Urbanization and its impact on population health

Abstract

Today, most of the world's population lives in urban spaces.For the first time in the history of the earth in 2007, the number of city dwellers exceeded the rural population.The development of human civilization in the 21st century has passed the point where cities built with asphalt and concrete attract more people than small settlements built on the banks of rivers, lakes or oceans.The era of rural settlements and rural activities seems to be over and people prefer a new social environment and system – the city.But all this has given rise to many such ecological problems, which have created a great threat to the quality of human health.The process of urbanization completely changed the living conditions of people and increased their chemical, physical and mental load.The formation of the urban environment establishes an urban microclimate and creates many problems. "Noise pollution" of the city, problems of water supply and sanitary cleaning, information overload, the degree of air pollution in urban regions and many other issues that are harmful to health remain unresolved to this day.It is a proven fact that the number of diabetes, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases has increased in the population of compact cities.Air pollution is associated with: 24% of stroke deaths, 25% of heart disease deaths and 43% of lung disease deaths every year.Every year under the age of 5: 570,000 children die of respiratory infections due to air pollution and passive smoking, 361,000 children die of diarrheal diseases as a result of drinking contaminated water and inadequate hygiene conditions, 200,000 children die of accidental injuries related to the environment.The cause of death of 3.8 million people every year is exposure to smoke and fuel combustion products in household conditions.It is because of these alarming data that the civilized world of the whole world is trying to establish and take effective steps to reduce the pollution of the urban environment.Greening of cities is one of the main directions in this regard, as the conducted studies have shown that green recreational areas and parks have a potentially beneficial effect on the physical and mental health and well-being of the population.