Lagos, Johannesburg, Cairo to emerge as Africa’s best economic cities by 2035

Lagos, Johannesburg and Cairo have been predicted to emerge as best cities in Africa in terms of economic growth, rapid urbanisation and population expansion by 2035.

This is according to a report by
Economist Intelligence on African cities by 2035 seen by BusinessDay on Thursday.

“African cities are expected to record among the fastest rates of population growth worldwide through to 2035, and the pace of urbanisation…The continent’s established urban heavyweights and megacities—including Cairo, Lagos and Johannesburg—will still sit at the head of the Africa100 city economies in 2035,” the report says.

The report states that the growth trajectory of these cities will be facilitated by wealthier consumer
markets, better connected and more sophisticated commercial and distribution hubs, as well as larger
bases for industrial production and import-export operations.

Other African cities such as Kinshasa aKinshasa, Dar es Salaam, Addis Ababa, Abidjan, Kampala, Dakar and Kumasi are also forecast to have increased population growth at fast pace if they are supported by infrastructure development, urbanisation and the
emergence of megacities.

As these cities expand geographically and demographically, they will have a range of factors that differentiate them from other parts of the continent and will drive their importance economically.

These factors include more skilled and better educated residents; higher productivity levels and wage
rates; higher value business activities and penetration of financial services; greater levels of investment,
innovation and technology adoption; better utility and transport infrastructure; larger and more complex
household consumption patterns; and much higher concentrations of wealthier households

However, this exponential growth is predicted to bring some major social challenges such as overcrowding, informal settlements, high unemployment, poor public services, stretched utility services and exposure to
climate change.

The continents’ urban population, which is 650m as at 2023, is further expected to grow rapidly to hit 1 billion in 2035. This population increase will affect the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 3.5 percent and take the proportion of Africans living in towns and cities to over 50 percent in 2035.

With this rapid expansion, city clusters and megalopolises will be a major feature of Africa’s urbanisation and economic future. Major megacities – likeLuanda and Dar es Salaam – will join the likes Lagos , Cairo, Johannesburg and will be having populations of more than 10 million residents and some other 17 cities will have populations that exceed 5 million residents and another
100 or so cities will have populations in excess of 1 million inhabitants.