Urbanization: What does it mean?

• A process by which rural areas become transformed into urban areas

• Refers to the changes in the proportion of the population of a nation living in urban areas and to the process of people moving to cities or other densely settled areas.

• Urbanization is also defined by the United Nations as movement of people from rural to urban areas with population growth equating to urban migration.

• The term is also used to describe the changes in social organization that occur as a consequence of population concentration in urban areas.

• The exact definition and population size of urbanized areas vary among different countries.

• It refers to the growth of cities.

• Today half of the world population live in urban areas.