In 2025, Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, gained the status of the largest metropolis in the world by population. According to the United Nations, the city is home to 42 million people, placing it first in the global ranking of cities by population.
This is reported by Finway
Global Ranking of Metropolises in 2025
According to the UN report “World Urbanization Prospects 2025,” Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, took second place with a population of 37 million. Tokyo ranked third, with a current population of 33 million people. Experts note that the population of the Japanese capital has begun to decline faster than it is growing, and they predict further decreases in the number of residents in the coming decades.
“The population in the capital of Japan is decreasing faster than it is growing, so by 2050 it may drop to seventh place. In 25 years, Tokyo’s population is likely to shrink to 30 million.”
Growth of Metropolises and Urban Population
The UN also reported that the number of metropolises — cities with over 10 million residents — increased to 33 in 2025. In comparison, there were only eight such cities in 1975, and currently, 19 of them are located in Asia. It is projected that by 2050, there will be 37 metropolises worldwide.
From 2000 to 2025, the global urban population grew by 1.25 billion people. At the same time, more than half of this growth occurred in a few countries: India, China, Nigeria, Pakistan, and the USA. Together, these countries added over 500 million people to the global urban population.
Meanwhile, countries in Eastern Europe, particularly Ukraine, have experienced a decline in population.