The planet we are living on now is facing a serious environment-related crisis that may lead to unexpected disasters and mishaps in the future . These could cause fatal injuries and loss of life due to significant changes in the ecology and ecosystems of the world . The world has gone through a process of rapid urbanization over the past six decades . The majority of the world ’ s population growth in the forthcoming decades will be predominantly in urban areas . A
study of the prospect of rural and urban population has identified that 54 % of the world ’ s population is currently urban ( United Nations , 2014 ). In 1950 , only 30 % of the world ’ s population was urban , and by 2050 , the urban population is expected to continue growing up to 66 % as shown in Figure 1 . The most urbanized regions include North America ( 82 % living in urban areas in 2014 ), Latin America and the Caribbean ( 80 %), and Europe ( 73 %). In contrast , Africa and Asia remain mostly rural , with
Figure 1 : The Projected Urban and Rural Population of the World 1950-2050
Figure 2 : The Interrelationship between Climate Disasters and Economic Damages ( Source : Leaning and Guha-Sapir , 2013 )
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