Business Traveller : BT in English : March 2015

March 2015

Only 3 per cent of the world’s surface is urban – but cities are growing fast, and most of us want to live in them. By 2050, the UN predicts that two-thirds of the world’s population will be living in cities – twice the amount in 1950. In Africa and Asia, more than half of people still live in the countryside – but over the next 35 years, the exodus of migrants flooding to built-up areas in search of work means India, for example, will have to accommodate another 400 million urbanites, China 300 million and Nigeria 200 million.

Archana Amarnath, research manager for global growth consultancy Frost and Sullivan, was involved in a study that revealed that by 2025 there would be 35 “mega cities” around the world. Based on forecast data from the UN, these are defined as urban areas with populations of at least eight million and annual GDPs in excess of US$250 billion. Obvious rankings include New York, Paris, Moscow, London and Sao Paulo, but places such as Bogota and Tehran are also on the list. China will have no less than 13 mega cities – including Guangzhou, Harbin, Hangzhou, Hoshan, Shenzhen and Wuhan. I encourage you to read the article of our UK correspondent Jenny Southan who reveals the business destinations of tomorrow.

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