The beginning of this urbanization process originated with the first Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century, from England. The evolution of agricultural techniques brought by it allowed human labor to be replaced by the power of machines. This has enabled the rural exodus to become the major cause of urbanization in the last two centuries.
At the same time that it expelled labor from the countryside, industrialization exerted a force of attraction of the population to the cities, as it created new urban jobs. This process grew every year, because as the city's population grew, trade was spurred, generating more jobs. In addition, to meet this growing contingent of people who migrated to the cities, there was also a growth in the tertiary sector because of the creation of new services, which led to more work.
In the 20th century, the urbanization process became widespread, that is, it spread all over the planet's surface. It is worth remembering that until the middle of this century the phenomenon of urbanization was slow and limited to the countries that first industrialized, the so-called developed countries. In developing countries, urbanization intensified since 1950, thanks to the growth of industrialization.
In the early 19th century, less than 5% of humanity lived in cities. In the early 21st century, more than 50% of the world's population already lives in cities. Currently, three quarters of the inhabitants of developed countries live in cities. Already among developing countries, there are major differences. For example, while in Latin America and the Caribbean the urbanization rate is as high as in developed countries, in Asia and Africa the rate is only 38%. Analyzing the data distributed in the table below, we observe that, in fact, urbanization in the world is not homogeneous.
