UN-Habitat chief: World facing rapid wave of urbanization

The world's population will increase by 2 billion people by 2050, Anaclaudia Rossbach, executive director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), said at the panel discussion "The Global Housing Crisis - What's the Plan?" as part of the 13th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) in Baku, Report informs.

"Looking ahead: by 2050, as everyone knows, the world's population will have grown significantly. Another 2 billion people will move to cities, primarily to urban agglomerations in Asia and Africa. Moreover, half of this growth will be concentrated in just eight countries. This is not a smooth and gradual process. This is the fastest wave of urbanization in modern human history. Therefore, the key question I raised yesterday in my speech is: do we understand this? Are we ready? Yes – we must be ready. I hope that WUF13 will help us mobilize resources and increase our preparedness to overcome this crisis," Rossbach added.