200 mega cities in China in 15 years!

China's urban population is expected to swell up to a billion by 2025, and the country will have as many as 221 mega cities, 10 of them with over 10 million population each, leading consultancy McKinsey & Co says in its latest report.

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With its economy galloping at a fast pace of growth, China has seen rapid urbanisation in recent years, and the report predicts that the trend would continue.

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Europe at present has 35 mega cities, Alex Peng, a partner at McKinsey's Beijing office, said at a symposium in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, quoting the report.

The report said that of the over 200 mega cities produced by China in the next 15 years, 10 would have a population of more than 10 million each.

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These would include Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Chengdu, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Xi'an, the report released here by the McKinsey Global Institute, the economics research arm of the company, says.

With the fast economic development, China has seen steady yet rapid urbanisation in recent years, Peng said.

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However, the report said that despite the massive growth, problems like air pollution, traffic jams, and high real estate prices were cutting down the contentment of residents in major cities.

"Despite breakneck economic growth, grand office buildings and nascent transport networks in the big cities, air pollution, traffic jams and skyrocketing housing prices are eroding the contentment of urban residents," Xinhua quoted the report as saying.