of Malaysians who were living in a city jumped to about 40%

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and surpassed the figure for the

Philippines

. It continued to improve

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and reached well over 70% in 2020. The percentage of Indonesians who were living in

cities

rose gradually over the period in question; it started at just above 10% and finished at almost 50%. The figure for Thailand

also

improved

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but at a slower pace than others. It witnessed an improvement of almost 10% until 2020. If we look at the prediction part of the graph, it is evident that the

proportion

of residents who live in

cities

in Malaysia is estimated to continue to rise to more than 80%. It is predicted for Indonesia to reach 60% of its people living in

cities

. The figures for the

Philippines

and Thailand are

also

predicted to continue improving by less than 10% and almost 20% respectively.