Changes in size of megacities

Megacities, with a population of at least 10 million, have grown in number to 26 in 2009. This is because of the general growth in world population and especially the growth in NIC’s such as India, Brazil and Indonesia. In developing countries in Asia and Africa, countries are still at Stage 3 of the DTM and are experiencing rapid population growth. Their economic growth has increased rapidly due to industrialisation which has encouraged rural-urban migration to escape rural poverty. This has increased the size of some megacities, such as Mumbai, to over 20 million. Nigeria has the largest population in Africa and so this explains why Lagos is the only African megacity at present.
In India, hyper-urbanisation seems to have occurred as some cities have grown from less than 10 million to over 20 million in less than 25 years, eg Mumbai and Delhi. This must be due to huge rural-urban migration and internal growth. Growth in Latin America must be slower as Sao Paulo, Rio and Mexico City were already megacities in 1985. This is because they were the first wave of NIC’s. Also, in the developed world some cities, such as New York and Tokyo have become global hubs and this has attracted more elite migrants from around the world to work in TNC headquarters and the NYSE.
The distribution of megacities has shifted dramatically to the southern hemisphere and the east, especially in southeast Asia. This is due to the role of TNC’s such as Tesco that have invested millions of dollars of FDI into infrastructure and services of NIC’s like Taiwan, South Korea and CGhina as part of the general global shift in industry to Asia. This has improved the countries’ connections and outsourcing has created jobs which have encouraged people to move to cities. In India especially this has led to the growth of five megacities by 2009, whereas there were none in 1985. In the North, this rapid growth occurred in the 1800’s so is not happening now as most developed countries are fully urbanised and population growth is stable.
However, there has been a change in Europe as London and Paris are new megacities. This could be the result of urban regeneration which has made these cities more attractive places to live. Eg the London Docklands has helped to slow the counter-urbanisation trend. In the future, megacity development will be mainly in Africa as this continent is set to have the highest rate of population growth and more investment from TNC’s.