Global Development at Risk as India Leads Urbanization Surge, Requiring Urgent Sustainable Planning: UN DESA Report
UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK: A new report from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) projects that India, along with six other developing nations, will be the central engine of global urban population growth, adding more than 500 million new city residents between 2025 and 2050.
The report, titled World Urbanisation Prospects 2025, underscores a critical shift in global demographics, emphasizing that the future of world development and climate resilience hinges on the ability of these nations to manage this unprecedented boom.
The UN’s data highlights that the growth of the world’s city population—projected to increase by 986 million by 2050—will be concentrated in just seven countries. This cohort includes India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Bangladesh, and Ethiopia.
These nations, which currently host nearly one-third (30%) of the global population, are expected to contribute over half of the global increase in city dwellers.
Global Shift: The report notes that cities are now home to 45 percent of the world’s 8.2 billion people, indicating a profound global transformation.
Asian Dominance: Asia continues to lead the megacity trend. The number of megacities (cities with over 10 million inhabitants) has quadrupled globally from eight in 1975 to 33 in 2025, with 19 of them located in Asia. This figure is projected to rise to 37 by 2050.
India and China: Together, India and China currently account for a combined city-dwelling population of nearly 1.2 billion people, underscoring Asia’s existing demographic weight in the urban landscape.
The UN stresses that the success or failure of sustainable urbanisation in these key countries will determine global development outcomes. The massive demographic shift will place immense pressure on infrastructure, services, and the environment.
The report calls for urgent and well-integrated national policies to manage city growth sustainably, warning that haphazard expansion risks undermining progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and global climate objectives. Issues such as affordable housing shortages, strain on transportation and sanitation systems, and increased vulnerability to climate hazards will be intensified without coordinated planning.
“Their ability to manage city growth sustainably will have profound implications not only for their populations but also for global progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals and climate objectives,” a UN DESA official commented upon the report’s release.