Key Terms

📖 Key Terms

Urbanisation

The increase in the proportion of a country's population living in towns and cities rather than rural areas. Driven by rural-to-urban migration and natural increase within cities. Globally, 55% of the population was urban in 2018, projected to reach 68% by 2050.

Rural-to-urban migration

The movement of people from rural areas (countryside, villages) to urban areas (towns, cities). The main driver of urbanisation in LICs and NEEs, triggered by a combination of push factors (poverty, job losses, drought, conflict) and pull factors (employment, services, social networks).

Push factors

Conditions that drive people away from their home area. Examples: agricultural job losses due to mechanisation, drought and desertification, lack of services (schools, hospitals), conflict and insecurity. Push factors make staying in rural areas economically or physically impossible.

Pull factors

Conditions that attract people towards a destination area. Examples: employment opportunities (even in the informal economy), better wages, access to healthcare and education, existing social networks (chain migration). Note: pull factors are often "perceived" — the reality migrants find can be harsher than expected.

Natural increase

Population growth resulting from birth rate exceeding death rate. In LIC and NEE cities, high natural increase adds to migration as a driver of urban growth. Nigeria's national birth rate is approximately 38–40 per 1,000, one of the world's highest.

Megacity

An urban area with a total population exceeding 10 million people. In 1950 only two megacities existed (New York, Tokyo). By 2020, over 30 megacities exist, the majority in Asia, South America and Africa — reflecting where rapid urbanisation is currently occurring.

Informal settlement (squatter settlement)

Housing built without planning permission, usually from salvaged or low-cost materials, without legal land tenure, and often without access to mains water, sewerage or electricity. In Lagos, 60–70% of the population lives in informal settlements. Also called squatter settlements or (in Brazil) favelas.

Desertification

The process by which fertile land becomes desert, typically as a result of drought, deforestation, or inappropriate agriculture. In the Sahel region of Nigeria, desertification is advancing the Sahara southward, destroying agricultural livelihoods and acting as a powerful push factor for migration to Lagos.

Eko Atlantic

A major land reclamation project off Victoria Island, Lagos, creating 10 sq km of new land from the Atlantic Ocean. Designed to provide a new financial district and residential area, while acting as a coastal barrier against sea-level rise. One of Africa's largest urban development projects.

BRT (Bus Rapid Transit)

A high-capacity bus system that runs along dedicated lanes, separated from normal traffic, with frequent services and modern stations. Lagos's BRT, launched 2008, carries approximately 200,000 passengers daily and is one of the most successful in Africa.