Earth’s Fastest Growing Cities: Do You Live In One?

Do you live in one of Earth’s fastest growing cities?

The urbanization of the world is an inevitable and more than evident process. We would like to present you with a list of the 10 fastest growing cities on Earth, none of which crossover with the world’s most dangerous cities, interestingly enough. While the megacity is pretty much a Western society concept, over the past decade, Eastern communities have flourished at a much faster pace and no Western city is featured on our top ten.

The countdown is dominated by China with four out of the ten fastest growing cities in the world. China’s fastest growing city and the second in our top ten, Shenzhen, had only about 30,000 inhabitants in 1980. Nowadays, it has over 12 million. However, the most impressive growth was experienced by Karachi in Pakistan, whose population soared by over 80% throughout the first decade of the new millennium.

The world’s second largest megacity, the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, also made the countdown on the very last position, with a population growth between 2000 and 2010 of 34.6%.

In compiling our list, population data from the Demographics World Urban Areas (the 2013 edition) was used. Apart from Karachi, Shenzhen, and Jakarta, other highlights in our countdown include Beijing, Delhi, and Bangkok. Let’s take a look.

Continue reading to see the world’s 10 fastest growing cities:

No. 10:  Jakarta, Indonesia

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Current population: 26.75 million

Population growth between 2000 and 2010: 34.6%

No. 9: Delhi, India

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Current population: 22. 83 million

Population growth between 2000 and 2010: 39.2%

No. 8: Shanghai, China

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Current population: 21.77 million

Population growth between 2000 and 2010: 40.1%

No. 7: Guanghou-Foshan, China

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Current population: 17.69 million

Population growth between 2000 and 2010: 43%

No. 6: Dhaka, Bangladesh

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Current population: 14.34 million

Population growth between 2000 and 2010: 45.2%

No. 5: Bangkok, Thailand

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Current population: 14.54 million

Population growth between 2000 and 2010: 45.2%

No. 4: Beijing, China

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Current population: 18.24 million

Population growth between 2000 and 2010: 47.6%

No. 3: Lagos, Nigeria

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Current population: 12.09 million

Population growth between 2000 and 2010: 48.2%

No. 2: Shenzen, China

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Current population: 12.51 million

Population growth between 2000 and 2010: 56.1%

No. 1: Karachi, Pakistan

Public Domain Image: Public Domain

Current population: 20.88 million

Population growth between 2000 and 2010: 80.5%