Urbanisation and Megacities

The hope of a better life draws millions of people into the cities. Some megacities are already bursting at the seams, and slum areas are burgeoning. The risks for the inhabitants are immense.

Cities have always been centres of economic development. Worldwide, they generate more than 50% of gross domestic product. In the more heavily urbanised countries of Latin America the figure is as high as 80% in some cases, and in Europe even higher. Around the globe, there are already 20 megacities, each with more than ten million inhabitants.

According to United Nations statistics, the top six are Greater Tokyo, with about 37 million inhabitants, Mexico City (23 million), New York–Newark (23 million), Seoul (22 million) and Mumbai (Bombay) and São Paulo, each with approximately 20 million inhabitants. By 2015 these will be joined by three more megacities. The megacities will be predominantly in developing countries. And since 2007, for the first time in history, more people are living in cities than in the countryside.

Migration from the land is happening above all in the developing countries, primarily for economic reasons. For the prospect of higher incomes and better social facilities gives people hope of improving their quality of life. At the same time, the downside of urbanisation is the growth of poor districts and slums. The very poorest can often only afford to live in the unattractive fringes of cities, which are frequently also at risk from flooding or landslides, or are crammed between street gorges.

Inhabitants thus scrape a living amidst noise and dirt, in many cases without access to clean water or sanitation. In the developing countries in particular, the influx into the cities continues unbroken, for, like many countries south of the Sahara, they are just at the start of urbanisation process, whereas in the industrialised countries 75% of people already live in cities.

Many of the megacities are particularly vulnerable to natural disasters. In a worst-case scenario, the number of fatalities following a megadisaster in a megacity could far exceed that of the tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia.

In line with its remit to look after people in risk situations, the Munich Re Foundation supports projects that promise long-term effective help for the "forgotten population" of the megacities.