M: More and more of the world’s population

are living in towns or cities.

The speed at which cities are growing

in the less developed countries is alarming.

Between 1920 and 1960,

big cities in developed countries

increased two and a half times in size,

but in other parts of the world the growth

was eight times their size.

The sheer size of growth is bad enough,

but there are now also very disturbing signs of trouble

in the comparison of percentages of people

living in towns and percentages of people

working in industry.

During the 19th century,

cities grew as a result of the growth of industry.

In Europe,

the proportion of people living in cities

was always smaller than

that of the workforce working in factories.

Now, however,

the reverse is almost always true

in the newly industrialized world:

The percentage of people living in cities

is much higher than the percentage working in industry.

Without a base of people working in industry,

these cities cannot pay for their growth;

there is not enough money to build adequate houses

for the people that live there,

let alone the new arrivals.

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