86 extractive question-and-answer pairs built from Urbanization | Our World in Data, published by ourworldindata.org. Every answer is a verbatim span of text the source prints, and each row carries the passage it sits in, its offset in that passage, the source quote, the page and the location in the document, so any row can be checked against the original. 66 of the 86 pairs (76.7%) are explanatory questions and 20 restate a figure. 98.84% of rows pass the corpus quality gate.
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Usable for analysis, but expect some cleaning before you rely on it.
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First 10 of 86 rows
| question | answer | context | answer_start | question_type | knowledge_quality_score | source_quote | source_page | source_location | confidence | validation_status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| What is considered important about the process of urbanization? | the form that urbanization takes | Taken together, these findings suggest that a country can achieve high living standards with its population dispersed across well-connected towns or concentrated in large cities. What matters is the form that urbanization takes. Countries where urbanization has been driven by industrialization (as in much of East and Southeast Asia) have generally seen large gains in productivity and living standards. | 195 | definition | 1.000 | What matters is the form that urbanization takes. | p[68] | 0.850 | valid | |
| What development is considered a relatively new occurrence in human history? | Urbanization on the scale we see today | The table below illustrates this with a selection of examples. Not all countries use a population threshold. And among those that do, the threshold varies enormously: Sweden and Denmark count places of just 200 inhabitants as urban, while Japan requires 50,000. The map below shows where countries sit on this spectrum. Urbanization on the scale we see today is a recent phenomenon in human history. But to trace these changes over the very long run, we need to rely on evidence beyond the methods described above. Gridded population data and satellite imagery only go back a few decades, and even national definitions are part of a broader statistical system that is relatively new. | 320 | definition | 1.000 | The map below shows where countries sit on this spectrum. Urbanization on the scale we see today is a recent phenomenon in human history. | p[86] | 0.700 | valid | |
| What is the main objective of the UN’s 11th Sustainable Development Goal? | to “make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.” | The previous version of this page was largely structured around the UN’s national definitions series, with a strong focus on the measurement limitations and comparability issues relative to other sources. The earlier version is availablevia the Wayback Machine. Urbanization is also an explicit global policy priority in the UN’s11th Sustainable Development Goalto “make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.” This framework was developed by the European Commission together with the OECD, World Bank, FAO, UN-Habitat, and the ILO. You can read more in: UN Statistical Commission (UNSC). 2020. “Report on the Fifty-First Session (3–6 March 2020).” Supplement No. 4 E/2020/24-E/CN.3/2020/37. New York: Economic and Social Council, Official Records. For context, Manhattan has a density ofaround 28,000 per square kilometer, which is nearly 20 times higher. | 362 | definition | 1.000 | Urbanization is also an explicit global policy priority in the UN’s11th Sustainable Development Goalto “make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.” This framework was developed by the European Commission together with the OECD, World Bank, FAO, UN-Habitat, and the ILO. | ||||
| What type of measure is used to define slum households? | a measure of household-level deprivation, not a spatial classification | Read more in our section onthe different approaches to measuring urbanization. UN-Habitat defines a slum household as one where residents lack at least one of the following: durable housing that protects against extreme climate; sufficient living space (no more than three people per room); access to safe water in adequate amounts; or access to adequate sanitation. A fifth criterion — security of tenure — is part of the official definition but is inconsistently applied across countries and often excluded from national estimates due to data limitations. This is a measure of household-level deprivation, not a spatial classification: a household can score poorly on these criteria without living in what urban planners would classify as an informal settlement, and vice versa. The conditions of deprivation vary considerably: some households lack only one criterion, others lack several. | 566 | definition | 1.000 | This is a measure of household-level deprivation, not a spatial classification: a household can score poorly on these criteria without living in what urban planners would classify as an informal settlement, and vice versa. | ||||
| What does the term urbanization refer to? | the migration from rural areas into towns and cities | Because all of this depends on how “urban” is defined, the page also explains the main ways it’s measured, and what to keep in mind when using the data. Urbanization is the migration from rural areas into towns and cities. Over the past century, billions of people have made this move. | 169 | definition | 0.980 | Urbanization is the migration from rural areas into towns and cities. | p[0] | 0.850 | valid | |
| What are City boundaries? | defined using a consistent global approach based on satellite imagery and population data | If you want to explore the distribution of population across cities of different sizes, you can do so in these charts. City boundaries are defined using a consistent global approach based on satellite imagery and population data. Estimated share of the population living in cities with 1 million or more people. | 139 | definition | 0.980 | City boundaries are defined using a consistent global approach based on satellite imagery and population data. | p[46] | 0.850 | valid | |
| What is slum household? | one that lacks at least one of the following: access to clean water, access to sanitation, sufficient living space, or durable housing | We can see this in the map below, which shows the share of urban residents living in slum households. A slum household is one that lacks at least one of the following: access to clean water, access to sanitation, sufficient living space, or durable housing.7 Globally, around one in four people in urban areas live in slum households. | 122 | definition | 0.980 | A slum household is one that lacks at least one of the following: access to clean water, access to sanitation, sufficient living space, or durable housing. | p[46] | 0.850 | valid | |
| What belief does the comparable urbanization levels in Africa and Europe contradict? | urbanization tracks closely with prosperity. | One pattern that stands out is how similar the distributions are across regions with very different income levels. Africa and Europe, for example, have similar shares of their populations in cities, towns, and rural areas — a fact that cuts against the common assumption that urbanization tracks closely with prosperity. We discuss this relationship and why it is weaker than many people expect in thesection on urbanization and development. | 276 | relationship | 0.970 | Africa and Europe, for example, have similar shares of their populations in cities, towns, and rural areas — a fact that cuts against the common assumption that urbanization tracks closely with prosperity. We discuss this relationship and why it is weaker than many people expect in thesection on urbanization and development. | p[12] | 0.700 | valid | |
| Why do older UN reports state that the world became majority urban in 2007? | relying on national definitions rather than a shared international standard | These timelines are so different because the older UN series used a different approach to measure urbanization, relying on national definitions rather than a shared international standard. We explain these measurement differences in more detailbelow, and you can explore the urban vs. rural splitbased on those alternative national definitions. In the previous chart, we grouped cities and towns into a single category. What if we treat them separately? This is what the next chart shows. In 1950, as many people lived in towns as in rural areas globally. In cities, there were half as many. The story over the past 70 years, then, has been the rise of cities and the decline of rural populations. | 112 | relationship | 0.970 | These timelines are so different because the older UN series used a different approach to measure urbanization, relying on national definitions rather than a shared international standard. | p[21] | 0.700 | valid | |
| What is the function of a capital city that is also the largest city in a country? | home to tens of millions of people and much of the country’s economic activity | Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, is the world’s largest city in this dataset. Its population has increased tenfold since 1950. The next chart shows population estimates for a selection of the largest cities since 1950 — you can add others using the chart controls. Some of the largest cities today, like Jakarta, Dhaka, New Delhi, and Karachi, are also among those that grew fastest. Other megacities like Tokyo and New York, which grew much earlier, have seen slower growth in recent decades. Capital cities differ widely in size and role. In some countries, the capital is mainly an administrative seat, relatively small and distinct from the country’s economic center (for example, Canberra in Australia). In others, the capital is also the largest city, home to tens of millions of people and much of the country’s economic activity. | 755 | relationship | 0.970 | In others, the capital is also the largest city, home to tens of millions of people and much of the country’s economic activity. | p[34] | 0.700 | valid |
Read straight from the file — download or use the API URL for the full dataset.
| p[93] |
| 0.700 |
| valid |
| p[100] |
| 0.700 |
| valid |