Population, territory and sustainable development

119
Busso, 2009; and ECLAC-UN-HABITAT, 2001). All of this caused a proliferation of what are called
urban problems (such as congestion, crime, pollution and inadequate infrastructure) in cities that were
already hard to manage given their size and complexity. The weakening was symbolic in that the image of
the cities, and especially the metropolises, was tarnished, and their prestigious standing in the social
imaginary and public discourse gave way to a stigmatized view where living in the city was dangerous,
chaotic and impoverishing. This experience and its consequences are examined more closely in chapter X,
which focuses on large cities in the region.
Nevertheless, this did not increase appreciation for the countryside or the rural environment as a
way of life, largely because of the persistent inequality between the countryside and the city and the
substandard living conditions and limited options available in the former. As previous studies (Pinto da
Cunha and Rodríguez, 2009; Rodríguez and Busso, 2009) have shown, even during dark times for cities
in the 1980s and 1990s the urbanization process continued in Latin America, driven by a rural exodus that
appears to continue today, as shown in chapter IV. 2
C. BASIC TRENDS IN AND CURRENT STATUS OF URBANIZATION
According to official statistics from the United Nations and CELADE-Population Division of ECLAC,
the degree of urbanization in Latin America and the Caribbean is currently on the order of 80%. This is
higher than the average for industrialized countries. Of all the major subregions of the world, only North
America posts a similar level. 3 It is thus clear that rapid urbanization and the large urban population
percentage are specific to the region. Given its demographic importance, continuity and socioeconomic,
political, cultural and environmental consequences, urbanization is considered the main process of spatial
redistribution in the region over the past 60 years.
As figure VIII.1 shows, in the early twentieth century the region ranked between the currently
developed regions (such as Australia/New Zealand, Canada, the United States, Europe and Japan), which
had a 40% urban population, and Africa and Asia, which had less than 10%. Continuing urbanization in
the second half of the twentieth century consolidated the region’s position as the most urbanized in the
developing world. Between 1950 and 2000, the number of urban dwellers grew from 69 million to 393
million, and the urban share of the region’s total population rose from 41% to 75%. At the same time, the
rural population only increased from 98 million to 128 million. By 2010 the urban population stood at
469 million and accounted for 80% of the total population.
These figures are often called into question because they are based on national urban population
percentages that are measured according to different definitions. While the available data do not provide
uniform objective criteria for making global comparisons, these criteria do exist for the countries of Latin
America. The Spatial Distribution and Urbanization in Latin America and the Caribbean (DEPUALC)
2
3
This point is further addressed below, to avoid confusion. Essentially, urbanization in the region (that is, the
increase in the urban share) is due to positive net migration in urban areas in their exchange with rural areas
(since there are only two categories, a positive balance in one necessarily implies a negative balance in the
other), because natural growth in rural areas continues to be higher than in urban areas (so in the absence of the
rural exodus, the region would be ruralizing). Thus, and this is the confusing point, with important policy
implications, the growth of the urban population is mainly explained by its own natural growth and not by
immigration from the countryside.
See United Nations [online] http://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/index.htm.