Migration: less New York more New Delhi

Everyone is moving to the city – and, especially, emerging market cities. According to a report by Credit Suisse this week, by 2037 half of the world’s population will live in one emerging market city or another.

So where should investors look to first if they want to capitalize on this trend? Apparently the smart money should head to China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. A motley bunch indeed but the logic is compelling.

The mass migration of human populations from rural to urban environments is old news. In 2009 the share of the planet’s population living in urban environments crossed the 50 per cent mark.

But the shift from urban growth in developed nations to urban growth in emerging nations is a work in progress.

Importantly, urbanisation drives economic growth and as EM populations pile into cities GDP should benefit. On average, for every 5 percentage point increase in a country’s urban population there is an associated gain in per capita economic activity of 10 per cent.

This year alone, says Credit Suisse, the population of the world’s cities will grow by a further 65m people – another France. And some 90 per cent of that increase will flow into EM cities…

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Read More @ The great migration: less New York more New Delhi | beyondbrics | News and views on emerging markets from the Financial Times – FT.com.