Jakarta, not Tokyo, is the world's largest city
The ten most populous cities in 2025, millions of people, UN Degree of Urbanisation method.
- 1. One in ten in Japan will be foreign by 2070
- 2. Japan's foreign residents have doubled since 2012, passing 4 million
- 3. Jakarta, not Tokyo, is the world's largest city
- 4. Two in three newly licensed UK doctors qualified abroad
- 5. Iran dropped from top refugee host to fifth in 2025
- 6. Egypt has more asylum seekers than Germany, Spain and Italy
- 7. Chad rose from 15th to 6th among refugee hosts
- 8. Türkiye overtook France in hosting foreign students
- 9. Uzbekistan's university enrolment rose from 8% to 57%
- 10. Japan rose from ninth to second as Vietnamese emigrants' home
- 11. South Korea turned from student sender into student host
- 12. Nigeria became the third-biggest sender of students abroad
Jakarta tops the UN's 2025 ranking, ahead of Dhaka (36.6m) and Tokyo (33.4m).
Nine of the ten largest cities are in Asia. Cairo, 7th at 25.6 million, is the only exception.
Dhaka is projected to pass Jakarta (51.8m) by 2050, while Tokyo shrinks to 30.7m.
the numbers & method
| Population, 2025 (M) | |
|---|---|
| Jakarta, Indonesia | 41.9 |
| Dhaka, Bangladesh | 36.6 |
| Tokyo, Japan | 33.4 |
| New Delhi, India | 30.2 |
| Shanghai, China | 29.6 |
| Guangzhou, China | 27.6 |
| Cairo, Egypt | 25.6 |
| Manila, Philippines | 24.7 |
| Kolkata, India | 22.6 |
| Seoul, South Korea | 22.5 |
Claim types Estimate · Forecast · Interpretation
Values are UN estimates for 2025. WUP 2025 switched to the harmonised Degree of Urbanisation method, which defines cities by contiguous built-up density, not national administrative boundaries. Much of Jakarta's and Dhaka's lead over Tokyo comes from this change in method, not only from growth (interpretation). Full top-10 values from Destatis' table citing WUP 2025; top three confirmed by UN DESA press release (rounded: 'nearly 42', 'almost 40', '33' million — the UN's 'almost 40' for Dhaka is looser than its 36.6m data value). One press report gives Cairo 32m; Destatis' 25.6m is used as it matches the UN's rank order. 2050 projections (medium scenario) via Katadata quoting WUP 2025.
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