Where will the world’s 10 new megacities be by 2030?

Nine out of 10 new megacities to emerge out of Asia and Africa

Twenty-two of the 33 cities that are home to more than 10 million are in Asia and Africa, and nine more from these continents will join them by 2030, reported the World Economic Forum, citing UN data.

The cities of Seoul, Ho Chi Minh City, Chengdu, Nanjing, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, and Tehran will rank among the 10 cities that the UN predicts will break the 10-million mark, UN data showed.

In Africa, Luanda and Dar es Salaam, which is growing by half a million people a year, will have crossed the 10-million mark by 2030.

“The rise in the number of megacities is the most visible evidence of the accelerating global trend towards urbanisation,” WEF’s Alex Thornton wrote.

“Today, 55 percent of us live in urban areas – that’s 4.2 billion city-slickers. In another generation, that proportion is set to grow to 68 percent, potentially adding another 2.5 billion people to already crowded cities.”

Delhi is due to overtake Tokyo as the world’s most populous city by 2028 — 39 million people by 2030. India will see the biggest urbanisation growth among countries, with 416 million new urban dwellers by 2050.

London will be the only place outside Asia and Africa predicted to achieve megacity status by 2030, ending a period of population decline from the second half of the 20th century.