Report launch: more people live in cities today than in towns or rural areas
UN to release latest estimates and projections of global urbanization trends
Live on UN Web TV
Report and dataset under embargo until 18 November 2025, 12:45 pm EST
An upcoming UN report finds that the world is becoming increasingly urban, with cities now home to 45 per cent of the global population of 8.2 billion. This is more than double the share in 1950, when only 20 per cent of the world’s 2.5 billion people lived in cities, according to the report, entitled World Urbanization Prospects 2025: Summary of Results, to be launched on 18 November. Looking ahead, two-thirds of global population growth through 2050 is projected to occur in cities, and most of the remaining one-third in towns.
This report highlights the key findings of the 2025 Revision of the World Urbanization Prospects, offering an overview of global urban transformation. It integrates worldwide and regional trends with detailed country-level insights spanning from 1950 to 2050.
The World Urbanization 2025 dataset includes the latest estimates of city, town and rural populations for 237 countries or areas from 1950 to 2025, with projections until 2050. It also provides estimates of the population size of all cities with 50,000 inhabitants or more by 2025.
WHAT: Press briefing to launch the World Urbanization Prospects 2025: Summary of Results
WHEN: Tuesday, 18 November 2025, 12:45 pm EST (following the noon briefing)
WHERE: UN Press Briefing Room, S-237, UN Headquarters
Follow live on UN Web TV
WHO:
Bjørg Sandkjær, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs
John Wilmoth, Director, Population Division, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs
Sara Hertog, Population Affairs Officer, Population Division, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs
The report will also be presented at an event organized by UN DESA at the SDG Pavilion at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil, on Tuesday, 18 November 2025, from 14:30 to 15:00 EST/16:30 to 17:00 BRT. Follow live on UN DESA – YouTube
About the World Urbanization Prospects 2025
World Urbanization Prospects 2025 marks the twenty-second edition of the United Nations’ global estimates and projections of urbanization, published since 1963. This edition builds on the partnership with the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission of the European Union and incorporates, for the first time, the Degree of Urbanization methodology developed by the JRC. The current report examines, for the first time, the levels and trends in urbanization for the estimation period from 1950 to 2025 and projections up to 2050 at the global, regional, and country levels using the Degree of Urbanization methodology and dataset developed by the JRC alongside national definitions.
All relevant documents, including the World Urbanization Prospects 2025 Report and the World Urbanization Prospects 2025 dataset are available at population.un.org
Hashtags: #WorldUrbanizationReport, #UNpopulation
Media Contacts:
Martina Donlon |UN Department of Global Communications | E: donlon@un.org
Helen Daun Rosengren |UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs | E: rosengrenh@un.org
Karoline Schmid |UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs | E: schmidk@un.org
Expert Interview Opportunities:
- Bjørg Sandkjær, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination, UN DESA (English, Norwegian)
- John Wilmoth, Director, Population Division, UN DESA (English)
- Patrick Gerland, Chief, Population Estimates and Projection Section, Population Division, UN DESA (French, English)
- Guangyu Zhang, Population Affairs Officer, Population Division, UN DESA (English, Chinese)
- Sara Hertog, Senior Population Affairs Officer, Population Division, UN DESA (English)