Carolyn Kaster/AP
The most rapidly-growing cities are all located in Africa.
- The world's projected fastest-growing cities based on UN population estimates are all in Africa.
- The United Nations publishes annual population projections for future years, and we looked at the cities with the biggest projected growth by 2035.
- Among the fastest-growing cities are three cities located in Tanzania.
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The world population is expected to grow to 8.6 billion in 2030, and African metro areas are leading this growth.
According to a 2017 UN press release, population growth will mainly occur in nine countries, including five African countries - Tanzania, Congo, Uganda, Nigeria, and Ethiopia. The 15 fastest-growing cities, all located in Africa, are projected to almost double their populations by 2035.
Africa is growing so quickly because of its increasingly large young population, the highest of any continent. Over 75% of its population is younger than 35, according to the United Nations Office on the Special Adviser of Africa.
The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs publishes population estimates using data from national censuses and specialized population surveys. We examined the cities that are projected to most rapidly grow in size over the next 15 years among urban areas that had at least 300,000 residents as of 2018 based on the UN's projections of 2020 and 2035 city populations.
Here are the 15 fastest-growing global cities and their expected change in population: