What is Urbanization?
Urbanization occurs when a population switches from living in rural to urban areas. A country is considered urbanized when 50 percent of its population lives in urban areas(cities). China is a good example of an urbanized country. In 1990, about 26 percent of China’s population lived in urban areas/cities. By 2016, that amount shot up to 56 percent. This shows no sign of stopping. By 2030, almost 70 percent of China’s population is estimated to live in urban areas.
The Effects of Urbanization
Urbanization is like a domino effect. One thing seems to trigger another. One thing it is affecting is air pollution. Air pollution is much more abundant in urban areas than in urban and suburban areas, and that’s because of two things. Trucks and Factories. A blanket of thick smoke covers many cities in China and India. Urban areas also have a lot of water pollution because factories dump untreated waste into bodies of water. This is killing a lot of marine life. One of the biggest problems of urbanization is increased crime rates. This is due to the high unemployment rates, which leads to many slums. In conclusion, urbanization has many downsides and needs to be fixed.
