In 2009 Africa's total population for the first time exceeded one billion, of which 395 million (or almost 40 per cent) lived  in urban areas. Whereas it took 27 years for the continent  to double from 500 million to one billion people, the next  500 million will only take 17 years. Around 2027, Africa's demographic growth will start to slow down and it will take 24 years to add the next 500 million, reaching the two billion  mark around 2050, of which about 60 per cent living in cities. Africa should prepare for a total population increase of about 60 per cent between 2010 and 2050, with the urban population tripling to 1.23 billion during this period.

In this report you can find many findings of the state of African cities. Urbanization is a great challenge Africa has, but not the only one as we all know. Reducing poverty and improving health and living conditions will be central in order to achieve the mentioned sustainable growth.