CONTENTS
HIGHLIGHTSPopulation Reports is published by the Population Information Program, Center for Communication Programs, The Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, Maryland 21202-4012, USA
December, 1997 |
Urbanization affects food production in two ways—by removing agricultural land from cultivation, as cities expand, and by reducing the number of family farms, as more farmers move to cities (81). The spread of cities alone consumes enormous tracts of farmland in much of the world. Between 1987 and 1992, for example, China lost close to one million hectares of farmland each year to urbanization and the expansion of roads and industries (91). In the US, urban sprawl takes over nearly 400,000 hectares of farmland each year (29). In food-deficit countries substantial migration of subsistence and small-scale farmers from the rural areas to the cities undermines food production capacities. At the same time, urban economies cannot absorb the huge influx of people looking for jobs (62). The number of people living in urban areas of developing countries has risen from about 300 million in 1950 to about 1.7 billion today. The world's population, estimated by the UN to be 45% urban in 1995, is projected to be nearly 60% urban by 2015. By then, the urban population of the developing world will reach an estimated 4 billion (32, 96). |