Jakarta Tops UN City Rankings With 42 Million People as New Method Reshapes Global Map

A new measure puts Jakarta ahead of Tokyo

Jakarta has taken first place in the United Nations World Urbanization Prospects 2025 report, with approximately 42 million residents. Dhaka follows with 37 million, while Tokyo ranks third with 33 million. Nine of the world's 10 largest cities are in Asia, with Cairo the only city outside the continent to enter the top 10.

The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) compiled the report, which examines settlement patterns worldwide and projects changes through 2050. Its findings bring together two developments: the expansion of cities in developing regions and a new, more consistent way of measuring where a city begins and ends.

Jakarta's position therefore reflects population growth and a change in measurement. Earlier assessments used national definitions that differed widely between countries. The 2025 edition uses common population and geographical criteria, making it easier to compare settlements across borders.

Under that revised definition, Tokyo held first place until around 2010, when Jakarta overtook it. The latest ranking brings that historical change into view through the new method, rather than placing the moment of the crossover in 2025.

The report also looks beyond the largest metropolitan areas. Small and medium cities house more people than megacities and are growing faster, while rural populations continue to expand in parts of Africa. Together, those findings show why planning for population change requires attention to thousands of settlements, rather than just the cities at the top of the table.

How the UN draws a city's boundaries

The UN now defines a city as a continuous population cluster made up of grid cells containing at least 1,500 people per square kilometer, with at least 50,000 inhabitants in total. A grid cell is a small mapped area used to measure population density. Joining neighboring cells allows researchers to identify a settlement without depending entirely on its legal boundaries.

Satellite mapping and consistent geographical criteria help researchers trace these urban footprints. A city can extend beyond the area governed by a mayor or city administration, particularly where neighboring settlements have grown together.

Patrick Gerland, head of the UN department's population estimates and projection section, explained that earlier assessments relied on national data using widely varying definitions, which tended to prioritize Tokyo. The revised approach provides a more internationally comparable outline of urban areas using similar population and geographical criteria.

The 2025 edition introduces the Degree of Urbanization, a harmonized geographical approach that separates settlements into three categories: cities, towns and rural areas. For the first time, the report uses this framework to provide projections for all three categories.

The minimum city population covered by the analysis has also fallen from 300,000 to 50,000. That change expands the study to more than 12,000 cities, bringing many smaller settlements into a global assessment previously focused on larger urban centers.

The mapping system provides land area and area covered by buildings for each settlement category alongside population estimates. Those measurements help planners examine density, outward expansion and land use. Population totals describe how many people live in a place; land measurements help show how much space that settlement occupies.

Tokyo's region shrinks while Tokyo proper grows

Tokyo illustrates how boundaries affect the result. The region measured in the UN study includes the surrounding prefectures of Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa. It also includes Yokohama, a city with 3.7 million residents.

The wider Tokyo region has experienced population decline in recent years, following Japan's broader demographic pattern. Tokyo proper has moved in the opposite direction.

According to the Tokyo metropolitan government, the population of the 23 special wards and 26 smaller cities comprising Tokyo proper is currently just over 14 million, compared with 13.2 million a decade earlier. The metropolitan government's administrative area and the UN's wider urban region therefore describe different geographical units.

Tokyo remains enormous under the new measurement, with approximately 33 million people. The UN projects that its population will fall to about 30.7 million by 2050, taking it from third to seventh place in the global ranking.

Japan's aging population, low birth rates and limited immigration form the background to that projected decline. Its experience also points to the demographic pressures that other growing cities may encounter as their populations age and their economies mature.

Asia occupies nine of the top 10 places

Jakarta, Dhaka and Tokyo lead a ranking dominated by Asian population centers. India and China each have several cities near the top, while Manila and Seoul also appear among the 10 largest.

• Jakarta, Indonesia: approximately 42 million residents.
• Dhaka, Bangladesh: approximately 37 million.
• Tokyo, Japan: approximately 33 million.
• New Delhi, India: 30.2 million.
• Shanghai, China: 29.6 million.
• Guangzhou, China: 27.6 million.
• Cairo, Egypt: 25.6 million.
• Manila, Philippines: 24.7 million.
• Kolkata, India: 22.6 million.
• Seoul, South Korea: 22.5 million.

Cairo represents Africa in the top 10. Its 25.6 million inhabitants compare with 13.9 million in New York City, which ranks 22nd globally. Those figures put Cairo at about 1.8 times New York's population under the report's definitions.

China and India account for a substantial share of the top 30 cities. Alongside Shanghai, Guangzhou and New Delhi, the group includes Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai. Large national populations, concentrated economic activity and established roles as regional centers help these cities attract people moving from rural areas.

Asia's dominance also reflects the uneven pace of urban change. Many cities in developing regions continue to expand as people seek employment and other opportunities, while established metropolitan areas in developed countries face slower growth, aging populations or contraction.

Megacities have multiplied since 1975

The UN defines a megacity as an urban area with at least 10 million inhabitants. The world had eight in 1975 and 33 in 2025, roughly a fourfold increase over 50 years. Asia contains 19 of the current total.

The United States has two megacities, Los Angeles and New York City. Other regions have different levels of population concentration, with the largest share of these enormous settlements located in Asia.

Cities now house 45 percent of the world's 8.2 billion people. In 1950, they housed 20 percent of a global population of 2.5 billion. The share living in cities has more than doubled, while the world's population has also grown substantially.

The report projects 37 megacities by 2050, compared with 33 in 2025. Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, Hajipur in India and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia are expected to cross the threshold of 10 million residents in the coming decades.

Those projections place new centers of very large urban growth in Africa and Asia. They also show that the next phase of urbanization will involve both the enlargement of existing megacities and the arrival of additional cities in that category.

Dhaka is projected to take first place by 2050

Dhaka is expected to become the world's most populous city by 2050, reaching 52.1 million residents. Jakarta is projected to follow closely at 51.8 million, leaving a difference of approximately 300,000 people between them.

The forecast would add about 15.1 million residents to Dhaka's current population of 37 million and about 9.8 million to Jakarta's current population of 42 million. Those changes explain how Bangladesh's capital could move ahead even as Indonesia's largest urban area continues to grow.

The growth outlook describes Dhaka as experiencing rapid expansion, with annual growth rates close to 5 percent between 2025 and 2050. Shanghai is also expected to continue attracting people from rural areas.

Tokyo's projected decline to 30.7 million contrasts with those increases. The report also identifies cities that are shrinking despite their considerable size, including Mexico City and Chengdu in China.

National population trends and city trends can move in different directions. Some cities lose residents even while their countries grow, while others gain residents despite a falling national population. The report's city estimates therefore provide a different view from country totals alone.

The major dates in the report's historical picture and projections are:

• 1950: Cities housed 20 percent of a world population of 2.5 billion.
• 1975: The world had eight megacities, and rural settlements were the most common settlement type in 116 countries.
• Around 2010: Jakarta overtook Tokyo under the revised city definition.
• 2025: Jakarta led the ranking, and the world had 33 megacities.
• Around 2028: Indonesia aims to have Nusantara functioning as its political capital.
• 2045: Broader development of Nusantara is intended to extend toward this date.
• 2050: Dhaka is projected to lead the city ranking, with 37 megacities worldwide.

Jakarta's growth meets environmental pressures

Jakarta's first place comes alongside serious environmental and infrastructure problems. The Indonesian capital is vulnerable to earthquakes and flooding, suffers from severe pollution and is sinking rapidly because of groundwater extraction.

Those pressures helped prompt Indonesia's plan to relocate its capital to Nusantara on the island of Borneo, approximately 1,200 miles from Jakarta. The project, costing roughly $32 billion, aims to establish a new capital better positioned for sustainable growth.

Nusantara was originally scheduled for inauguration in 2024. Authorities now aim to have it functioning as the political capital by around 2028, with broader development continuing toward 2045. Those dates remain targets for a project that has experienced several setbacks.

Construction delays, limited foreign investment, management problems and land issues have complicated the move. Building a new seat of government requires infrastructure and services alongside administrative buildings, while Jakarta's existing population continues to need investment and protection from environmental risks.

Dhaka faces a comparable challenge of keeping services abreast of rapid population growth. Infrastructure pressures, environmental degradation and the task of providing basic services to millions of additional residents place demands on the city's government.

Rapid growth can outpace the ability of local authorities to plan and complete improvements. The population projections give an indication of the scale involved: both Dhaka and Jakarta are expected to exceed 50 million residents by 2050.

Smaller cities house more people than megacities

Small and medium cities contain more people than megacities and are growing faster. The report identifies them as important centers of regional development, particularly in Africa and Asia, and as links between rural communities and major metropolitan areas.

Among the roughly 12,000 cities analyzed, 96 percent have fewer than one million inhabitants and 81 percent have fewer than 250,000. The largest cities attract attention, but most cities are far smaller.

By 2050, the number of cities worldwide could exceed 15,000, with most still containing fewer than 250,000 residents. Future urban growth will therefore be spread across thousands of smaller centers as well as concentrated in a limited number of enormous ones.

These settlements can provide employment, services and opportunities at a more manageable scale. Their connections with rural areas and larger cities make them part of the same development picture, rather than an alternative to it.

Towns form another category in the UN framework. They are defined as population clusters with at least 5,000 inhabitants and a density of at least 300 people per square kilometer.

Towns are the most common settlement type in 71 countries, including Germany, India, Uganda and the United States. They provide essential services, support local economies and connect rural populations with cities. Separating towns from cities allows the report to describe settlement patterns in more detail than a simple urban and rural division.

Rural change follows a different pattern in Africa

Rural settlements are the most common settlement type in 62 countries today, down from 116 in 1975. The UN projects that the number will fall further to 44 by 2050, reflecting the shift toward living in cities and towns.

Rural settlements nevertheless remain the leading category in several European countries, including Austria, Bulgaria, Finland and Romania. They also dominate in numerous countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including the Central African Republic, Chad, Eswatini, Mozambique and Zambia.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region where rural populations have continued to grow substantially. It is expected to account for nearly all future growth in the world's rural population.

Governments in the region consequently face expanding needs in rural areas at the same time as rapid urban growth. Investment decisions must cover both, including the connections between settlements that allow people to reach services and participate in local economies.

The report's three settlement categories help make that task visible. A country can experience growth in its cities while still needing to provide for a large or increasing rural population.

Housing, transport and climate policy need a common plan

Li Junhua, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, described urbanization as a force shaping economic, environmental and social change.

Urbanization is a defining force of our time.

Li said that inclusive and strategic management of urbanization can open opportunities for climate action, economic growth and social equity. He also called for integrated national policies that align housing, land use, mobility and public services across urban and rural areas to achieve balanced territorial development.

Those policy areas are closely connected. Where homes are built affects travel needs, while population growth changes demand for public services. The report's population, land area and building data give planners a basis for considering those decisions together.

The report connected these findings with the climate commitments governments were discussing at COP30. It highlighted the role of urbanization in sustainable development and resilience to climate pressures across cities, towns and rural settlements.

Urban centers account for a disproportionate share of global resource use and greenhouse gas emissions. They also create opportunities to deliver services more efficiently, support economic innovation and make sustainable living practical when development is well planned.

The Sustainable Development Goals are part of that wider policy picture. Well managed cities can support economic growth, reduce poverty, improve public health and protect the environment. Poorly managed expansion can deepen inequality, damage the environment and increase social tensions.

The World Urbanization Prospects 2025 report gives policymakers, planners and researchers a common set of estimates and projections for those decisions. Its central message extends beyond Jakarta's new ranking: population growth, changing boundaries and different settlement patterns all affect where housing, transport and public services will be needed.

The Bottom Line

• Jakarta leads the UN ranking with approximately 42 million residents, followed by Dhaka with 37 million and Tokyo with 33 million.
• The 2025 report uses common population and geographical criteria and covers more than 12,000 cities.
• Nine of the 10 largest cities are in Asia; Cairo is the only exception.
• The world has 33 megacities, compared with eight in 1975, and is projected to have 37 by 2050.
• Dhaka is projected to reach 52.1 million residents by 2050, just ahead of Jakarta at 51.8 million.
• Tokyo's wider urban region is projected to decline to 30.7 million, while Tokyo proper has grown over the past decade.
• Indonesia aims for Nusantara to function as its political capital around 2028, with broader development extending toward 2045.
• Small and medium cities house more people than megacities and are growing faster.
• Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to account for nearly all future rural population growth.