Tectonic shifts. Large parts of the world are going through demographic changes. According toUN World Population Prospects 2019, the epicentre of population growth should shift to Africain the next decades. By about 2025e, India should overtake China as the most populous nation.And as populations shrink in other parts of the world, it might mean a shift in demand – lowervolume growth, for example. Companies will need to prepare for this with higher prices, buildingbrands or focusing on design. See page 10.

Mid-tier cities. This is where people flock to, more so than the larger metropoles. This createsa new group of consumers in lesser-known cities across Asia and Africa like fast-growing Ruiruin Kenya or Imus in the Philippines. But it’s also taking place in the developed world, where afocus on quality of life, a search for a lower cost of living and a boom in home-working meansthat medium-sized cities are the relative winners. See page 13.