Demographics
The world's biggest cities moved east — and south
50 years of change in the world's megacities: from 8 in 1975 to 33 in 2025, most of them now in Asia.
In 1975 the world had 8 megacities; by 2025 there are 33 — and 19 of them are in Asia. Jakarta has overtaken Tokyo as the largest.
Key findings
- The number of megacities (10M+ people) more than quadrupled — from 8 in 1975 to 33 in 2025.
- 19 of the 33 megacities in 2025 are in Asia (58%); Jakarta is now the largest at 41.9 million, overtaking Tokyo.
- The share of the world's population living in megacities nearly tripled, from 2.6% in 1975 to 7.6% in 2025.
Explore the data
Coverage: Jan 1, 1975 – Dec 31, 2025 · World
Sources
Primary source
United Nations, DESA, Population Division
United Nations
World Urbanization Prospects 2025 (File 18: 100 Largest Cities)
Accessed Aug 14, 2026
Cities defined via the Degree of Urbanization (DEGURBA) framework; a megacity has 10M+ inhabitants.
Methodology
Cities are defined using the UN's Degree of Urbanization (DEGURBA) framework for international comparability. A megacity is a city with 10 million or more inhabitants. Figures are from the United Nations World Urbanization Prospects 2025 (File 18: the 100 largest cities in the world).
What this does not show
City population depends heavily on where boundaries are drawn. The DEGURBA framework aims for cross-country comparability, so these figures can differ from national city-proper or metropolitan-area definitions. The rankings count only cities that crossed the 10-million threshold.
Creator
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Attribution
Graphic by Chartive Editorial, using data from United Nations, DESA, Population Division
License: CC BY 4.0
Embed code
<figure style="margin:0;max-width:1024px">
<a href="https://chartive.org/visualizations/worlds-biggest-cities-moved-east-and-south" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
<img src="https://chartive.org/infographics/megacities-1975-2025.png" alt="Infographic comparing the world's megacities in 1975 (8 cities, led by Tokyo) and 2025 (33 cities, led by Jakarta at 41.9 million), showing a shift toward Asia and the Global South." width="1024" height="1536" style="max-width:100%;height:auto" />
</a>
<figcaption style="font:14px/1.4 system-ui,sans-serif;color:#57534e;margin-top:8px">
Graphic by Chartive Editorial, using data from United Nations, DESA, Population Division — via <a href="https://chartive.org/visualizations/worlds-biggest-cities-moved-east-and-south" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chartive</a>
</figcaption>
</figure>Reuse is welcome — the embed keeps a link back to the source.
