Overview
- UN World Urbanization Prospects 2025 estimates Jakarta at about 42 million residents, followed by Dhaka at roughly 36–37 million and Tokyo at about 33 million.
- Using a harmonised geospatial definition of contiguous urban areas, the UN redrew city boundaries, propelling Jakarta from 33rd in 2018 to first in 2025.
- Nine of the 10 most populous cities are in Asia, with Cairo the only non-Asian city in the top tier.
- The UN projects Dhaka to become the largest city by 2050 and reports that megacities have grown to 33 worldwide as cities now house about 45% of 8.2 billion people.
- Jakarta’s scale underscores chronic congestion, pollution and flooding, and Indonesia’s planned capital move to Nusantara has been delayed and has struggled to attract investment.