Number of megacities, urban areas with 10 million or more inhabitants has quadrupled from 8 in 1975 to 33 in 2025

Indonesian capital Jakarta has become the world’s most populated capital with 42 million people, according to a new UN report.

The world is rapidly urbanizing, with cities now housing 45% of the global population of 8.2 billion, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs' World Urbanization Prospects 2025 report said.

Since 1950, when only 20% of the world’s 2.5 billion people lived in cities, the urban population has more than doubled. By 2050, it is projected that two-thirds of global population growth will take place in cities, with the remaining third in towns.

The number of megacities, urban areas with 10 million or more inhabitants, has quadrupled from eight in 1975 to 33 in 2025. Over half of these 19 are in Asia.

Jakarta is now the world’s most populous city, with nearly 42 million residents, followed by Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, with almost 40 million, and Japanese capital Tokyo with 33 million.

The current population of Indonesia is 286 million, according to Worldometer's elaboration of the latest UN data, with the Southeast Asian nation ranking 4th on the list of countries (and dependencies) by population.

In 2019, Indonesia said it will be moving its capital to Nusantara, a new city which is under construction. The $32 billion project was originally slated for inauguration in 2024, and is now said to be realized in 2028. (AA)