In UNESCO, UN-Water, 2020: United Nations World Water Development Report 2020: Water and Climate Change, Paris, UNESCO.
A majority of the world’s population (4.2 billion out of 7.6 billion in 2018) lives in cities. Projections of human settlements in the future (with a world population of 8.6 billion in 2030 and 9.8 billion in 2050) show that up to 60% of the world’s population will live in cities by 2030, and 66.4% in 2050 (Figure 8.1). In 2018, three times as many urban dwellers were estimated to live in the less developed regions than in the more developed ones (3.2 billion versus 1.0 billion), and this ratio is expected to rise as the vast majority of urban population growth is expected to occur within the world’s least developed regions (UNDESA, 2019).
This chapter describes the links between water, climate and human settlements, highlighting the need for increased resilience through flexible, long-term urban planning
Access the United Nations World Water Development Report 2020: Water and Climate Change here.