Cheryl Sawyer: Urbanization is accelerating worldwide

The population of rural areas is declining, and the world is increasingly moving toward urbanization, Cheryl Sawyer, Head of Division at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, American demographer and population specialist, said at an event within the framework of WUF13 in Baku.

According to her, population density across countries and cities manifests in different forms:

"For example, in Japan there are cities with populations of over 50,000, while in Norway there are settlements with just 200 inhabitants," she said.

Sawyer added that the global rural population is shrinking:

"The world is increasingly moving toward urbanization. Of course, urbanization manifests differently in different parts of the world. But in any case, we can say that urbanization as a whole is accelerating."

She also noted that until 2025, Tokyo was the most populous city, but it has now been replaced by Jakarta.