9th grade How cities grow: urban, suburban and rural patterns worksheet

How cities grow: urban, suburban and rural patterns

Grade 9 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   The world's urban and rural people

   Measure	Value
   Urban people, 1950	751 million
   Urban people, 2018	4.2 billion
   Rural people, 2018	close to 3.4 billion
   Rural people, projected for 2050	3.1 billion
   Share of people who were urban, 2018	55%
   Share projected to be urban, 2050	68%

   Note: UN World Urbanization Prospects (2018 Revision). By the UN's figures, 2007 was the first year in which more than half of the world's people lived in urban areas. Urbanization is a rising share of people living in urban areas. A suburb is a mostly residential area within commuting distance of a large city. Rural areas are the countryside outside towns and cities. Each country uses its own definition of urban.

2. 1.

   The chart gives 4.2 billion urban people as 55% of the world in 2018, and close to 3.4 billion rural people. Do the figures agree, Ari?

   • No: with about 3.4 billion rural people, the urban people should be the smaller share, about 45%
   • Yes, but the 55% is the share of rural people, since the 4.2 billion is the bigger of the two counts
   • No: 4.2 billion can be 55% of about 7.6 billion if the rural people are counted a second time
   • Yes: 3.4 plus 4.2 billion is about 7.6 billion, and 4.2 of 7.6 is about 55%
3. 2.

   The rural population is projected to fall from close to 3.4 billion in 2018 to 3.1 billion by 2050, while the urban share rises. Which claim does Bo support?

   • The rural population is projected to grow, since the urban share rises from 55% to only 68%
   • Rural people become a smaller share of everyone, and their number is projected to fall by about 0.3 billion
   • The countryside is emptying, since the rural share falls from 45% to 32% of everyone
   • Rural areas lose 0.3 billion people and cities gain the same 0.3 billion, so people move one for one
4. 3.

   Esme compares the urban shares of two countries from the UN's tables. What limit does the chart's note place on that comparison?

   • The shares are fair to compare for countries of similar size, since size changes the urban share
   • Countries may count different places as urban, so the shares are not measured in the same way
   • Urban shares cannot be compared between countries, since the UN has no common definition
   • The shares are wrong for any country whose definition differs from the UN's own
5. 4.

   By 2050, 3.1 billion rural people are projected to be the 32% who are not urban. What does Jun learn about the world's 2050 population?

   • It would be about 9.7 billion, with about 6.6 billion of them urban
   • It would be about 4.6 billion, since 3.1 billion is the urban 68%, with 1.5 billion rural
   • It would be about 6.2 billion, since 3.1 billion rural people means twice as many urban
   • It would be about 7.6 billion, the same as 2018, since just the shares change in 2050
6. 5.

   Kira takes 2050 as about 9.7 billion people, 6.6 billion urban, against 7.6 billion, 4.2 billion urban, in 2018. Is the world's net gain all urban?

   • Yes: urban areas gain about 2.4 billion and rural areas lose 0.3 billion, so cities hold the net gain
   • No: urban areas gain 2.4 billion, which is more than the world's 2.1 billion, so the figures conflict
   • Yes: urban areas gain 2.1 billion, which is the same as the world's gain, with rural areas unchanged
   • No: rural areas gain people too, since the world total rises from 7.6 billion to 9.7 billion by 2050
7. 6.

   A neighborhood of homes lies 25 minutes by train from a large city. A town of 800 people lies far from any city. Which is a suburb, Milo?

   • The town of 800, since small settlements outside the big cities are called suburbs
   • Neither, since a suburb must be part of the city itself and not a separate place
   • The neighborhood: a suburb is residential and within commuting distance of a large city
   • Both, since any residential area counts as a suburb wherever it lies and however far it is
8. 7.

   A country's urban share rises from 40% to 50%. Pia asks whether its rural population could still grow. What is the answer?

   • Yes: if the whole population grows by over a fifth, the rural count can rise while its share falls
   • Yes, but just if the urban count falls, since the rural share must fall for the rural count to rise
   • Yes, if the whole population grows by more than 10%, since a 10% rise is enough to do it
   • No: when the urban share rises, the rural count must fall, because the people move to cities
9. 8.

   By the UN's figures, 2007 was the first year in which more than half of the world's people were urban. Which statement can Ren support?

   • After 2007 the rural population began to fall, since the urban share passed one half
   • In 2007 the world's urban population first reached 4.2 billion, the figure for 2018
   • In 2007 and after, urban people outnumbered rural people worldwide, since more than half were urban
   • Before 2007 no country had an urban share above half, since the world's share was under half
10. 9.

    Urban people grew by about 3.4 billion from 1950 to 2018, and rural people number close to 3.4 billion in 2018. Tala says the cities took every rural person. Is that supported?

    • No: the match is a coincidence of totals, and about 3.4 billion rural people are still counted in 2018
    • Yes: the cities gained 3.4 billion, the same number that the rural count shows, so rural people moved
    • No: the cities gained about 3.0 billion, since 4.2 billion minus 751 million is 3.0 billion
    • Yes: urban growth must come from rural areas, so the same number of people has moved
11. 10.

    Zee compares urban and rural people in 2018 and 2050, using 6.6 billion urban and 3.1 billion rural in 2050. What happens to the gap?

    • The gap grows from 0.8 billion to 3.1 billion, since the gap in 2050 equals the rural count
    • The gap shrinks, since the rural population is projected to fall and the urban share is unchanged
    • Urban people outnumber rural people by about 0.8 billion in 2018 and by about 3.5 billion in 2050
    • The gap stays near 0.8 billion, since the shares move by just 13 percentage points