3 Indian cities among the most populated

Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata are among the ten most populated cities in the world with a total population of around 47 million, a new United Nations report has said.

Mumbai has 18.3 million people, Delhi 15.3 and Kolkata 14.3 million, it said. Tokyo with 35.3 million people tops the list with Mexico City a distant second with 192 million.

The third place is occupied by New York-Newark area in the US with a population of 18.5 million closely followed by Mumbai, Sao Paulo and Brazil who are tied at fourth place with each hosting 18.3 million people.

Buenos Aires, Argentina, hold the seventh position with 13.3 million people followed by Jakarta, Indonesia, with 13.2 million and Shanghai, China with 12.7 million.

The report on world demographic trends, shows urban population is rising rapidly and the number of elderly people is increasing which would require major economic and social changes over the next few decades.

About half of the world population of 6.5 billion, 3.2 billion already lives in the urban areas and the number is expected to shoot up to 5 billion by 2007.

But most the urban dwellers live in "small settlements" with fewer than 500,000 inhabitants, the report said.

The report, prepared for UN Economic and Social Council, shows the uneven growth of population as it will increase rapidly in several countries in Asia and Africa but developed countries are expected to witness a "significant" decline with fertility rates falling below replacement levels.

The world population is currently increasing at the rate of about 1.2 per cent and is projected to cross 7 billion in seven years from now. The long range population projections suggest the world's population could ultimately stabilise at about 9 billion people.

Developed and developing countries, the report said, differ significantly with regard to their population concerns. High mortality, particularly infant, child, maternal and related to HIV/AIDS, is the "most significant" concern for developing nations.

But for developed nations, low fertility leading to shirking working population and increasing number of the elderly is the major concern.

The proportion of older people is expected to continue to rise well into the current century but the problem will be acute in the developing countries which would have less time to adjust to the consequences of ageing population.

Besides, they will witness much faster rise in the population of the elderly than the developed nations. "Moreover, population ageing in the developing countries is taking place at much lower levels of socio-economic development," the report by Secretary-General Kofi Annan said.

"Such rapid growth will require far-reaching economic and social adjustments in most countries," it said. In short, the report said, the current population picture is one of dynamic change, reflected in new and diverse patterns of childbearing, mortality, migration, urbanisation and ageing.

The continuation and consequences of these trends present opportunities as well as challenges for all societies in the current century, it said.

The report finds that contraceptive use has increased significantly over the past decade from 54 per cent in 1990 to 63 per cent in 2000. Short-acting and reversible methods are more popular in the developing countries.