Jakarta overtakes Tokyo as world's largest city, according to UN
The Indonesian capital is one of 19 megacities across Asia. (ABC News: Mitch Woolnough)
In short:
Asia is home to nine of the world's 10 most populous cities in 2025, according to the United Nations.
A new report identifies Jakarta, with 42 million residents, as having the largest population globally.
Tokyo had long held the title as the world's largest city, but its population growth has stagnated.
Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, is the world's largest urban centre with a population of almost 42 million, according to new research by the United Nations.
Tokyo was the largest city in the world in the year 2000, but slower population growth over the previous quarter of a century has meant it has now been surpassed by Jakarta and Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka.
The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs' Population Division found Jakarta and Dhaka, with its population of nearly 37 million people, now far exceeded Tokyo's 33 million.
Dhaka is expected to become the world's largest city by 2050, while Tokyo's population is projected to decline over the next 25 years — reflecting Japan's shrinking ageing population.
Nine of the 10 most populous cities on the planet are located in Asia, the report's authors said, with Cairo in Egypt the only non-Asian city making the top 10.
Elisa Sutanudjaja, director of the Jakarta-based Rujak Centre for Urban Studies, said the report confirmed what urbanists already knew — that greater Jakarta's population had exceeded that of Tokyo for years.
The huge size of Jakarta's population posed major challenges, she said, not least because of poor coordination between local governments.
Indonesian Muslims offer Eid prayers on the street in the city of Bekasi, part of greater Jakarta. (Reuters: Antara/Fakhri Hermansyah)
Jakartans routinely deal with extreme traffic congestion, pollution and flooding.
In response, Indonesia's government announced in 2019 that it would move the capital city off the densely populated island of Java to Borneo.
But the project to build Nusantara, as the new administrative capital is named, is behind schedule and has struggled to attract investment.
Loading...Urbanisation a 'defining force of our time'
Cities were home to 45 per cent of the world's 8.2 billion people in 2025, up from just one in five people in 1950, according to the UN report.
It found the number of megacities — those with a population more than 10 million — had quadrupled since 1975 from eight to 33.
Nineteen of the world's megacities are located in Asia.
Tokyo's population is projected to decline over the next 25 years. (ABC News: Yumi Asada)
The UN report's authors said that Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia, would likely surpass the 10 million population mark by 2050 to become one of several additional megacities along with Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Hajipur, India.
Li Junhua, head of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said in a statement that "urbanisation is a defining force of our time".
"When managed inclusively and strategically, it can unlock transformative pathways for climate action, economic growth, and social equity," he said.
"To achieve balanced territorial development, countries must adopt integrated national policies that align housing, land use, mobility, and public services across urban and rural areas."