UN: Jakarta Overtakes Dhaka as World’s Most Crowded City, KL to Become a ‘Megacity’ by 2050

The United Nations (UN) recently released the latest ‘World Urbanization Prospects‘ via its Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), which revealed that the world is becoming increasingly urban as cities are now home to a whopping 8.2 billion people, 45% of the global population.

The report further revealed that Jakarta, Indonesia, is now the most populous city on Earth, overtaking Bangladesh’s Dhaka and Japan’s Tokyo.

Jakarta overtakes Dhaka as the world’s most populous city with 41.9 million residents

The UN DESA elaborated that Jakarta has 41.9 million residents, surpassing Dhaka, which has a population of 36.6 million.

Tokyo comes in third with 33.4 million residents, while India’s New Delhi (30.2 million) and China’s Shanghai (29.6 million) make up the top 5 most populous cities in 2025.

9 out of the top 10 cities in the list are in Asia, with the exception being Cairo, Egypt, which is the world’s 7th most populous city with 25.6 million residents.

Here are the 10 most crowded cities in the world, as per the latest UN DESA report:

1. Jakarta, Indonesia – 41.9 million residents
2. Dhaka, Bangladesh – 36.6 million residents
3. Tokyo, Japan – 33.4 million residents
4. New Delhi, India – 30.2 million residents
5. Shanghai, China – 29.6 million residents
6. Guangzhou, China – 27.6 million residents
7. Cairo, Egypt – 25.6 million residents
8. Manila, the Philippines – 24.7 million residents
9. Kolkata, India – 22.5 million residents
10. Seoul, South Korea – 22.5 million residents

Kuala Lumpur is expected to become a megacity by 2050

Besides that, the report found that the number of people living in cities has more than doubled since 1950.

Moreover, the number of megacities (urban areas with 10 million or more residents) has quadrupled from 8 in 1975 to 33 this year, with 19 of those cities located in Asia.

UN DESA expects that another 4 cities will be home to 10 million residents and more by 2050 and become megacities, which are:

1. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
3. Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania
4. Hajipur, India

Currently, UN DESA data show that Kuala Lumpur has a population of 8.44 million, making it the 44th most populous city in the world.

Meanwhile, according to the Malaysian Ministry of Housing and Local Government (KPKT), as quoted by Utusan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur has the highest population density in Malaysia with 8,235 people per square kilometre.