China and India are in the vanguard of a wave of urban expansion that is driving the renaissance of Asia toward the global prominence the region had before the European and North American industrial revolution. By 2025, nearly 2.5bn Asians will live in cities, accounting for almost 54 per cent of the world's urban population. India and China alone will account for more than 62 per cent of the Asian urban population growth and a 40 per cent of global urban population growth between 2005 and 2025.

In 1950, India was a more urban nation than China (17 per cent of the population lived in cities compared with China's 13 per cent). But from 1950 to 2005, China urbanized far more rapidly than India to an urbanization rate of 41 per cent compared with 29 per cent in India. New research from the McKinsey Global Institute expects this pattern to continue with China forecast to add 400m to its urban population, which will account for 64 per cent of the total population by 2025, and India to add 215m to its cities whose populations will account for 38 per cent of the total in 2025.

Never before in history have two of the largest nations in terms of population urbanized at the same time—and at such pace. This process will drive fundamental shifts in both countries that will have significant consequences for the world economy and offer exciting new opportunities for investors.