SANTIAGO, 10 October: Latin Americas urban population grew a stunning 240 percent in the last three decades while its rural population rose only 6,1 percent, Jose Luis Machinea, head of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and Caribbean (ECLAC), said Tuesday.
– It is hard to move forward on social cohesion while cities are fragmented: which is what is happening in most of the region, Machinea said at the 16th Latin American and Caribbean Housing and Urban Areas Ministers Conference, which opened here Tuesday.
The ECLAC executive secretary said that informal employment soared because urbanization was not accompanied by job growth, especially for women and young people.
Machinea cited European Union estimates that by 2050 two-thirds of the worlds population will live in cities and half of the city-dwellers would live in precarious conditions.
Kilder: Xinhua General News Service og The Push Journal