The Barents Region is an European Region, populated by 4.4 million inhabitants. The Barents region is in the Arctic and covers the area of Western Russia and the northern areas of Finland, Sweden and Norway.

In the meantime, the rural exodus is continuing all over the region, particularly in Albania where people are deserting mountain areas and the population of Tirana has risen from 200 000 at the end of the communist era to almost a million. The newcomers cram into the city outskirts lacking any proper infrastructure. A similar pattern may be seen in Belgrade, Sarajevo and Skopje.

Shows the population growth rate of both rural and urban areas from around the world from 1960 and predicting total for 2025 using World Bank projections. The level of people living in cities are constantly increasing, according to the trends.

The Caucasus ecoregion, which includes the countries of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, and parts of Russia, Turkey and Iran, has three main urban centres - Yerevan, Tbilisi and Baku. Rural population is primarily distributed on the plains and coasts.

According to the latest UN estimates, almost all of the world’s population growth between 2000 and 2030 will be concentrated in urban areas in developing countries (Figure 32). By 2030, almost 60% of the people in developing countries will live in cities (FAO, 2003). If present trends continue, urban population will equal rural population by around 2017.

The Barents Region is a European Region, populated by 4.4 million inhabitants. The urban levels compared to the rural levels of the major population groups of this area are demonstrated on the graphic. (Please note that the The Barents Euro-Arctic Council has expanded the membership since 1998)

The number of people in Africa with access to improved sanitation, defined as “one that hygienically separates human excreta from human contact” (WHO/UNICEF 2010), has increased over the last two decades. Still, because of the rapid urbanisation, the proportion of the urban population with access to improved sanitation is on the decrease.

Improved water sources, defined as “one that is protected from outside contamination” (WHO/UNICEF 2010), is essential for ensuring the health of Africa’s urban dwellers. Although an increasing number of people have access to improved water, rapid urban population growth in the African region has equally increased the number of people without proper access.

As the total urban population of Kenya continues to grow, the capital of Nairobi still harbours the largest share of the country’s urban population. Between 1948 and 2009, Nairobi’s share of the country’s urban population increased from 5.2 per cent to 32.4 per cent and in 2009 the city had an estimated 3.1 million inhabitants.