Answer to Question 1
Answer: Several of the world's most populous cities in developing countries, including Jakarta, Manila, and Mexico City, do not rank among the world's most important business service centers. On the other hand, cities in developed countries such as London, Paris, Chicago, and Toronto rank among the world's twenty most important settlements for business services but are not among the twenty most populous.
Answer to Question 2
Answer: Urbanization is the process by which the population of urban settlements grows. This can be measured in two ways: the absolute numbers of people living in cities or the percentage of a population that live in cities. The world's population of urban settlements exceeded that of rural settlements for the first time in human history in 2008. The percentage of people living in cities increased from 3 percent in 1800 to 6 percent in 1850, 14 percent in 1900, and 30 percent in 1950.
A large percentage of people living in urban areas is a measure of a country's level of development. Three-fourths of people live in urban settlements in developed countries, compared to about two-fifths in developing countries. The major exception to the global pattern is Latin America, where the urban percentage is comparable to the level of developed countries.
The higher percentage of urban residents in developed countries is a consequence of changes in economic structure during the past two centuries; first the Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century and then the growth of services in the twentieth century. During the past 200 years rural residents in developed countries have migrated from the countryside to work in the factories and services that are concentrated in cities.
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