Percentage of urban population in the world. Urbanization, characteristics of the main urbanized areas of the world

Urbanization is a historical process of increasing the role of cities in the development of society, which covers changes in the location of production and, above all, in the population distribution, its socio-professional, demographic structure, lifestyle, culture, etc. . The process of urbanization is inextricably linked with the growth of cities. A city is a large settlement that performs industrial, organizational, economic, managerial, cultural, transport and other non-agricultural functions.

The population of cities can determine their type:

large cities (population over 100 thousand people);

· millionaire cities (population exceeding 1 million people);

super-cities (or mega-cities). UN demographers include here cities with a population of more than 8 million, but the figure of 10 million is more commonly used.

Now there are about 85 thousand urban-type settlements in the world, of which 372 are “millionaire” cities and 21 agglomerations (the largest are Tokyo-Yokohama, Mexico City and Sao Paulo). An agglomeration is an accumulation around the center (large city) of closely spaced urban and rural settlements, united by intense and stable ties. Recently, such forms of urban settlements as megalopolises and conurbations have appeared. Conurbations are formed by the merger of economically and populously equivalent cities. And megalopolises are formed as they coalesce with each other. Moreover, it is characteristic that the megalopolis is not a continuous urban development ─ approximately 90% of its area is open spaces.

Along with the process of urbanization, the processes of suburbanization and urbanization have recently been manifested. Suburbanization is the process of formation and development of the suburban area of ​​large cities, resulting in the formation of agglomerations. Urbanization is the process of transferring urban forms and living conditions to the countryside.

There is such a concept that characterizes the share of the urban population in the entire population of the country ─ this is the degree of urbanization. A state where the share of urban residents is more than 50% is highly urbanized, from 20 to 50% is medium urbanized, and less than 20% is low urbanized. Currently, the most urbanized states (except for such city-states as, for example, Hong Kong, Singapore, Monaco, where this figure reaches 100%) are Kuwait (98.3% of the population lives in cities), Bahrain (96.2%) , Qatar (95.3%) and Malta (95%). The least urbanized countries include countries in Africa and Asia, especially Burundi (9.7%), Bhutan (10.8%), Trinidad and Tobago (11.9%) and Uganda (12.5% ​​of the urban population). In Belarus, this figure is 72% (according to the 1999 census).

The following trends in the development of urbanization at this stage can be distinguished:

Steady growth in the number of cities and an increase in their population;

· strengthening the concentration of population, production and cultural life in large and major cities;

· sprawl of cities across the territory, the emergence of megalopolises and agglomerations.

Now urbanization is developing at an accelerated pace, and the geography of this phenomenon is quite wide and diverse; This process has already spread to all countries and continents. Qualitative differences are observed between urban areas in industrialized and developing countries.

If we talk about the geography of this process, then we can say that usually the level of urbanization directly depends on the degree of economic development of the country. However, one can name such exceptions as Djibouti ─ 85.6%, Jordan ─ 81%, Iceland ─ 92.7% of the urban population, where, despite the weak industrial development, the level of urbanization is quite high.

The modern type of urbanization in economically developed countries is not only a rapid increase in the proportion of the urban population, but also the spread of new forms of urban settlement ─ agglomerations and megalopolises, and recently the growth of such settlements in peripheral areas has prevailed.

In economically developed countries, the process of urbanization has practically stabilized and in some of them it is already close to 90%. Many experts attribute this to deurbanization, as a result of which the growth rate of the urban population decreased to 0.6-0.8%.

As the centers of world urbanization, 3 “centers” are distinguished ─ Western Europe, the USA and Japan. However, at the beginning of the 21st century, a trend towards the strengthening of the Southeast Asian vector in world urbanization is already clearly visible. This is due to an increase in the number of urban residents in these countries (now about half of the city dwellers are concentrated in Asian countries).

Three parts of the world - Australia and Oceania, America and Europe - are dominated by urban dwellers; at the same time, the population of African and Asian countries creates a preponderance of the village over the city on average in the world. However, it should be noted that it is in the countries of Asia and Africa that the greatest growth of the urban population occurs. Unfortunately, due to “false urbanization” (an increase in the number of urban residents without increasing the level of urbanization), since migrants maintain their former way of life in the so-called "poverty belts".

Urbanization in developing countries covers more and more territories, but still the proportion of city dwellers in them is much lower. In the least developed, the level of urbanization barely reaches 10%, but in some regions, due to natural, historical and economic reasons, the rate of urbanization is quite high (for example, in many countries of Latin America). In addition, the process of urbanization in such countries is very fast, and these rates even outpace the growth of city dwellers in economically developed countries - on average, they are about 3.5% per year, i.e. 4-5 times higher than in developed countries.

As the industrial growth of developing countries, their degree of urbanization will tend to the level of industrialized countries.

Land and water resources of the world

I) Land is a universal natural resource, without which no branch of human economic activity can practically exist. Features of land resources in comparison with other natural resources. resources: they are practically impossible to move, they are exhaustible and, moreover, limited to a certain territory.

Of particular value to people is the topmost layer of the earth - the soil, which has fertility, the ability to produce biomass (it can be both natural and artificial, supported by people).

Land fund - the totality of all lands within a particular territory (from a small area to the entire earth's surface), subdivided according to the type of economic use. The entire land fund of the planet is usually estimated at 149 million km2 = the entire land area. In most sources - 130-135 million km2, without the area of ​​Antarctica and Greenland.

The structure of the world land. fund:

1. Agricultural lands - only 37%, including the most valuable lands under arable land and perennial crops (88% of the necessary food products) account for 11%, pastures - 26% (10% of all world agricultural production)

2. Forest land - 32%. Their significance - climate-forming, water protection, forestry - is very high. However, in the supply of food, their role is purely auxiliary (hunting, fishing, etc.)

3. Other lands - 31% (very many). This category includes lands of very different productivity and households. use. Land under residential development, industrial and infrastructure facilities, mine workings (quarries, mines, dumps), etc. - 2.5-3% of land. fund. The vast majority of other lands are unproductive and unproductive lands - deserted deserts, highlands, rocky outcrops, areas under glaciers and water bodies, etc.

The structure of the earth. funds by major regions:

1. The largest share of cultivated land and land occupied by residential, industrial and transport development in its land. The fund is held by Foreign Europe (29% and 5% respectively). For comparison, the corresponding figures for Australia and Oceania are 5% and 1%, and for the CIS, 10% and 1%.

2. The share of pastures is especially high in the structure of land fund in Australia - 54% (North America - 16%, CIS - 17%).

3. The share of forests is maximum in South America - 52% (Foreign Asia - 17%, Australia and Oceania - 18%).

4. The largest share of unproductive and unproductive land in Asia is 42% (Foreign Europe - 17%, South America - 20%)

The record-breaking countries in terms of the share of arable land in the land fund are Ukraine (56.9%), India (55.9%), Bangladesh and Denmark (56-57%)

In terms of the share of pastures, Kazakhstan (70%), Australia and Argentina (50-55%), Mongolia (75%) stand out

Share of other land - sub-Saharan Libya (91%) and Algeria (82%)

The question of the provision of land with resources is also related to the characteristics of the structure and size of the land fund. (calculated in hectares per capita). The world average is 2 ha/person. Australia - 30, CIS - 8, South Am - 5.3, North Am - 4.5, Africa - 1.25, Europe - 0.9, Asia - 0.8 ha/person.

Provision of arable land. The world average is 0.2 ha/person. Australia and Oceania - 1.8, CIS - 0.8, North Am - 0.6, South Am - 0.35, Europe - 0.25, Africa - 0.22, Asia - 0.13.

Problems - the use of productive land for construction, etc., land degradation due to improper land use, their use "for depletion", erosion, waterlogging, salinization, leaching, dust storms, desertification.

II) Water resources - in a broad sense - the entire volume of hydrosphere water contained in rivers, lakes, glaciers, seas and oceans, in underground horizons and the atmosphere (inexhaustible). The oceans - 71% of the total area of ​​​​the planet + glaciers, rivers, lakes, etc. The entire volume of the hydrosphere is 1390 million km3 (for one person - 220 million m3). But the use of most of these waters is very difficult (the World Ocean - 96% of the volume, glaciers 2% and groundwater 2%).

In a narrow sense, water resources are fresh waters suitable for consumption. (2.5% of all waters of the hydrosphere). The main source of meeting the needs for fresh water is river channel waters, their share is extremely small (surface waters of the continents: rivers, swamps, lakes - 0.02%), their volume = 2100 km2. per year, the volume of water in the rivers is renewed about 23 times, so the river runoff resources = approximately 41 thousand km3/year. More than half of them drain into the sea, so that the resources actually available for use do not exceed 15,000 km3.

Distribution by regions of total river flow: Asia (Yangtze, Ganges, Brahmaputra rivers) - 11 thousand km3, SAm (Amazon, Orinoco, Parana) - 10.5, CAm (Mississippi) - 7, CIS (Yenisei, Lena) - 5, 3, Africa (Congo, Zambezi) - 4.2, Austria and Oak - 1.6, Europe - 1.4 thousand km3.

Top 10 countries in terms of freshwater resources: Brazil, Russia, Canada, China, Indonesia, USA, Bangladesh, India, Venezuela, Myanmar.

Water supply. Calculation either for 1 km2 of territory, or for 1 person. The world average is 8 thousand m3/year. Above this level - Austria. and OK - 83, SAAM - 32, CIS and CAm - 15 each. The indicators are lower - Africa - 5.7, Europe - 4.1, Asia - 3.1.

About 60% of the total land area on Earth is in areas where there is not enough fresh water.

The countries with the highest water availability are Suriname (470 thousand m3/year), DR Congo (310), Guyana, Papua New Guinea, Gabon, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia. 7 of them are equatorial, tropical, subtropical belts.

Countries with the lowest water supply: Egypt (0.96 thousand m 3 / year), Burundi, Algeria, Tunisia, Israel, Yemen, Jordan, Saudi Arabia (0.12), Libya (0.1), Kuwait (0.011) .

To imagine the real water supply, it is necessary to take into account the size of water consumption. During the 20th century, the global water supply increased by 6.8 times (2005 - 6000 km3). Nearly 1.2 billion people now lack access to clean drinking water. Water consumption structure: 70% of fresh water - agriculture, 20% - industry, 10% - domestic needs. It is in cx that irretrievable water consumption is very high. Nowadays, humanity already uses more than ¼ of the actually available water resources, and irretrievable losses account for more than ½ of their total consumption. The largest water supply – Turkmenistan (7000 m3 per person per year), Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Pakistan, etc. (countries with irrigated agriculture)

The limited and uneven distribution of fresh water resources over the earth's surface, the growing pollution of surface and ground waters are one of the components of the global resource problem. Overcoming scarcity - through rational use of .

The earth is one of the main resources of nature, the source of life. The world land fund is about 13.5 billion hectares. In its structure, cultivated lands, meadows and pastures, forests and shrubs, unproductive and unproductive lands are distinguished. Of great value are cultivated lands, which provide 88% of the food necessary for mankind. Cultivated lands are mainly concentrated in the forest, forest-steppe and steppe zones of the planet. Of considerable importance are meadows and pastures, which provide 10% of the food consumed by humans.

The structure of the land fund is constantly changing. It is influenced by two opposite processes: the artificial expansion of land by man and the degradation of land due to natural process.

Every year, 6-7 million hectares of land fall out of agricultural circulation due to soil erosion and desertification. As a result of these processes, the load on the land is constantly increasing, and the availability of land resources is constantly falling. The least secured land resources include Egypt, Japan, South Africa, etc.

The biomass of the Earth is created by plant and animal organisms. Plant resources are represented by both cultivated and wild plants. Among the wild vegetation, forest vegetation predominates, which forms forest resources.

Forest resources are characterized by two indicators:

1) the size of the forest area (4.1 billion hectares);

2) standing wood reserves (330 billion hectares).

This reserve increases annually by 5.5 billion m3. At the end of the XX century. forests began to be cut down for arable land, plantations and construction. As a result, the area of ​​forests is reduced annually by 15 million hectares. This leads to a reduction in the woodworking industry.

The forests of the world form two huge belts. The northern forest belt is located in the temperate and subtropical zones. The most densely forested countries of this belt are Russia, USA, Canada, Finland, Sweden. The southern forest belt is located in the zone of the tropical and equatorial belts. The forests of this belt are concentrated in three areas: in the Amazon, in the Congo basins and in Southeast Asia.

Resources of the animal world are also classified as renewable. Together, plants and animals form the genetic fund (gene pool) of the planet. One of the most important tasks of our time is the preservation of biological diversity, the prevention of "erosion" of the gene pool.

The water shell of the globe - oceans, seas, rivers, lakes - is called the hydrosphere. It covers 70.8% of the earth's surface. The volume of the hydrosphere reaches 1370.3 mln. rivers, swamps and lakes.

Water resources are the main source of meeting human needs for water. Until recently, water was considered one of the free gifts of nature, only in areas of artificial irrigation, it has always had a high price. The water reserves of the planet are 47 thousand m3. Moreover, only half of the water reserves can actually be used. Fresh water resources make up only 2.5% of the total volume of the hydrosphere. In absolute terms, this is 30-35 million m3, which is 10 thousand times more than the needs of mankind. But the vast majority of fresh water is conserved in the glaciers of Antarctica, Greenland, in the ice of the Arctic, in mountain glaciers and forms an "emergency reserve" that is not yet suitable for use. River waters (“water rations”) remain the main source of meeting the needs of mankind in fresh water. It is not so significant and you can actually use about half of this amount. The main consumer of fresh water is agriculture. Almost 2/3 of water is used in agriculture for land irrigation. The constant increase in water consumption creates a threat of fresh water scarcity. Such a shortage is experienced by the countries of Asia, Africa, Western Europe.

The role of the ocean in people's lives

It is difficult to overestimate the role of the World Ocean in the life of mankind. It largely determines the face of the planet as a whole, including its climate, the water cycle on Earth. In the ocean, there were vital waterways connecting the continents and islands. Its biological resources are colossal. More than 160 thousand species of animals and about 10 thousand species of algae live in the World Ocean. The annual reproducible number of commercial fish is estimated at 200 million tons, of which approximately 1/3 is caught. More than 90% of the world's catch comes from the coastal shelf, especially in the temperate and high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The share of the Pacific Ocean in the world catch is about 60%, the Atlantic - about 35%.

The shelf of the World Ocean has huge reserves of oil and gas, large reserves of iron-manganese ores and other minerals. Mankind is just beginning to use the energy resources of the World Ocean, including the energy of the tides. The World Ocean accounts for 94% of the volume of the hydrosphere. Desalination of sea waters is associated with the solution of many water problems of the future.

Unfortunately, humanity does not always use the natural resources of the oceans wisely. In many areas, its biological resources are depleted. A significant part of the water area is polluted with anthropogenic waste, primarily oil products.

To solve the problems of water supply, a person uses several ways: for example, he builds reservoirs; saves water through the introduction of technologies that reduce its losses; carries out desalination of sea water, redistribution of river runoff in moisture-rich areas, etc.

River flow is also used to obtain hydraulic potential. There are three types of hydraulic potential: gross (30-35 trillion kW/h), technical (20 trillion kW/h), economic (10 trillion kW/h). The economic potential is a part of the gross and technical hydraulic potential, the use of which is justified. The countries of foreign Asia, Latin America, North America, Europe and Australia have the greatest economic hydraulic potential. However, in Europe this potential has already been used by 70%, in Asia - by 14%, in Africa - by 3%.

The oceans contain a large group of natural resources. First, it is sea water, which contains 75 chemical elements. Secondly, these are mineral resources, such as oil, natural gas, solid minerals. Third, energy resources (tidal energy). Fourth, biological resources (animals and plants). Fourthly, these are the biological resources of the World Ocean. The biomass of the ocean has 140 thousand species, and the mass is estimated at 35 billion tons. The most productive resources of the Norwegian, Bering, Okhotsk and Japanese seas. Water resources management. One of the directions for solving water problems is to attract the currently underused water resources of desalinated waters of the World Ocean, groundwater and glacier waters for the purposes of water supply. At present, the share of desalinated water in the total volume of world water supply is small - 0.05%, which is explained by the high cost and significant energy intensity of desalination processes. Even in the United States, where the number of desalination plants has increased 30-fold since 1955, desalinated water accounts for only 7% of water consumption. In Kazakhstan, in 1963, the first pilot-industrial distiller was put into operation in the city of Aktau (Shevchenko). Due to the high cost, desalination is used only where surface or underground fresh water resources are completely absent or extremely difficult to access, and their transportation turns out to be more expensive compared to desalination of high salinity water directly on site. In the future, water desalination will be carried out in a single technical complex with the extraction of useful components from it: sodium chloride, magnesium, potassium, sulfur, boron, bromine, iodine, strontium, non-ferrous and rare metals, which will increase the economic efficiency of desalination plants. An important reserve of water supply is groundwater. The greatest value for society is fresh groundwater, which makes up 24% of the volume of the fresh part of the hydrosphere. Brackish and saline underground waters can also serve as a reserve in water supply when they are used in a mixture with fresh water or after their artificial desalination. The factors limiting underground water intake include: 1) uneven distribution of water over the territory of the earth; 2) difficulties in processing saline groundwater; 3) rapidly declining rates of natural renewal with an increase in the depth of aquifers. Utilization of water in the solid phase (ice, ice sheets) is expected, firstly, by increasing the water yield of mountain glaciers, and secondly, by transporting ice from the polar regions. However, both of these methods are practically difficult to implement and the environmental consequences of their implementation have not yet been studied. Thus, at the present stage of development, the possibilities of attracting additional volumes of water resources are limited. The uneven distribution of water resources across the globe should also be pointed out. The highest availability of river and underground runoff resources falls on the equatorial belt of South America and Africa. In Europe and Asia, where 70% of the world's population lives, only 39% of river waters are concentrated. The largest rivers in the world are the Amazon (annual flow 3780 km3), Congo (1200 km3), Mississippi (600 km3), Zamberi (599 km3), Yangtze (639 km3), Irrawaddy (410 km3), Mekong (379 km3), Brahmaputra ( 252 km3) . In Western Europe, the average annual surface runoff is 400 km3, including about 200 km3 in the Danube, 79 km3 on the Rhine, and 57 km3 on the Rhone. The largest lakes in the world are the Great American Lakes (total area - 245 thousand km3), Victoria (68 thousand km3), Tanganyika (34 thousand km3), Nyasa (30.8 thousand km3). The Great American Lakes contain 23,000 km3 of water, the same amount as Baikal. To characterize the distribution of hydro resources, the volume of total river flow per unit of territory (1 km3) and population is calculated. For 1 million inhabitants of the USSR, there is 5.2 km3 of total sustainable runoff (including regulated by reservoirs) against 4 km3 for the entire globe; 19 km3 of total river flow versus 13 km3; 4.1 sustainable groundwater flow versus 3.3 km3. The average water supply per 1 km2 is 212 thousand m3 in the CIS, and 278 thousand m3 in the world. The main ways to manage water resources are the creation of reservoirs and the territorial transfer of runoff. .

Urbanization is one of the most important global phenomena in the modern world. About what this term means, and what level of urbanization of Foreign Europe is described in this article.

General information

Before talking about the urbanization of foreign Europe, it is necessary to understand what is meant by each of these two concepts. Urbanization refers to the increase in the number of cities. This process is accompanied by a high rate of urban population growth in the region, country, world, and, accordingly, the increasing importance of cities in economic, political and cultural terms. Foreign Europe includes 40 countries located in the European part of the vast continent - Eurasia.

Common features

In modern society, the process of urbanization has the following features:

• A significant increase in the number of urban residents;
• Increasing the number of urban dwellers in big cities;
• Expansion of the territory of large cities, their "spread".

Rice. 1. Large and small cities on the map of Europe

Urban population growth

Throughout history, cities have always played a leading role in the life of society and its development. However, since the 19th century, the number of urban residents has increased markedly. At the beginning of the last century, this trend intensified, and after the end of World War II, the era of a real “urban revolution” began. The number of inhabitants in cities is increasing not only due to the migration of the rural population, but also as a result of the administrative transformation of rural settlements into urban ones.

The urbanization of the countries of Foreign Europe is at one of the highest levels in the world. On average, about 75% of the European population are urban dwellers. The following table shows statistical data on the share of urban residents in the total population of each individual country of Foreign Europe.

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Western Europe has the highest rate of urbanization, while Eastern Europe has the opposite picture, ranging from 40% to 60%. This is due, first of all, to the socio-economic development of countries: Western European countries are developed, and Eastern European countries are countries with a low per capita income.

Rice. 2 Paris agglomeration on the map

Big cities and their "sprawl"

At the beginning of the 20th century there were not so many large cities in the world - only 360. But by the end their number increased markedly - 2500. Today this number is close to 4 thousand. It is worth noting that if earlier cities with more than 100 thousand inhabitants were classified as large, today research “revolves” mainly around million-plus cities with a population of more than one million. There are many such cities in Europe. Among them, it is worth noting London (over 8 million), Berlin (over 3 million), Madrid (over 3 million), Rome (over 2 million) and others.

This trend became possible due to the development of scientific and technological progress, the growing role of science in the development of production, the increase in the general level of education, and the development of the non-productive sphere.

A distinctive feature of the modern process of urbanization is the "spreading" of large cities - the growth of their already considerable territory. In other words, large industrial centers, port cities, capitals go beyond their borders, growing into something more - an urban agglomeration.

But this is not the limit: many agglomerations are united into megacities. In foreign Europe, the largest metropolitan agglomerations are Paris and London. In addition, there are such large industrial agglomerations as Gdansk-Gdynia (Poland), Rhine-Ruhr (France), South Yorkshire (England) and others.

European urbanization has its own distinctive features. Among them are suburbanization (settlement of urban residents in the suburbs), deurbanization (the outflow of urban residents to rural settlements) and ruralization (the spread of urban norms, lifestyles in rural areas).

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Despite the presence of common features of urbanization as a global process, it has its own characteristics in different countries and regions, which, first of all, is reflected in different levels and rates of urbanization. According to the level of urbanization, all countries of the world can be divided into C large groups. But the main differences can be observed between more and less developed countries. In the early 1990s, the average level of urbanization in developed countries was 72%, while in developing countries it was 33%.

Conditional levels of urbanization:

Low level of urbanization - less than 20%;

The average level of urbanization - from 20% to 50%;

High level of urbanization - from 50% to 72%;

Very high level of urbanization - more than 72%.

Weakly urbanized countries - West and East Africa, Madagascar and some Asian countries.

Medium urbanized countries - Bolivia, Africa, Asia.

Highly urbanized countries - Europe, North America, South Africa, Australia, South America, CIS countries.

The pace of urbanization largely depends on its level. In most economically developed countries that have reached a high level of urbanization, the proportion of the urban population has recently grown relatively slowly, and the number of inhabitants in the capitals and other largest cities, as a rule, even decreases. Many of the citizens now prefer to live not in the centers of large cities, but in the suburban area and the countryside. But urbanization continues to develop in depth, acquiring new forms. In developing countries, where the level of urbanization is much lower, it continues to grow in breadth, and the urban population is growing rapidly. Now they account for more than 4/5 of the total annual increase in the number of urban residents, and the absolute number of city dwellers has already far exceeded their number in economically developed countries. This phenomenon, known in science as an urban explosion, has become one of the most important factors in the entire socio-economic development of developing countries. However, the population growth of cities in these regions is far ahead of their real development. It occurs largely due to the constant "pushing" of the surplus rural population into the cities, especially large ones. At the same time, the poor usually settle on the outskirts of large cities, where belts of poverty arise.

Complete, as is sometimes said, "slum urbanization" has taken on very large proportions. That is why a number of international documents speak of an urbanization crisis in developing countries. But it continues to be largely spontaneous and disordered.

Economically developed countries are now characterized by urbanization "deeper": intensive suburbanization, the formation and spread of urban agglomerations and megacities.

In economically developed countries, on the contrary, great efforts are being made to regulate the process of urbanization and manage it. Architects, demographers, geographers, economists, sociologists, and representatives of many other sciences are involved in this work, which is often carried out by trial and error, along with government agencies.

Almost all the problems of world population, as never before, are closely intertwined in the process of world urbanization. They appear in the most concentrated form in cities. The population and production are also concentrated there, very often to the extreme limits. Urbanization is a complex and diverse process that affects all aspects of world life. Let us note only some features of world urbanization on the threshold of the third millennium. Urbanization still continues at a rapid pace in various forms in countries of different levels of development. In the unequal conditions of each country, urbanization occurs both in breadth and depth, at one speed or another.

The rate of annual growth of city dwellers is almost twice as high as the growth of the world's population as a whole. In 1950, 28% of the world's population lived in cities, in 1997 - 45%. Cities of different rank, significance and size in which suburbs, agglomerations, even larger urbanized zones are rapidly expanding, practically cover the main part of humanity with their influence. The major role in this is played by big cities, especially the cities with millionaires. The last in 1950, there were 116, in 1996 - there were 230. The urban lifestyle of the population, urban culture are increasingly spreading in rural areas in most countries of the world. In developing countries, urbanization is mainly "in breadth" as a result of a massive influx of migrants from rural areas and small towns to big cities. According to the UN, in 1995 the proportion of the urban population in developing countries as a whole was 38%, including 22% in the least developed countries. For Africa, this figure was 34%, for Asia - 35%. But in Latin America, city dwellers now make up the majority of the population - 74%, including in Venezuela - 93%, in Brazil, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, Colombia and Peru - from 70% to 80% etc. Only in some of the least developed countries (Haiti, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras) and in the small island countries of the Caribbean, less than half of the city dwellers - from 35% to 47%.

A very large proportion of city dwellers is also characteristic of the most developed countries in the far west of Asia: Israel (91%), Lebanon (87%), Turkey (69%).

In industrialized countries, urbanization "in breadth" has long exhausted itself. In the 21st century, most of them enter almost entirely urbanized. In Europe, city dwellers make up an average of 74% of the population, including 81% in Western Europe, and even more in some countries: in Belgium - 97%, the Netherlands and Great Britain - 90%, in Germany - 87%, although in some countries the city dwellers much less: in Austria, for example, - 56%, in Switzerland - 61%. High urbanization in Northern Europe: 73% on average, as well as in Denmark and Norway - 70%. It is noticeably smaller in Southern and Eastern Europe, but, of course, with other indicators of urbanization, it is higher than in developing countries. In the US and Canada, the share of the urban population reaches 80%.

The concentration of the transportation industry worsened the economic conditions of life in the big cities. In many areas, the population is now growing faster in small towns, on the outskirts than in the centers of agglomerations. Often the largest cities, especially cities with millionaires, lose their population due to its migration to the suburbs, satellite cities, in some places to the countryside, where it brings an urban lifestyle. The urban population of industrialized countries is now practically not growing.

The process of urbanization of the world's population is underway.

Urbanization- this is a socio-economic process, expressed in the growth of urban settlements, the concentration of the population in them, especially in large cities, in the spread of the urban lifestyle to the entire network of settlements.

Hyperurbanization- these are zones of uncontrolled development of urban settlements and overload of the natural landscape (the ecological balance is disturbed).

False urbanization- quite often used to characterize the situation in developing countries. In this case, urbanization is associated not so much with the development of urban functions, but with the “pushing out” of the population from rural areas as a result of relative agrarian overpopulation.

Hyperurbanization is typical for developed countries, false urbanization - for developing countries.

Both of these problems are characteristic of Russia (false urbanization, to a lesser extent and in a slightly different form; in Russia, it is due to the inability of cities to provide the arriving population with the necessary social infrastructure).

Benefits of urbanization

The process of urbanization contributes to an increase in labor productivity, allows solving many social problems of society.

Negative aspects of urbanization

In recent years, there has been a sharp increase in the urbanization of the population. Urbanization is accompanied by the growth of large million-plus cities, environmental pollution near industrial centers, and deterioration of living conditions in the regions.

The technosphere was created for:

• Improve comfort
• Providing protection from natural negative influences

The process of urbanization and its features

The city did not immediately become the dominant form of settlement. For many centuries, urban forms of life were the exception rather than the rule, due to the dominance of such forms of production, which were based on subsistence farming and individual labor. So, in the era of classical slavery, the city was closely connected with landed property, with agricultural labor. In the feudal era, urban life still bore in itself the features of its antipode - agriculture, so urban settlements were scattered over a vast area and weakly interconnected. The predominance of the village as a form of settlement in this era was ultimately determined by the weak level of development of the productive forces, which did not allow a person to break away from the earth in economic terms.

Relations between town and countryside begin to change under the influence of the development of productive forces. The objective basis of these processes was the transformation of urban production on the basis of a manufactory, and then a factory. Thanks to expanding urban production, the relative size of the urban population increased quite rapidly. The Industrial Revolution in Europe at the end of the 18th century - the first half of the 19th century. fundamentally changed the face of cities. Factory towns are becoming the most typical form of urban settlement. It was then that the road was opened to the rapid growth of the "settlement" environment, artificially created by man in the course of his production life. These shifts in production brought about a new historical phase in the development of settlement, characterized by the triumph of urbanization, which means an increase in the proportion of the country's population living in cities and associated mainly with industrialization. Especially high rates of urbanization were observed in the 19th century. through migration from rural areas.

In the modern world, an intensive process of formation of agglomerations, conurbations, megacities, urbanized regions continues.

Agglomeration- the accumulation of settlements, united into one whole by intensive economic, labor and socio-cultural ties. It is formed around large cities, as well as in densely populated industrial areas. in Russia at the beginning of the 21st century. there were about 140 large-scale agglomerations. They are home to 2/3 of the country's population, 2/3 of the industrial and 90% of Russia's scientific potential are concentrated.

Conurbation includes several coalescing or closely developing agglomerations (usually 3-5) with highly developed major cities. In Japan, 13 conurbations have been identified, including Tokyo, consisting of 7 agglomerations (27.6 million people), Nagoya - from 5 agglomerations (7.3 million people), Osaka, etc. The term "standard consolidated area" introduced in the USA in 1963 is similar.

Megalopolis- a system of settlements hierarchical in complexity and scale, consisting of a large number of conurbations and agglomerations. Megalopolises appeared in the middle of the 20th century. In UN terminology, a megalopolis is an entity with a population of at least 5 million inhabitants. At the same time, 2/3 of the territory of a megalopolis may not be built up. Thus, the Tokaido megalopolis consists of the Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka conurbations with a length of about 800 km along the coast. Megalopolises include interstate entities, such as the Great Lakes megalopolis (USA-Canada) or the Donetsk-Rostov system of agglomerations (Russia-Ukraine). In Russia, the Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod region of settlement can be called a megalopolis; the Ural megalopolis is born.

Urbanized region, which is formed by a grid of megalopolises, is considered to be a more complex, large-scale and territorially extensive settlement system. Among the emerging urbanized regions include London-Paris-Ruhr, the Atlantic coast of North America, etc.

The basis for the allocation of such systems are cities with a population of over 100 thousand people or more. A special place among them is occupied by “millionaire” cities. In 1900 there were only 10 of them, and now there are more than 400. It is cities with a million inhabitants that develop into agglomerations and contribute to the creation of more complex settlement and urban planning systems - conurbations, megalopolises and super-large formations - urbanized regions.

At present, urbanization is due to the scientific and technological revolution, changes in the structure of productive forces and the nature of labor, the deepening of links between activities, as well as information links.

Common features of urbanization in the world are:

• the preservation of interclass social structures and population groups, the division of labor, which fixes the population at the place of residence;
• intensification of socio-spatial ties that determine the formation of complex settlement systems and their structures;
• integration of the countryside (as the settlement sphere of the village) with the urban area and the narrowing of the functions of the village as a socio-economic subsystem;
• a high concentration of activities such as science, culture, information, management, and an increase in their role in the country's economy;
• increased regional polarization of economic urban planning and, as a result, social development within countries.

Features of urbanization in developed countries are as follows:

• slowdown in growth rates and stabilization of the share of the urban population in the total population of the country. Slowdown is observed when the proportion of the urban population exceeds 75%, and stabilization - 80%. This level of urbanization is noted in the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and;
• stabilization and influx of population in certain regions of rural areas;
• cessation of the demographic growth of metropolitan agglomerations concentrating population, capital, socio-cultural and managerial functions. Moreover, in recent years, in the metropolitan agglomerations of the USA, Great Britain, Australia, Germany and Japan, there has been a process of deconcentration of production and population, which manifests itself in the outflow of the population from the cores of agglomerations to their outer zones and even beyond the agglomerations;
• change in the ethnic composition of cities due to the ongoing mythology from developing countries. The high birth rate in migrant families significantly affects the decrease in the proportion of the "titular" population of cities;
• placement of new jobs in the outer zones of the agglomeration and even beyond.

Modern urbanization has led to a deepening of socio-territorial differences. A kind of payment for the concentration and economic efficiency of production in the conditions of urbanization was the constantly reproduced in the most developed countries territorial and social polarization between backward and advanced regions, between the central regions of cities and suburbs; the emergence of unfavorable environmental conditions and, as a result, the deterioration of the health of the urban population, especially the poor.

suburbanization(the rapid growth of the suburban area around big cities), the first signs of which appeared before the Second World War, affected primarily the wealthy and was a form of their flight from the social diseases of the big city.

Urbanization in Russia

in the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20th century. 20% of the country's urban population was concentrated in the central area, while in Siberia and the Far East the urban population did not exceed 3% with the cities of 100,000 inhabitants Novosibirsk, Irkutsk and Vladivostok; the scientific base of the vast region was Tomsk University. Settlement in rural areas, where 82% of the country's population lived, was characterized by extreme fragmentation, overpopulation of some areas and forced military-agricultural colonization of others (mainly national outskirts). In the North, in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, the population led a nomadic lifestyle. In rural settlements, there was a complete lack of social and cultural services, well-maintained roads. As a result, there was a huge social and spatial distance between the big cities, which concentrated almost the entire potential of culture, and the countryside. In 1920, the number of literate people was 44% of the country's population, including 32% of women, among the rural population - respectively 37 and 25%.

By the beginning of 1926, the settlement base of the country consisted of 1925 urban settlements, in which 26 million people lived, or 18% of the country's population, and about 860 thousand rural settlements. The frame of centers of settlement and cultural development was represented by only 30 cities, of which Moscow and Leningrad were millionaires.

The process of urbanization in the USSR was associated with a rapid concentration of production in large cities, the creation of numerous new cities in areas of new development and, accordingly, with the movement of huge masses of the population from village to city and its high concentration in large and largest urban settlements.

This stage of urbanization was characterized by the following negative features, due to the fact that the settlement and organization of society took place mainly on the basis of sectoral economic criteria: extensive growth of large cities, insufficient development of small and medium-sized cities; inattention and underestimation of the role of rural settlements as a social environment; slow overcoming of socio-territorial differences.

In modern Russia, the process of urbanization is also associated with serious contradictions. The trend towards property polarization of the population within urban communities leads to the segregation of the poor population, pushing it to the “sideline” of urban life. The economic crisis and political instability stimulate unemployment and internal migration, as a result of which, due to the excessive influx of population, many cities have significantly more people than they are able to "digest". Population growth in cities, far outstripping the demand for labor, is accompanied not only by absolute, but sometimes by relative expansion of those strata that do not participate in modern production. These processes lead to an increase in urban unemployment and the development in the cities of an unorganized sector of the economy engaged in small-scale production and services. In addition, the growth of the criminal sector, which includes both the "shadow" economy and organized crime, is noticeable.

Be that as it may, urban life and urban culture have become an organic environment of social habitat. At the beginning of the XXI century. the majority of Russians are native city dwellers. They will set the tone in the development of society, and the way the social management systems are formed now, how the social environment changes, the life of new generations will depend.

A global phenomenon overtook humanity in the 21st century. Rapid changes have led not only to positive consequences. Urbanization, although perceived by many as something modern and necessary, still carries a lot of negative consequences. It is possible to answer the question of what urbanization is only if you understand all the positive and negative aspects, how it affects society, geography, ecology, politics and many other aspects of human life.

The definition of this word is simple only at a glance. Urbanization, its definition, is the increase in urban-type settlements. However, the concept is much broader, it includes not only an increase in the total number of citizens who live in cities.

This is the spread of the urban lifestyle in the villages, the penetration of the mentality and aspects of social communication. The term is closely related to the social and territorial division of labor.

There is a definition in various sciences: sociology, geography,. The term implies the process of participation of large developing territorial points in the development of society. The definition also includes the aspect that population growth in cities determines the change in the social, economic, demographic nature. This process affects the way of life not only of those who have moved, but also of those who have stayed.

Urbanization of the population

Urbanization in Wikipedia is defined as the process of increasing the role of cities, increasing the number. Wikipedia draws attention to the fact that urban culture is beginning to condition and displace rural culture, there is a transformation of values ​​through the prism of industrial development.

The phenomenon is accompanied by a pendulum movement (temporary moving for earnings, for domestic needs). The fact is noted that in 1800 only 3% of the world's population lived in cities, but now this figure is almost 50%.

You need to understand what motivates people who move to permanent residence in cities. They are primarily driven by the financial factor, because even in our country there are significant differences between how much the residents of villages and residents of large cities receive. At the same time, the cost of food products and goods from the main group differs slightly.

It is clear that villagers who have the opportunity to work outside their locality will tend to cities, where the opportunity to earn twice or three times higher is provided. A significant factor is the difficult economic situation. It encourages people to be insecure about the future.

The rapid flow, which is not accompanied by the allocation of a sufficient number of jobs, leads to the fact that residents are forced to crowd into insufficient premises on the outskirts of cities. Such phenomena often occur in the localities of Latin America and Africa, where today the highest rate of population flow to cities.

The process has positive and negative implications. The main advantages are that the city is growing, growing, that residents can gain new knowledge, earn more money, improve their education, and achieve career heights. At the same time, employers are also happy, because there are more new hands, there is always a choice of candidates.

However, migrants who come in search of money accept any salary, which allows employers to lower minimum wages. Also, the rapid flow threatens that the city system may become unusable. Since it is not designed to serve so many people.

The negative factor of a large crowd of residents is constant traffic jams, environmental degradation, the growth of anti-Semitic and racist sentiments, and an increase in the number of criminal acts.

Urbanization of the population about countries

In geography

Urbanization is defined as the process of growth of the urban population in the world, the consolidation and increase of cities in their area, the emergence of new systems and networks of cities. Also in geography, the special importance of the phenomenon in the modern world is noted. The atlas of geography shows that growth rates are high in underdeveloped areas, but this is not progress.

The 1990s witnessed the fastest rate of rural-urban migration, but now the phenomenon has slowed down a bit. The more developed and economically richer a place becomes, the smaller the difference in the wages of its inhabitants. For those who live in the villages, it makes no sense to move to the metropolis, because the salaries are the same, there are development prospects in their native place.

Useful video: lecture for grade 10 on urbanization

The reasons

The causes of urbanization are various, they are not determined only by economic circumstances.

There are such main reasons:

• a surplus of workers in rural areas;
• expansion in size as a result of the industrial revolution;
• development of industry in megacities;
• favorable cultural, living conditions of cities.

We must not overlook the fact that there are certain sentiments associated with people from the countryside. As a result of the fact that in the regions it is impossible to organize a full-fledged education system, a medical network, the townspeople are accustomed to thinking that the rural ones are somewhat “lower” than them. Urbanization and reurbanization (development of urban sentiments beyond the boundaries of megacities) makes it possible to eradicate this opinion.

Migration of the population from the countryside

Levels

All countries of the world are divided into three groups depending on the pace of the process.

The levels of urbanization are as follows:

• high (more than half of the urban population);
• medium (urban 20-30%);
• low (less than 20%).

Countries with a high level of urbanization include Japan, Sweden, England, Australia, Venezuela. Intermediate countries: Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria, India. The rural population prevails in Mali, Zambia, Chad, Ethiopia.

Note! Do not confuse level and pace. The rate does not mean the current state of the country, but the rate at which the urban population is growing.

Economically developed countries with a high rate of urban dwellers now note a small percentage of those who want to live in cities. Most of the inhabitants are gradually moving to the outskirts, to the villages, where they can enjoy clean air and run their own household. The number of urban dwellers is increasing in developing countries.

This is explained by the fact that social and economic development is directly related to the development of the person himself. People, wanting to get the maximum, tend to cities. There is also the so-called “slum” life.

The phenomenon occurs when rural residents, moving to a large city, discover that they have no housing, that not every employer is ready to hire them and pay big money. Not wanting to give up their dream, they settle on the outskirts of the city, where housing is inexpensive. In this way, growth occurs, but this does not indicate progress.

Countries with high

These are those where the number of urban population exceeds 50%.

These include:

• South Korea;
• Canada;
• Monaco;
• St. Maarten;
• Singapore;
• Bermuda;
• Japan;
• Great Britain;
• Australia;
• Venezuela;
• Sweden;
• Kuwait and others.

Note! According to the UN, at the moment the pace of urbanization has slowed down a bit. The organization publishes research data for the past two years.

Countries with a high level of urban migration are located mainly in Latin America, South and East Asia, and Central Africa.

South Korea

Level in the world

The main aspect of the modern process is not only rapid population growth. The concept of suburbanization has appeared, meaning the creation of spatial forms on the basis of cities - megacities. There is a deconcentration of the population here. The term implies not only expansion in breadth, that is, the settlement becomes territorially larger, but also upwards. The construction of high skyscrapers, small apartments allows you to accommodate more people per square meter.

The global trend is accompanied by a demographic boom. By increasing the economic profile, citizens of a certain country understand that by moving, they can give their children more. As a result of this, a problem arises: many children are born in cities, and extinction occurs in villages. However, in the world in recent years, there has been a decrease in the rate of both urbanization and the birth rate.

Note! As for Russia, there is another trend - the transformation of villages into urban settlements.

The ratio of urban and rural population

Urbanization in Russia

In Russia, this phenomenon is widespread, and is associated primarily with the economic situation in the country. In the capital of the Russian Federation, a person can earn 2-5 times more than in a village, doing the same work. The percentage of urbanization is now quite high - it is 73%.

This was influenced by such negative factors:

• lack of regulations in legislative acts that would adequately regulate the issues of migration within the country;
• difficulties in the economic situation of the country;
• large delays in wages;
• a small selection of vacancies in rural areas;
• instability in the political sphere;
• low wages.

Useful video: Russian cities - urbanization

Conclusion

The pace of the process is increasing every year. State services deal with migration issues within the country, but, as practice shows, this is not always effective.

The process of moving citizens of countries has both its pluses and minuses. It is not possible to say unequivocally what it will be like in the future, whether it can stop altogether.