which cities are rising, and which are fading

50 cities, six rankings, measured the same way everywhere. No surveys. No paid places.

Riyadh Saudi Arabia

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Where cities are covering the most new land

Growth in built-up area, 2000 to 2025: land covered by buildings, from satellite data. · Estimate

all Africa Asia Middle East Latin America Europe North America
  1. 1 Luanda Angola 155%
  2. 2 Johannesburg South Africa 143%
  3. 3 Dubai UAE 137%
  4. 4 Dhaka Bangladesh 135%
  5. 5 Shanghai China 122%
  6. 6 Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam 98%
  7. 7 Bangkok Thailand 84%
  8. 8 Riyadh Saudi Arabia 84%
  9. 9 Bengaluru India 83%
  10. 10 Dar es Salaam Tanzania 83%
  11. 11 Addis Ababa Ethiopia 76%
  12. 12 Beijing China 68%
  13. 13 Chengdu China 68%
  14. 14 Lahore Pakistan 64%
  15. 15 Cairo Egypt 63%
  16. 16 Lagos Nigeria 60%
  17. 17 Nairobi Kenya 60%
  18. 18 Shenzhen China 59%
  19. 19 Santiago Chile 55%
  20. 20 Hong Kong China 53%
  21. 21 Seoul South Korea 52%
  22. 22 Abidjan Côte d'Ivoire 47%
  23. 23 Madrid Spain 46%
  24. 24 Delhi India 45%
  25. 25 Karachi Pakistan 45%
  26. 26 Jakarta Indonesia 44%
  27. 27 Singapore Singapore 41%
  28. 28 Bogotá Colombia 38%
  29. 29 Kolkata India 38%
  30. 30 Istanbul Türkiye 36%
  31. 31 Manila Philippines 36%
  32. 32 Lima Peru 32%
  33. 33 Moscow Russia 32%
  34. 34 Baghdad Iraq 30%
  35. 35 Mumbai India 29%
  36. 36 Tehran Iran 28%
  37. 37 Buenos Aires Argentina 25%
  38. 38 Khartoum Sudan 25%
  39. 39 Kinshasa DR Congo 23%
  40. 40 Rio de Janeiro Brazil 23%
  41. 41 Mexico City Mexico 20%
  42. 42 Sydney Australia 20%
  43. 43 São Paulo Brazil 20%
  44. 44 London UK 19%
  45. 45 Tokyo Japan 18%
  46. 46 Berlin Germany 17%
  47. 47 Los Angeles USA 15%
  48. 48 New York USA 15%
  49. 49 Paris France 15%
  50. 50 Chicago USA 5%

Source: UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025 (cities by the Degree of Urbanisation) · 2025 data. City edges follow the UN’s density rule, so some metros (Hong Kong shows its largest UN city, Tamar; Mumbai excludes satellite towns) are smaller than their usual borders. 2025 values are UN estimates.

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