3. Emerging Markets Megacities

Since 1950, the world’s population has roughly tripled, rising from 2.5 billion people to an estimated 7.4 billion people by 2015, according to United Nations population statistics. By 2050, United Nations medium variant demographic projections indicate that the world’s population will have risen to 9.8 billion people, a further increase of 2.4 billion people. The population of developing countries has risen from 1.7 billion in 1950, or around 68 per cent of the world’s population, to 6.1 billion by 2015, or around 83 per cent of the global population. Moreover, the UN projects that the global urban population will increase by 2.4 billion persons by 2050, creating tremendous new demand for urban infrastructure such as electricity, power, transport and health care.