Jakarta Now World’s Largest City, UN Report Finds; India Boasts Two Entries in Top 10
NEW YORK - Jakarta, Indonesia, has surpassed Tokyo to become the world’s most populous city, according to a new United Nations report released Thursday. The UN’s World Urbanization Prospects 2025 estimates jakarta’s population at 41.9 million, edging out Dhaka, Bangladesh, which holds 36.6 million residents.
The report, published by the united Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, reveals a dramatic global increase in megacities – urban areas with over 10 million inhabitants – now totaling 33, a fourfold increase from the eight that existed in 1975.
asia dominates the list, accounting for 19 of the world’s 33 largest cities and nine of the top ten. Following jakarta and Dhaka, the top ten largest cities are ranked as follows: Tokyo, Japan (33.4 million); new Delhi, India (30.2 million); Shanghai, China (29.6 million); Guangzhou, China (27.6 million); Manila, Philippines (24.7 million); Kolkata, India (22.5 million); and Seoul, South Korea (22.5 million).
Notably, New Delhi and Kolkata represent India’s presence in the top ten, with populations of 30.2 million and 22.5 million respectively.
Tokyo, previously ranked as the world’s largest city in the UN’s 2000 assessment, has fallen to third place with a relatively stable population of 33.4 million. Dhaka is projected to become the world’s most populous city by 2050.
Cairo, Egypt (32 million) is the only city in the top ten located outside of Asia. São Paulo, Brazil (18.9 million) is the largest city in the Americas, while Lagos, Nigeria, is rapidly growing and stands as the largest city in sub-Saharan Africa.
The UN’s latest assessment incorporates new methodological changes designed to standardize how countries define urbanization, specifying a city as a “contiguous agglomeration” of one-kilometre-square grid cells with a minimum density of 1,500 inhabitants per square kilometre and a total population of at least 50,000. The report generally reflects the size of individual cities, rather than combined urban areas.