00:00From tiny islands to giant cities that extend for tens of kilometers,
00:06you will discover the most densely populated places on the planet.
00:10You will wonder about the limits of the impossible.
00:13How far are people willing to go in their quest for a better life,
00:17or simply to try to survive?
00:21Among these places are Hong Kong and the Maldives.
00:25The Egyptian city of Tanta is a tiny island on Lake Victoria in Africa.
00:31Discover how people manage to live there.
00:34Hong Kong has an official population of 7,500,000 inhabitants,
00:39and this figure should reach 8,500,000 by 2041.
00:44The density of the city's population is more than 18,000 people for 2.5 square kilometers.
00:51Despite a rather low birth rate, the population of Hong Kong is increasing.
00:56This paradox has an explanation.
00:58A large number of people constantly migrate to Hong Kong
01:02because of all the opportunities this city offers, especially in terms of employment.
01:07The price of land there is incredibly high.
01:10This is one of the main reasons for its high-density development.
01:14Low-income people, or even middle-income, can only afford to live in skyscrapers.
01:21Hong Kong has more than 9,000.
01:24In addition, more than 300 buildings exceed 150 meters high.
01:29It's more than New York, Shanghai and Dubai.
01:33If Hong Kong has become one of the tallest cities in the world,
01:36it is largely due to its incredible urban planning.
01:41At the same time, housing is incredibly expensive in this region.
01:45The average cost of a house is 18 times higher than the average annual income.
01:50This is why the less fortunate people live in what are called housing complexes,
01:55apartments smaller than a standard parking lot in the United States.
02:00Take, for example, Quarry Bay, a very dense district in eastern Hong Kong, and its Monster Building.
02:07It is not a single building, but a group of five buildings connected to each other.
02:13These five blocks have more than 2,200 units,
02:16and, according to the rumor, they would house about 10,000 people.
02:21Despite the high living conditions faced by most Hong Kong residents,
02:26the city also houses several dozen billionaires.
02:30Look, it's half a football field.
02:33And this is what a third of Bill Gates' house looks like.
02:36Another example, the two fifths of the White House.
02:39These figures are not random.
02:42They correspond to the territory of the island of Migingo,
02:45located in Lake Victoria, between Kenya and Uganda.
02:49More than a hundred people live on this little piece of land.
02:52Don't you think these metal roofs look like a huge turtle floating on water?
02:58Unfortunately, because of the size of its territory,
03:01there is almost no vegetation.
03:04Most of its surface is covered with rocks,
03:07except for this tiny area covered with grass, where barely five shrubs grow.
03:13The island is entirely dedicated to fish and fishing.
03:17The docking point turns into a fish market every day at noon.
03:21The trade does not last long.
03:23It usually ends at 2 p.m. when the boat leaves.
03:27The island's inhabitants only have fish.
03:30That's why they stock up every morning in Kenya
03:33on first-need products for small businesses.
03:37That's also why it is possible to buy everything you need in local stores,
03:41food, fishing equipment, etc.
03:45The inhabitants do not just fish.
03:47They scour their fish on the rocks, fry it and eat it in cafes.
03:53Indeed, there are about 13 cafes and bars on the island.
03:57People eat there, play dice and cook Lugali,
04:00a typical dish made with corn flour.
04:03But let's go back to the gigantic cities and lively streets.
04:06Welcome to Shenzhen, the most densely populated city in China.
04:11This metropolis has about 17,500,000 inhabitants.
04:15With so many residents, the city is faced with many challenges,
04:19such as schools and overcrowded beaches.
04:22As for the latter, some areas have even set up a reservation system
04:27to control daily influx.
04:29The most surprising thing about this metropolis
04:32is that it has reached its current size in just 40 years.
04:36Before, it was a fishing village.
04:40Then, thanks to the support of the authorities and the proximity to Hong Kong,
04:45the city became a very active financial and economic center.
04:49Today, it has the status of one of the most active container ports in the world,
04:54with Shanghai and Singapore.
04:57Shenzhen has also seen the highest increase in the number of millionaires
05:01in the last ten years, 140%.
05:04This increase is much greater than in other leading Chinese cities,
05:08including Beijing and Shanghai.
05:11Ile-à-Broué is an island in the Caribbean that is part of Haiti,
05:15and it is one of the densely populated islands in the world.
05:18About 500 people live there on a surface of barely 0.04 km².
05:24You might think it's a simple fishing village,
05:27but Ile-à-Broué looks more like a factory.
05:30As soon as you set foot on this island, you will see a maze of alleys.
05:35Following them, you will pass in front of twisted cabins,
05:38covered with rubble and tar,
05:40and you will find yourself in the center of the city.
05:43The main sites of interest are two concrete buildings,
05:46one of which is a shop.
05:48In the middle, you will see a modest public square
05:51equipped with two solar-powered lighthouses.
05:54One is old and no longer in use, the other is brand new.
05:58On the island, men are more numerous than women and children.
06:02Many people leave the city to fish during the day.
06:06The horizon surrounding the island is scattered with sails and pirogues.
06:10Those who stay on the island do other work,
06:13such as repairing boats, nets and traps,
06:16and preparing tons of fish that they ship to Haiti and elsewhere.
06:20As for the children, they spend their days swimming.
06:24Our next destination is the Egyptian city of Tanta,
06:28which is also one of the densely populated places in the world.
06:32It has about 7,000 inhabitants for 2.5 km².
06:36As a comparison, New York has a little less than 3,000 inhabitants for 2.5 km².
06:43This city is located between Le Caire and Alexandria.
06:47It has huge cotton plantations and, in 1856,
06:51it became a stage of the railway network,
06:54mainly for the export to Europe of the cotton grown in the region.
06:59Although the surroundings of Tanta are essentially made up of fields,
07:03the colony turned into a large overpopulated city.
07:06At the end of October,
07:08the locality becomes the center of the celebration of the cotton harvest.
07:123 million people come from all over the delta
07:15and other parts of the Arab world for this colorful holiday that lasts 8 days.
07:20Tanta is famous for its sweets.
07:23They are made of gelatin, coconut, sesame, peanuts and chickpeas.
07:28Tons of these sweets are sold during the festivals to the many Egyptians who visit the city.
07:34Nothing surprising about that.
07:36These sweets have been famous since the 18th century.
07:39Tanta also has many cotton transformation plants,
07:43as well as textile industries.
07:45It is also a university city.
07:47The University of Tanta was founded in 1972.
07:51Malé, the capital of the Maldives,
07:53has more than 200,000 inhabitants,
07:55that is 49,000 people for 2.5 square kilometers.
07:5980% of the land is about 1.2 meters above sea level,
08:04which means that if a part of the island is submerged,
08:07the inhabitants will have to be relocated.
08:09The artificial island created to manage waste is already overloaded.
08:13In 1997, Hulu Malé, another artificial island,
08:17was built to reduce the immense demographic pressure.
08:21Today, it is already as developed as Malé.
08:24The Maldives are made up of more than 1,000 islands,
08:27extending along an axis of 805 kilometers.
08:30They are all coral islands.
08:32They have developed around prehistoric underwater volcanoes.
08:35Only 188 islands are inhabited,
08:38but most of them have less than 1,000 inhabitants.
08:41More and more Maldivians give up the island life
08:45and settle in the capital.
08:47But Malé is already at the limit of human habitation.
08:51If an even larger number of people settle there,
08:54the physical structure of the island will have to be completely rethought.
08:58Authorities have already begun to surround Malé with maritime bridges
09:02and habitable artificial islands.
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