what is the most populous city in the world?
The most populous city in the world right now is Jakarta , Indonesia, with an estimated urban-area population of about 42 million people under the latest United Nations methodology.
Quick answer
- City: Jakarta, Indonesia
- Approximate population (urban area): 42 million people
- Why it’s ranked first: A 2025 UN “World Urbanization Prospects” update changed how urban areas are defined and counted, pushing Jakarta ahead of Tokyo and Dhaka.
Why rankings recently changed
Urban population rankings shifted because:
- The UN adopted a more consistent way to define what counts as a “city,” using geospatial data and standardized urban boundaries rather than each country’s local definitions.
- Under this updated method, Jakarta’s dense, continuously built-up region is treated as a single megacity, which pushes its total higher than earlier estimates that were more conservative.
How this differs from older lists
Many older lists and articles still name Tokyo as the largest city, with around 37 million people in its metropolitan area.
- Those figures rely on previous UN reports and other databases that use different metro-boundary rules, which can keep Tokyo in first place depending on the definition used.
- With the 2025 UN revision, Jakarta now ranks first, followed by Dhaka and then Tokyo, so newer “most populous city” discussions increasingly reference this updated ordering.
Related forum-style discussion angle
In online discussions and forums, people often debate:
- Definitions: Whether rankings should focus on “city proper,” “metro area,” or continuous “urban agglomeration,” since each can reshuffle the top spots.
- Data sources: Some users prefer long-running databases like World Population Review or citypopulation-style aggregators, which may still list Tokyo or Guangzhou at or near the top depending on how the region is drawn.
In short, if someone asks “what is the most populous city in the world?” using the latest UN megacity criteria, the answer is Jakarta , but older or alternative datasets may still say Tokyo , which is why different charts and forum posts sometimes disagree.
TL;DR: With the newest UN methodology, Jakarta is currently considered the world’s most populous city, ahead of Dhaka and Tokyo.
Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.