The world could see its first city with a population of 100 million by the end of this century. That is the conclusion of new research into the speed of urbanisation in many fast-growing countries in Africa and Asia, which suggests even small cities could balloon into huge metropolises in the coming decades.

“The first 100-million population city, and the top candidate is Lagos, Nigeria,” said a VOA report.

It quoted Professor Daniel Hoornweg, co-author of a new research from the Ontario Institute of Technology, Canada, as saying in an interview: “We are now seeing the urbanisation wave headed through China, it is toward the latter part of its urbanisation. And now it is headed for India, and then we will see it culminate in the big cities of sub-Saharan Africa.”

The report said that by the end of the century, the world’s population is forecast to reach up to 14 billion, adding that 80 percent of those people would be living in cities.