How cities grow: urban, suburban and rural patterns

Grade 9 Social Studies Worksheet

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Urban shares by region, 2018

   Region	Share of the region's people who were urban	Share of the world's urban people
   Northern America	82%	not given
   Latin America and the Caribbean	81%	not given
   Europe	74%	13%
   Oceania	68%	not given
   Asia	close to 50%	54%
   Africa	43%	13%
   the world	55%	100%

   Note: UN World Urbanization Prospects (2018 Revision). A region's urban share is not the same as its share of the world's urban people. Each country uses its own definition of urban, so a regional share combines countries that define urban places differently.

2. 1.

   Asia is close to 50% urban, below the world's 55%, and holds 54% of the world's urban people. What does Ari conclude about Asia?

   • Asia holds 50% of the world's people, since its own urban share is close to 50%
   • Asia holds less than 54% of the world's people, since its urban share is below the world's
   • Asia holds more than 54% of the world's people, since its urban share is below the world's 55%
   • Asia holds 54% of the world's people, since its share of urban people gives its share of the world's people
3. 2.

   Asia holds 54% of the world's urban people. Esme says that means more than half of Asia's people are urban. Is that right?

   • Yes: 54% of Asia's people are urban, as the chart shows for Asia in its last column
   • No: 54% is Asia's share of the world's urban people; Asia's own urban share is close to 50%
   • No: Asia's urban share is higher than 54%, since Asia has the most urban people of any region
   • Yes: Asia holds more than half of the urban people, so more than half of its own people must be urban
4. 3.

   The six regional shares have a simple average of about 66%, but the world is 55% urban. Why does Jun not use the simple average?

   • Regions differ greatly in population, so Asia's and Africa's low shares weigh more than small regions' high ones
   • The world share is measured in a different year from the regional shares, so the two cannot be averaged
   • Rounding in the regional shares adds up to an error of 11 points in the simple average of the six
   • The regional shares must be wrong, since a world share has to equal their simple average, which these figures do not satisfy
5. 4.

   Luz says Northern America, at 82% urban, has more urban people than Latin America, at 81%. What do the two shares allow?

   • Yes: Northern America is the more urban region, so it has the larger urban population too
   • Nothing about counts: the shares are percents of different totals, and no urban counts are given
   • Yes: a higher urban share of 82% means a larger urban count than the 81% of the other region
   • No: with nearly equal shares, the two urban counts must be nearly equal as well, since 82 is about 81
6. 5.

   Latin America and the Caribbean are 81% urban and Europe 74%. Milo says the 7-point gap shows exactly how much more urban Latin America is. What is the limit?

   • Europe has older cities, so it is more urban in practice than the chart's shares suggest
   • Countries define urban in different ways, so the 7-point regional gap is approximate
   • Regions of different sizes cannot be compared, since a share depends on the size of its region
   • No limit: the gap is exact because the UN measures each region in precisely the same way
7. 6.

   Asia is close to 50% urban. Noah says a country in Asia must also be near 50% urban. What follows from the chart?

   • It is near 50%, since each country in a region matches the share given for its region
   • A regional share is an average, so a country in Asia may sit well above or below 50%
   • It is above 50%, since 54% of the world's urban people live in Asia as a whole
   • It is below the world's 55%, since Asia as a whole is below the world's share
8. 7.

   Europe has 74% of its people in cities but only 13% of the world's urban people. How can both be true, Pia?

   • 13% is the part of Europe's people who are urban, and 74% is its share of the world
   • Europe's cities are small compared with other regions' cities, so they hold few people
   • Europe holds a small share of the world's people, so even a high urban share gives a small share of urban people
   • The two figures are for different years, so they cannot both describe Europe
9. 8.

   Which sentence about Asia stays within the chart, Ren?

   • About half of Asia's people are urban, and Asia holds 54% of the world's urban people
   • More than half of Asia's people are urban, and Asia holds 54% of the world's people
   • Asia holds 54% of the world's urban people, so 54% of Asians are urban
   • Asia is under half urban, so it holds less than half of the world's urban people
10. 9.

    Tala says: "The more urbanized a region, the more urban people it has." Test the claim with the chart.

    • Yes: Northern America has the highest share, 82%, so it has the most urban people
    • Yes: Europe at 74% has more urban people than Africa at 43%, so the claim holds
    • No: Asia, close to 50% urban, holds 54% of urban people, far more than Europe at 74%, which holds 13%
    • No: Africa at 43% holds more urban people than Europe at 74%, which breaks the claim
11. 10.

    Four regions are above the world's 55% urban share. Zee says most of the world's urban people therefore live in them. Is that right?

    • No: Europe's 13% is below Asia's 54%, so the four regions together hold less than Asia
    • Yes: their urban shares of 68% to 82% are above the world's 55%, so most urban people live there
    • No: Asia holds 54% and Africa 13%, so the four regions above 55% hold at most 33% of urban people
    • Yes: four of the six regions are above the world's share, which is a majority of the regions