The report presents findings from the 2018 revision of World Urbanization Prospects, which contains the latest estimates of the urban and rural populations or areas from 1950 to 2018 and projections to 2050, as well as estimates of population size from 1950 to 2018 and projections to 2030 for all urban agglomerations with 300,000 inhabitants or more in 2018. The world urban population is at an all-time high, and the share of urban dwellers, is projected to represent two thirds of the global population in 2050. Continued urbanization will bring new opportunities and challenges for sustainable development.

The report argues that internal migration can play an important role in poverty reduction and economic development; internal migration should therefore not be controlled or actively discouraged. Policy should instead concern itself with ways of maximizing the potential benefits of migration to the individual concerned and society at large. While there have been few formal efforts to estimate the economic contribution of migrant labour, it is evident that many developing countries would probably not have had the roads, buildings, manufacturing and trade centres that they have today had it not been for migration.

Internal migration and urbanization are key dimensions of the process of socioeconomic development. The unprecedented movement of peoples within the borders of their own countries is one of the greatest transformations witnessed in the 20th century. Policy analysts, especially those from developing countries where internal migration can be felt at first hand, view migration as one of the most important factors affecting the course of development. It is within this context that UNFPA convened the Symposium on Internal Migration and Urbanization in Developing Countries in January 1996 in preparation for the United Nations World Conference on Human Settlements in Istanbul in June 1996. The final results of the symposium are found in this book. This volume provides a better understanding, at global level, of internal migration issues of concern to policy analysts.

This report discusses the relationship between population and environmental change, the forces that mediate this relationship, and how population dynamics specifically affect climate change and land-use change.

The first text that specifically links both international and internal migration with development at a global level. The world is divided into a series of functionally integrated development zones which are identified, not simply on the basis of their level of development, but also through their spatial patterns and historical experience of migration. Migration and Development stresses the importance of migration in discussing regional, rather than simply country, differences. These variations in mobility are placed within the context of a global hierarchy, although regional, national and local cultural and social conditions are certainly not ignored in this wide-ranging work.

Megacity development and the inherent risks and opportunities for humans and the environment is a theme of growing urgency in the 21st century. Focusing on Latin America where urbanization is most advanced, this book studies the complexity of a ‘mega-urban system’ and explores interrelations between sectors and issues by providing an in-depths study of one particular city, Santiago de Chile. The book attempts to (i) focus on the emergence of risk in megacities by analyzing risk elements, (ii) evaluate the extent and severity of risks, (iii) develop strategies to cope with adverse risks, and (iv) to guide urban development by combining concepts with empirical evidence. Drawing on the work of an interdisciplinary and international consortium of academic and professional partners, the book is written for scholars in cross-cutting areas of urban, sustainability, hazard, governance and planning research as well as practitioners from local, regional and international organizations.