...not because of any physical ailment (I'm fine) but because it has taken me two weeks to put this post together. That is a lifetime in Blogland. I hope that all of my too few readers have not found greener pastures in the interim. Also, there was (were?) a lot of data to be sorted through and it was easy to get bogged down in the minutiae.
Nevertheless, I have forged bravely ahead and the post is now more or less complete. Be prepared to be deluged with a lot of absolutely trivial information, unless you are interested in that sort of thing. I guess I will find out in the comments.
I know there are a lot of big countries with a lot of people (Indonesia, Russia, and Brazil come to mind) but I have confined my ramblings in this post to four. Oh, by the way, the general subject of this post is people, populations, and big cities in particular. I hope you will read all the way through to the end.
If you just can't do it, come back again later and try again with my next post. I am nothing if not flexible.
In round figures (which I have chosen to use for the sake of keeping things simple even though the numbers are only approximate and not precise) the UK has around (translation: not quite) 70 million (70M) people, the US has around (translation: somewhat less than) 350 million (350M) people, and India and China each have around (translation for India: a little less than; translation for China: a little more than) 1.4 billion (1.4B a.k.a. 1,400M) people. Put another way, the US has about five times the population of the UK, and India and China each have about four times the population of the US. If you multiply the five and the four together, you duscover that India and China each have about 20 times the population of the UK. If you prefer mathematics over verbiage, the equations 70 x 5 =350, 350 x 4 = 1,400 and 70 x 20 = 1,400 provide proof.
That being the case, I wondered whether, when it comes to the category Cities With More Than A Million People, it might follow as the night the day that similar relationships also exist. That is, whatever number of such urban enclaves might exist in the UK, I wondered whether five times the UK number exist in the US and whether 20 times the UK number exist in India and in China.
In a word, no.
In the UK, if you consider what one site calls Urban Agglomerations (comparable to Metropolitan Areas in the US), there are five such places: Greater London (9.3M), Greater Manchester (2.7M), Greater Birmngham (2.6M), Greater Leeds (1.9M), and Greater Glasgow (1.7M). However, if you consider core cities only and ignore all the surrounding suburbs and urban agglomeration (removing the "Greater" aspect, so to speak), then the UK has only one such place, London. Seven other core cities exceed 500,000: Birmingham, Liverpool, Nottingham, Sheffield, Bristol, Glasgow, and Leicester.
In the US as of 2021 there are 11 core cities with over 1M population: New York City (NY), Los Angeles (CA), Chicago (IL), Houston (TX), Phoenix (AZ), Philadelphia (PA), San Antonio (TX), San Diego (CA), Dallas (TX), Austin (TX), and San Jose (CA). Notice the preponderance of cities in California and Texas. Fort Worth (TX) just missed being on the list. There are 56 Metropolitan Statistical Areas with more than a million people and 38 core cities that exceed 500,000 (I live near Atlanta, which is number 37).
India and China, needless to say, are in a class by themselves.
India has 48 core cities (not urban agglomerations) with more than a million people--including mega-cities like Mumbai (24M) and Delhi (20M) and Calcutta (15M) and Bangalore (14M)--and 98 cities that exceed 500,000.
By my count of a list I found online of the estimated population of cities in China, there are 66 with more than a million people (ten have more than 10M each) and 129 cities that exceed 500,000. At the top of the heap are Shanghai (27M) and Beijing (20M).
It is absolutely mind-boggling to me to realize (British, realise) that one-third of the population of the entire world live in two countries, India and China. It's true. One point four billion (1.4B) people plus one point four billion (1.4B) people is two point eight billion (2.8B) people--correct me if I'm wrong--and the current estimate of the world population is around (there's that word again) eight billion (8B) people. As I said, mind-boggling.
I consider myself to be fairly well-informed, but I have never heard of most of the very large cities in India and China (I won't bore you with their names). And every person in every place all over the world has a name and a face and is living an individual life, sometimes in the most unimaginable and appalling of circumstances. Adrian Ward, take note: we are all very small cogs in a very big machine. I will try to remember that in the future.
In my opinion, we should all be made aware of our inaccurate self-assessments more often. A little humility and a little gratitude go a long way.
I don't understand the conclusions you reached from the statistics you gave. The numbers are astounding. It boggles the mind to realize how many people are in the world. I agree that individuality is universal. And good. Humility and gratitude are necessary to get along in this world.
ReplyDeletemimmylynn, You are correct. The conclusion had nothing to do with the discussion about big cities. I was presenting those facts because I found them interesting, not using the size of cities to reach a conclusion. The “conclusion” is just my point of view about human beings, an opinion I hope others share. It was not formed from noticing that the world has a lot of big cities.
DeleteI like your penultimate paragraph best because this is the way I think, i.e. that every single person has a name and a face and is living an individual life. I think how they pick up a cup and drink and pick up food and taste it. I don't know where that is leading but as you wrote what you wrote you will probably not need me to explain except that as you say the numbers are big but they are all individuals. I know one large city in China of over a million people and that is Kunming. This is because I have a friend who went there with her husband who got a job at the university teaching maths. They are American. She didn't like living there and eventually came back to England where she lives. She comes from Up State New York which I always think sounds very American. Her husband continues to teach there and she goes out to visit him from time to time although because of Covid he has been back in the UK for an extended period.
ReplyDeleteRachel, I’m glad you think as I do. Kunming is one of the Chinese cities I have never heard of. I looked it up though, and it has either 4.2 million people or 6.6 million people depending on the.list you read.
DeleteI just read my comment through and thought it was a bit ambiguous and not clear. My American friend disliked living in China. She is perfectly happy with America, her home, as is her husband. However career moves in academia have meant that they have Britain as their base. I didn't want you to think they didn't like America.
DeleteRachel, thanks for the clarification. I wasn’t thinking that at all, but I see that one could have. I didn’t think your comment was ambiguous.
DeleteYou are correct, the world population is staggering. I agree that it is important to remember that each person is not a number but an individual with hopes, dreams and fears like all of us. I think we should also remember that what some see as lacking the things they would wish to have, would to others seem to be an overabundance of wealth and good fortune. So many of us are very blessed with good fortune and we should remember the unimaginable and appalling of circumstances that some people face, as you said. Thank you for reminding us of the importance of humility and gratitude. Those qualities are so important.
ReplyDeleteBonnie, thank you for summing it up so nicely.
ReplyDeleteI'm putting together a post (sometimes they take weeks because I've often got about 5 - translation up to 12 - on the go at once) which puts together two things. 1. George Orwell in the 1930s said that our comfortable lives in the west, especially the U.K., depend upon millions in other parts of the world living in starvation. 2. Ted Simon in Jupiter's Travels said that when they realise there will be hell to pay. I think they've realised.
ReplyDeleteTasker, I think my head would explode if I had 12 posts going at the same time. Every post you publish is fascinating and I can only wish mine were. I want to be (translation: write) like you when I grow up, but course I can’t because I haven’t lived your life.
DeleteP.S. - Speaking of 12, your 12 posts (to date) about hiking across Iceland are extremely fascinating.
You are very kind. Most are just notes about things I might write about. Some have been in that state for several weeks (translation over a year). I lose interest and put them away and then at some point pick them up again and add more notes and bits of text, and either lose interest again or sometimes finish them off. It suits the daydreamy kind of brain I have. It's not the daily spontaneity some achieve. I'd be hopeless trying to write a regular column. Perhaps 25% (translation none) are written on the day.
DeleteTasker, do not divulge too much about your methods Jane timelines or the magical veneer that makes the process seem easy may be shattered permanently!
ReplyDelete