Urban growth concentrates business opportunities and societal challenges.

• By 2010, more than 50 percent of people will live in urban areas. In developing countries, the proportion of urban dwellers will rise from less than 20 percent in 1950 to more than 40 percent in 2010.

• Of the world's fastest growing cities with population greater than 750,000, two percent are located in high-income countries, 40 percent are in middle-income countries, and 60 percent are in low-income countries. Asia is home to 60 percent of these cities, Africa to 25 percent, and Latin America to 15 percent.

• The current addition of 60 million new urban citizens a year is the equivalent of adding another Paris, Beijing, or Cairo every other month.

• The health consequences of urban air pollution are high; each year, suspended particulate matter may account for 460,000 premature deaths and SO2 for 370,000 premature deaths.

• Developing-nation cities often lack adequate solid waste disposal; in Northern African cities, 20-80 percent of solid waste is disposed of by open dumping.

• Projections of municipal solid waste in Asia predict a rise from 2.7 million cubic meters (m3) per day in 1999 to 5.2 million m3 per day in 2025; solid waste management costs Asian cities US$25 billion per year.

Implications for business

In the next decade, more than half of the world's population will live in urban areas. Businesses often benefit from the growth of urban areas with their demand for energy and infrastructure, and their concentration of labor and consumers.

The greatest change in urban populations will occur in developing countries which will raise new challenges but also lower the costs of serving the needs of these consumers.

Sustaining and capitalizing on these opportunities will require business strategies and public-private partnerships that make cities better places in which to work, to operate a business, and to live.

Improved land-use planning, health services, education, and water and sanitation services are urban priorities beyond the capacity of many local governments without private sector partnership.