Almost 200 million people moved to urban areas in East Asia from 2000-2010, a figure that would be the world’s sixth largest population for any single country, according to new data released yesterday by the World Bank.

For the first time, the data compares urban areas and their populations in a consistent manner across East Asia, providing governments and local leaders with a better understanding of the shape and scale of the growth so they can get urbanisation right–creating opportunities for all.

“Rapid urbanisation is a significant challenge for East Asia, but we cannot manage what we cannot measure,” the World Bank East Asia and Pacific Regional Vice President, Axel van Trotsenburg said.

“We’re releasing this data so urban leaders can get a better picture and take action to ensure that urban growth benefits the increasing number of people moving to cities, especially the poor.”

Analysed in a new report titled “East Asia’s Changing Urban Landscape: Measuring a Decade of Spatial Growth,” the data indicates that overall, urban areas in East Asia expanded at an average of 2.4 percent per year during the decade studied, with urban land reaching 134,800 square kilometres in 2010.

Urban population grew even faster at an annual average rate of three per cent, increasing to 778 million in 2010, the largest of any region in the world.

Other sources indicated that it took more than 50 years for the same number to become urbanised in Europe.

The report found a direct link between urbanisation and income growth, showing how economic output per capita increased throughout the region as the percentage of people living in urban areas went up.

The report said that there are 869 urban areas with more than 100,000 people in the East Asia region.

It showed that China’s Pearl River Delta had overtaken Tokyo to become the largest urban area in the world in both size and population.

At the same time, there was significant growth in smaller urban areas.
In fact, the 572 smallest urban areas – with population of 100,000 to 500,000, as well as the 106 medium-sized urban areas with population of one to five million, were said to have more total land area than the eight mega-cities.

A notable feature of this expansion was that urban were also getting denser on average, which if well managed, can be good for the environment and can lead to more efficient provision of services to people.