Jeffrey Sachs: Urban population will grow by 2 billion people over the next 25 years

Over the next 25 years, the world"s urban population is expected to increase by approximately 2 billion people, with the main growth concentrated in Africa and South Asia, Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, said at an event within the 13th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) in Baku.

According to him, the issue of housing is part of broader global urban transformation and changes in the world economy.

"The housing issue is part of the complexity of urban transformation. Urban economics, in turn, is part of global structural changes. In the future, the demographic situation will be completely different," Sachs noted.

He emphasized that a significant part of the world has already reached peak urbanization, so in many countries the priority is no longer urban population growth but improving living conditions.

"In this case, the question is no longer about increasing urban population, but about improving housing conditions, eliminating slums, and addressing other challenges," he said.

He added that it is important to clearly distinguish between regions experiencing rapid population growth and megacity expansion, and countries where urban populations are stabilizing or even declining.

"Africa"s population will grow from about 1.4 billion today to 2.5 billion by mid-century. It is in this context that we must consider the housing issue," Sachs stressed.