Afternoon number crunching

Smart Growth in Athens (Credit: Demographia)

Demographia just released the fifth edition of its World Urban Areas & Population Projections. With 14,940,000 people, Los Angeles is the world's 13th largest urban area—defined as “a continuously built up landmass of urban development. … the lighted area that can be observed from an airplane at night.”

By 2030, Los Angeles ranks 15th (overtaken by Seoul and Shanghai), with a population of 18,945,000 and an annualized growth rate of 1.14%. Also by 2030, Jakarta pulls ahead of Tokyo by nearly 3 million people for the number one spot.

With 65,600 people per square mile, Hong Kong is the world’s most densely-populated urban area. Ten times denser than LA, with half the population … No surprise there, but did you know Los Angeles’ urban area is denser than New York City’s?

Download the report here. Note: PDF format; 3MB.