Jakarta dethrones Tokyo to become world's most populous city

The shift marks a historic moment in the global urban hierarchy and underscores how rapidly cities in Asia are expanding. The UN’s latest figures show that in 2025, cities are home to 45% of the world’s 8.2 billion people, more than double the 20% share in 1950. Towns account for another 36%, while rural areas now house just 19% of the global population.

Jakarta now tops the list of the world’s megacities, followed by Dhaka in Bangladesh with around 37 million people and Tokyo in Japan with 33 million, putting the former long-time number one down to third place.

The report highlights how dramatically the urban map has been redrawn over the last half-century. The number of megacities, urban areas with 10 million or more inhabitants, has quadrupled, jumping from 8 in 1975 to 33 in 2025, with 19 of them located in Asia.

By 2050, that total is projected to reach 37, as cities such as Addis Ababa, Dar es Salaam, Hajipur and Kuala Lumpur cross the 10-million threshold.

Urban growth is not just about a few giant cities. The UN notes that two-thirds of the world’s population growth between now and 2050 will occur in cities, with most of the remainder in towns, while the rural population is expected to peak in the 2040s and then decline.

Looking ahead, the balance among the biggest cities will keep shifting. Dhaka and Shanghai are expected to be among the fastest-growing large cities, with projected growth rates close to 5% a year between 2025 and 2050.

By mid-century, Dhaka is projected to become the world's largest city with about 52.1 million residents, just ahead of Jakarta at 51.8 million, while Tokyo's population is projected to shrink to around 30.7 million and fall to seventh place in the global rankings.

The demographic shift is unfolding as Indonesia, now home to about 286 million people and ranked fourth-most populous country in the world, prepares to relocate its national capital from Jakarta to the newly built city of Nusantara on the island of Borneo.

The roughly $32 billion project was originally slated for a 2024 inauguration, and authorities now aim to have Nusantara functioning as the political capital by around 2028, with broader development stretching toward 2045.