Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
with small cities of less than 150,000 people, and 14 per cent is expected
to come from the small to mid-sized urban regions with city populations
of between 150,000 to 2 million people; 13 per cent from regions with city
populations of 2‒5 million people; and 10 per cent from regions with city
populations of 5‒10 million people (MGI 2011a). Therefore, 43 per cent
of global economic growth to 2025 is forecast to come from developing
regions with city populations of less than 2 million people, and some 56
per cent of total global economic growth is expected to come from devel-
oping regions with city populations of less than 5 million people (MGI
2011a). The fastest rates of growth are forecast for the middle-sized cities
of between 150,000 and 10 million people, a grouping of cities which will
account for half of global economic growth to 2025. Around 150 of these
middle-sized cities are in developed economies while over 420 of these are
in developing economies (MGI 2011a).
At this stage, what is not clear is exactly how long these trends will
take to unfold and how many years it will be until the developed world
will rely on these newly emerging economies as critical sources of new
knowledge, capabilities and technology. What it is clear, however, is that
for the foreseeable future the developing world is bound to be far 'spikier'
than 'flatter', although the relationships between the different geographi-
cal spikes and MNEs will again evolve. MNEs play a critical role in con-
tributing to the spread of knowledge and production activities, and the
actual economic geography of FDI, R&D and innovation in developing
countries will depend both on how MNEs choose to spearhead or respond
to the evolving economic geography of economic growth.
