Nine of the top 10 megacities are in Asia, with Dhaka in Bangladesh projected to be the world’s largest city by 2050.
Jakarta, a low-lying coastal city located to the west of the densely populated island of Java, rose from second place to Tokyo, which was named the world’s largest city in the most recent United Nations assessment published in 2000.
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The Japanese capital has a relatively stable population of 33.4 million, falling to third place behind Bangladesh’s densely populated capital Dhaka, which has moved from ninth to second and is now projected to become the world’s largest city by 2050.
The World Urbanization Prospects 2025 report from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs also found that the number of megacities – urban areas with more than 10 million inhabitants – has increased to 33, four times more than the eight that existed worldwide in 1975.
Of the world’s 33 megacities, 19 are in Asia, and nine of the top 10 megacities are in Asia. Apart from Jakarta, Dhaka and Tokyo, other Asian cities in the top 10 are: 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 population of 32 million people, Egypt’s Cairo is the only city in the top 10 that is outside Asia, according to the United Nations.
Sao Paulo in Brazil, with 18.9 million people, is the largest city in the Americas, while Lagos in Nigeria also grew rapidly, making it the largest city in sub-Saharan Africa.
still growing
Dhaka’s rapid growth has been partly driven by people moving from rural areas to the capital, seeking opportunities or fleeing hometowns due to problems including flooding and rising sea levels, made worse by climate change.
Jakarta is also facing problems due to rising sea level. It is estimated that by 2050, a quarter of the city may be submerged in water.
The problem is so severe that the Indonesian government is building a new purpose-built capital in Nusantara in the East Kalimantan province of the island of Borneo. Yet while the city authorities and parliamentary buildings will have a new home, the United Nations estimates there will be 10 million more people living in Jakarta by 2050.
The city’s growing population will also have to grapple with inequality and concerns over affordability, with thousands taking to the streets of an Indonesian city earlier this year, reflecting growing anger over the conditions of low-income workers, including app-based motorcycle ride-shares and delivery riders.
Meanwhile, according to the UN report, Iran’s capital Tehran, which is facing water shortage as it is close to running out of water, currently has a population of 9 million people.
The new assessment also saw changes as the UN adopted new measures to address inconsistencies in how different countries define urbanization.
The UN also said that in most cases its reports reflect the size of individual cities rather than two cities that grew together, with a few exceptions.
The new definition defines a city as a “contiguous group” of one-kilometre-square grid cells, with a density of at least 1,500 inhabitants per square kilometer and a total population of at least 50,000.
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