McKinseys View of Chinas Future Urbanization: Chinese Cities in 2025 and 2030


A 560 page report on the future of China’s cities.

* China is leading the global urbanization trend of developing countries and in 2025-2030 one in five of the global city dwellers will be in Chinese cities
* Based on current trends, China in 2025 will have 221 cities with more than one million people compared to Europe with 35. 25 of China’s cities will have more than 5 million people
* China’s cities in 2025 will generate about 95% of its GDP (versus 75% today)
* Of the 350 million people added to chinese cities by 2025 (about the population of the USA) 240 millinon will be migrants
* More concentrated higher density cities will have higher per capita GDP and require less infrastructure
* China has relaxed the Hokou system of household registration which restricted movement and migration within China

FURTHER READING
The Atlantic looks at the financial meltdowns impact being to strengthen the productive organization of American cities

The mega-region view of the world

The urbanization of China could create 11 mega-regions (up from 3 mega-regions now) or a smaller number of larger megaregions. A megaregion must meet two criteria: First, it must be a contiguous lighted area that includes at least one major city center and its metropolitan region. Second, it must have an LRP (economy) of more than $100 billion.