which cities are rising, and which are fading

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

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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