Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, has become the most populous city in the world. According to the population division in the World Urbanization Prospects 2025 report of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs published this month, 41 million people live in the capital of Indonesia.
jakarta After, the capital of Bangladesh is Dhaka, which has a population of 3 crore 66 lakhs. Tokyo, the capital of Japan, is the third largest with a population of 3 crore 34 lakhs. capital of india New Delhi is at fourth place with a population of 3 crore 2 lakh.
This is completely different from the previous UN report of 2018, in which the Japanese capital Tokyo was on top with a population of 3 crore 7 lakhs. This year Jakarta has left Tokyo behind.
Nine of the top 10 cities are in Asia
According to UN officials, this change in the rankings is the result of a new method, which is more uniform in the way cities, towns and rural areas are divided into categories.
According to the report, the number of people living in cities has more than doubled since 1950, when urban people made up 20% of the world’s 2.5 billion people. They now constitute almost half of the world’s 8.2 billion people.
The report further states that by 2050, two-thirds of global population growth is expected to occur in cities and the remaining one-third in towns. The number of megacities, defined as cities with at least 10 million people. It has increased from eight in 1975 to 33 in 2025. Nine of the 10 most populous cities are in Asia: Jakarta, Dhaka, Tokyo, New Delhi, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Manila, Kolkata and Seoul.
Metropolitan Tokyo’s 33 million people are spread over a large area, including areas around Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa. The latter includes Yokohama, itself a city of 3.7 million people.
Jakarta overtakes Tokyo and moves ahead
Tokyo was the world’s most populous city until about 2010, when it was replaced by Jakarta. Although the Tokyo area used in the UN study has been seeing population decline in recent years, like the rest of Japan, the city itself is moving in the opposite direction.
According to the Tokyo metropolitan government, the population of 23 special wards and 26 small towns, which can be called Tokyo proper, is now just over 14 million, compared with 13.2 million a decade ago.
Net migration to the Japanese capital slowed during the Covid-19 pandemic, but has since recovered as the influx of young people looking for work and study opportunities has increased.
On the other hand, there is not just one reason why Jakarta became the world’s most populous city, but the socio-economic changes that have taken place there over the decades are behind it.
Employment opportunities increase the attraction of youth
According to the report, Jakarta is now not only the capital of Indonesia, but has also become the world’s largest metropolitan area and has left Tokyo behind. Jakarta and its broader metropolitan area, known as Jabodetabek, are home to more than 40 million people.
The biggest reason for the rapid increase in Jakarta’s population is believed to be mass migration in the country. Millions of people come to Jakarta from rural areas, small towns and remote islands of Indonesia. People come here in search of education, employment and a better life.
Until the 1970s, Jakarta’s population was only a few lakhs, but economic liberalization, expansion of industries and rapid development of the service sector made Jakarta a center of attraction and attracted youth from all over the country. Most of the migrants coming here are youth and this is the biggest reason for the increase in population here.
Jakarta becomes city of banking, startup and investment
Even from the economic point of view, Jakarta has become the heartbeat of Indonesia. This city has become a center of banking, startup, trade, port and international investment. This is the reason why the youth of the country are continuously coming here and settling here. Suburbs like Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi etc. are situated around the city. Due to this the population density has increased manifold. People come to Jakarta to work during the day, but return to the suburbs at night.
Challenges also increased with population
Traffic jams, waterlogging, pollution, land subsidence, waste management and overcrowding have posed challenges to the people living in Jakarta. The government has decided to move the capital to the new city of Nusantara in Borneo, but despite this, the population of Jakarta is not decreasing, the main reason for this is the migration of people because the effective employment opportunities are in Jakarta only.
Thus, Jakarta’s rise to become the world’s most populous city did not happen all of a sudden, but rather lies the story of decades of migrant accumulation, economic importance, natural youth growth, and expansion into the metropolitan area.
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