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| Despite the long-term1 trend2 towards more urban societies3, the world in 2003 proved to be less urbanized and less dominated by large cities. More than half4 the world's population still lives in (1) …… and a large section of the urban population live in small administrative centres and market towns which are too small to be considered5 as cities. Only a few per cent of the world's people live in mega-cities.
Since a considerable6 proportion of the world's population live in settlements7 with between 500 and 20,000 inhabitants8, a nation's level of urbanization is much influenced9 by whether settlements are classified as urban. The scale10 of the world's urban population is strongly influenced11 by the (2) …… used within a few heavily populated countries. If the Indian or Chinese government changed the criteria used in their censuses12 to define urban centres, this could increase13 or decrease14 the proportion of the world's population that is 'urban'. Thus15, the level of the world's urban population is best understood not as a precise16 figure17 (47% in 2000) but as being between 40 and 55%.
A steady increase in the level of urbanization among less urbanized nations is only likely18 if they have steadily growing economies. Many of the lowest income nations have
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| serious problems with (3) …… or civil19 war and most have no obvious20 advantage21 on which to build an economy that prospers22 and thus urbanizes.
There are also grounds23 for doubting24 whether a large proportion of the world's urban population will come to live in very large cities. Many of the world's largest cities have very slow population growth rates25. For some, further expansion26 is hindered27 by (4) …… - water shortages28, for example, will inhibit29 the development of many cities in semi-arid regions. Many large coastal cities are particularly30 at risk from the sea level rises and more frequent31 and severe32 extreme weather events.
In many nations much new investment is going to specific medium size cities that are well located in relation33 to the largest cities and to transport and communications systems. These are helping to create urban systems that are less dominated by very large cities.
In regions with advanced34 transport and communications systems, rural35 inhabitants and (5) …… can enjoy standards of infrastructure and services and access36 to information that historically have only been available37 in urban areas. Thus, both low and (6) …… may urbanize less than anticipated38, although for very different reasons.
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