Jakarta Becomes the World’s Most Populated City

On 27th November 2025, the UN’s World Urbanisation Prospects 2025 report declared Jakarta the world’s most populated city with an estimated 42 million residents, overtaking Tokyo.

  • Dhaka ranks second with 37 million people, while Tokyo falls to third with 33 million, reflecting a new UN methodology that applies consistent global criteria for defining urban areas.
  • The updated approach uses harmonised geospatial and population metrics, offering more comparable measurements of cities worldwide, according to UN officials.
  • Urbanisation has surged globally, from 20% of the world’s population living in cities in 1950 to nearly half today; by 2050, two-thirds of all ....
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