Urban Growth in the Twentieth Century


Map of Twentieth Century Cities


  • Each white dot indicates an urban area with a population of over a million.
  • Each red square indicates an urban population of over five million.
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Largest Cities

Growth Rates

NOTE: Throughout this atlas, whenever I talk about the population of a city, I am refering to the entire population cluster, not the legally defined administrative unit that goes by the specific name.


Contemporary Context:



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Last updated July 2001

Copyright © 2001 Matthew White