Jakarta tops UN’s list of megacities with 42 million residents, 2 Indian cities ranked in top 10 — check here

Jakarta has become the world’s largest city by population, boasting a total of 41.9 million inhabitants, according to a report recently released by the United Nations. The Indonesian capital is closely followed by the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, which is currently home to 36.6 million people, reported Al Jazeera on Thursday.

The list of the world’s top 10 largest cities also features two major Indian cities: the national capital, New Delhi, and the capital of West Bengal state, Kolkata, with populations of 30.2 million and 22.5 million, respectively.

The World Urbanization Prospects 2025 report, published by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, highlights a dramatic increase in the number of megacities — urban areas with over 10 million inhabitants. This figure has now reached 33, representing a fourfold increase from the eight megacities that existed worldwide in 1975.

Asia accounts for 19 of the world’s 33 largest cities

Asia dominates this list, accounting for 19 of the world’s 33 largest cities and securing nine out of the top 10 positions.

The 10 largest cities are now ranked as follows: Jakarta (41.9 million), Dhaka (36.6 million), 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).

With a relatively steady population of 33.4 million, Tokyo has fallen to third place, having previously been ranked the world’s largest city in the UN assessment report published in 2000. Meanwhile, Dhaka has surged from ninth place to second and is now projected to become the world's most populous city by 2050.

Egypt’s capital, Cairo, with a population of 32 million people, is the only city in the top ten situated outside of Asia. Elsewhere, São Paulo in Brazil, with 18.9 million inhabitants, ranks as the largest city in the Americas. Lagos in Nigeria is also growing rapidly, making it the largest city in sub-Saharan Africa.

UN adopts new assessment measures

The latest assessment incorporated significant methodological changes as the UN adopted new measures, intended to address inconsistencies in how various countries defined urbanisation. The new definition specifies a city as a “contiguous agglomeration” of one-kilometre-square grid cells possessing a minimum density of 1,500 inhabitants per square kilometre and a total population of at least 50,000.

The UN also clarified that its report, with only a small number of exceptions, generally reflects the size of individual cities rather than separate urban areas that have grown together into a single, massive conurbation.