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. Al Jazeera on Thursday.
The list of the world’s 10 largest cities also includes two large Indian cities: the state capital of New Delhi and the state capital of West Bengal, 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 the dramatic increase in the number of megacities – urban areas with more than 10 million inhabitants. The number has now reached 33, 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 the list, accounting for 19 of the world’s 33 largest cities and securing nine of the top 10 positions.
The top 10 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), Korea (24.7 million), India Kolkata (24.7 million), South Korea (22.5 million).
With a relatively stable population of 33.4 million, Tokyo has slipped to third place when it was previously ranked as the world’s largest city in a UN assessment report published in 2000. Meanwhile, Dhaka has climbed from ninth place to second and is now projected to become the world’s most populous city by 2050.
The Egyptian capital Cairo, with a population of 32 million, is the only city in the top ten outside of Asia. With 18.9 million inhabitants, São Paulo in Brazil ranks among the largest cities in the Americas. Lagos, Nigeria is also growing rapidly, making it the largest city in sub-Saharan Africa.
The UN adopts new assessment measures
The latest assessment included significant methodological changes as the UN adopted new measures aimed at addressing inconsistencies in how different countries defined urbanization. The new definition specifies a city as a “contiguous agglomeration” of grid cells with an area of one square kilometer with a minimum density of 1,500 inhabitants per square kilometer and a total population of at least 50,000.
The UN also clarified that its report, with 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 agglomeration.
