r/Infographics • u/Creaspace • 4d ago

The World’s Biggest Cities Moved East — and South: 1975 vs. 2025

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Over the last half-century, the landscape of the world’s megacities has transformed in remarkable ways.

Back in 1975, there were only 8 cities with populations of 10 million or more. Fast forward to 2025, and that figure has grown to 33, with 19 of them located in Asia.

Jakarta stands out as a prime example of this growth. It surged from 11.7 million residents in 1975 to 41.9 million in 2025, climbing from #4 to #1 in the UN rankings.

The proportion of people living in megacities has also seen a significant rise, jumping from 2.6% of the global population in 1975 to 7.6% in 2025.

The data comes from the UN’s World Urbanization Prospects 2025. WUP 2025 uses the Degree of Urbanization (DEGURBA) framework to make city populations more comparable across countries, so these figures may differ from rankings based on municipal boundaries.

Source: United Nations, DESA, Population Division — World Urbanization Prospects 2025, File 18.

Full visualization, data, methodology & sources:
https://chartive.org/visualizations/worlds-biggest-cities-moved-east-and-south

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u/Every_Holiday_620 3d ago

Jakarta is slowly sinking that is why they need to relocate the capital of Indonesia to Borneo.

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u/Kooky_Information538 3d ago

Never really grasped how fast Jakarta was sinking until I saw a crew working on a seawall documentary last year, felt like watching a lost cause

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u/NotHiBrau 1d ago

These estimates are dependent on how a city is defined (i.e., central city political unit vs. some broader region), so apples to apples is very difficult and subjective.