illustrations by Clym Evernden (source)
By 2025, just in China alone:
- Tianjin (currently 7.5 million population) will probably grow to around 10 million, the size of Sweden
- Shanghai (pop. 14.5 million) could well balloon to 50 million, the size of Poland (38 million) & Portugal (11 million) combined
“The power of mega cities in the future,” notes Sophie Marchessou, associate partner at the apparel, fashion & luxury group at McKinsey, New York. “Many cities will be as large as countries."
In fact, modern-day China is urbanizing at a rate 10 times faster than 19th century Britain; this is the first time since the Industrial Revolution began that the world is transforming economically to such a degree. As the “economic center of gravity," China is without a doubt in the driver's seat, but it isn't the only growth game in the Global Village. It leads a pack that McKinsey has dubbed the Next 15, which contain the majority of the world's population and will be driving 80% of emerging-market growth as we head toward the year 2025:
- China
- India
- Brazil
- Russia
- South Korea
- Indonesia
- Mexico
- Turkey
- Iran
- Egypt
- Philippines
- Nigeria
- Pakistan
- Bangladesh
- Vietnam
Parsing economic and socio-demographic data for more than 2,600 cities around the world, McKinsey is predicting that as emerging markets continue to grow, 85% of global economic growth by 2025 will come from about 600 of the world's top cities.
Mass urbanization will likely create about 60 megacities, double today's number, which will account for a whopping 25% of global GDP.
Smart luxury fashion brands and marketers will have branched out of the usual suspects (Paris, New York, London, Milan) by then and be well versed in greeting well-heeled (literally & figuratively) fashionistas with здравствуйте, Selamat datang, Hola and 안녕하세요 in urban locales as far-flung as Moscow, St. Petersburg, Singapore, Mexico City and Seoul.
- Lesley Scott
This post was about the Supremium fashion tribe - spendy, style-conscious fashionistas that enjoy jetsetting, globetrotting and shopping their way across the globe. For more of my posts about the Supremiums, CLICK HERE. To learn more about each of fashion's four mega-tribes that I track, START HERE.
Follow Fashiontribes on TWITTER
Join me on FACEBOOK
Let’s connect on LinkedIn
