A report shows that Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, is welcoming 42 millions of people, more than Dacca and Tokyo.
The world’s largest megacity is a city that is sinking: Jakarta. Indonesia’s capital now has 42 million inhabitants, overtaking Dhaka (Bangladesh), with around 40 million, and Tokyo (Japan), which is close to 33 million. This is a deeply alarming figure, given that the vast Indonesian urban centre is severely affected by the impacts of climate change.
Torrential rains and tsunamis have been affecting Jakarta for years. As early as 2019, the Indonesian government began considering a drastic solution: relocating the capital outside the island of Java.
The decision was formally taken in 2022, with the announcement of the new seat of government: Nusantara. For now, little is known beyond the name, as it will be a new city built from scratch, located on the island of Borneo, about 2,000 kilometres from the current capital.
“By analysing our models, we can state that by 2050 around 95 per cent of northern Jakarta will be submerged,” explained Heri Andreas, a land management expert, speaking to the BBC in August 2018. The situation is particularly critical because around 40 per cent of Jakarta’s territory already lies below sea level.
The report that has effectively crowned Jakarta as the world’s most populous megacity is World Urbanization Prospects 2025, published by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (Undesa). According to the report, “the number of people living in urban areas has more than doubled worldwide since 1950, when only 20 per cent of the Earth’s 2.5 billion inhabitants lived in cities.” Today, that figure has reached 45 per cent of the global population, which has meanwhile grown to 8.2 billion.
According to the UN report, the number of megacities worldwide—defined as cities with more than 10 million inhabitants—is expected to rise to 37 by 2050. New entrants will include African cities such as Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), as well as Hajipur (India) and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia).
“Urbanisation is one of the defining forces of our time,” said Li Junhua, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs. “If managed in an inclusive and strategic way, it can pave the way for major transformations in climate action, economic growth, and social equity.” To achieve this, however, integrated national policies are needed that harmonise housing, land use, mobility, and public services across both urban and rural areas.
Asia continues to dominate in terms of the number of megacities. Of the 33 cities with more than 10 million inhabitants recorded in 2025, 19 are located in Asia, and Cairo is the only non-Asian city among the world’s top ten.
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