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File:Cities with 10M People in 2025.png

Map showing urban areas with at least ten million inhabitants in 2025, according to the GHSL

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A megacity is a very large city, typically with a population of more than 10 million people.^[1] The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) in its "World Urbanization Prospects" report defines megacities as urban agglomerations with over 10 million inhabitants.^[2]^[3] A University of Bonn report holds that they are "usually defined as metropolitan areas with a total population of 10 million or more people".^[4] Elsewhere in other sources, from five to eight million is considered the minimum threshold, along with a population density of at least 2,000 per square kilometre.^[5] The terms conurbation, metropolis, and metroplex are also applied to the latter.^[5]

The total number of megacities in the world varies between different sources and their publication dates. The world had 32 according to EU Global Human Settlement Layer (2024), 33 according to UN DESA (2025), 39 according to the OECD (2020), 42 according to Demographia (2025), and 45 according to CityPopulation.de (2023). The later two add 13 additional cities that are calculated outside the range otherwise. In total, at most 53 unique places are mentioned as megacities across these sources, although some of these are just agglomerated differently between them. A good percentage of these urban agglomerations are in China and India. The other three-to-five countries with more than one megacity are Brazil, Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan, and the United States. African megacities are present in Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa; European megacities are present in France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and Turkey (also in Asia); megacities can be found in Latin America in the countries of Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, and Argentina.

Many recent satellite image-based sources identify China's Pearl River Delta (anchored by Guangzhou) as the largest megacity and continuously built-up area of the world.^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10] However, as of 2025, the UN sees both urban centres of Guangzhou and Shenzhen in the Pearl River Delta as disjointed megacities, and instead lists Jakarta as the world's largest megacity.^[11] Older sources, such as OECD in 2020, still list the Tokyo as the largest.

List of megacities

Numbers in red with an asterisk (*) do not meet the 10 million threshold to be considered a megacity. Template:Sticky header Template:Static row numbers

Megacity	Image	Country	Region	Estimated population
Megacity	Image	Country	Region	UN DESA (2025)^[3]	Citypopulation.de (2025)^[7]	Demographia (2025)^[6]	GHSL (2024)^[12]	OECD (2020)^[13]
Bangalore	File:UB City.jpg	Template:Flagg	South Asia	13,187,000	14,700,000	16,216,000	15,178,533	14,253,019
Bangkok	File:0008871 - Krung Thep Bridge 001.jpg	Template:Flagg	Southeast Asia	18,180,000	21,800,000	20,284,000	19,048,032	18,601,400
Beijing	File:Skyline of Beijing CBD with B-5906 approaching (20211016171955).jpg	Template:Flagg	East Asia	17,013,000	21,500,000	22,363,000	18,150,576	20,738,738
Bogotá	File:Bogota z veže Colpatria (34432642862).jpg	Template:Flagg	South America	10,624,000	10,600,000	10,734,000	10,419,361	10,544,590
Buenos Aires	File:High-rises of Puerto Madero (40022145164).jpg	Template:Flagg	South America	14,018,000	16,800,000	15,933,000	14,179,912	14,590,526
Cairo	File:Egypt-2B-002 - Cairo at Night (2217349566).jpg	Template:Flagg	Script error: No such module "sort".	25,566,000	22,800,000	22,684,000	25,230,325	27,925,433
Changsha	File:Skyline with Xiang River.png	Template:Flagg	East Asia	—	11,500,000	3,709,000*	3,246,971*	4,009,195*
Chaoshan Template:Efn	File:Puning Urban Night View from Baierqiutian.jpg	Template:Flagg	East Asia	6,804,000*	8,050,000*	12,187,000	10,579,303	13,891,202
Chengdu	File:雪山下的成都市天际线 Chengdu skyline with snow capped mountains.jpg	Template:Flagg	East Asia	6,140,000*	18,100,000	8,040,000*	5,609,627*	9,768,500*
Chennai	File:Victoria Public Hall and Chennai central aerial view.jpg	Template:Flagg	South Asia	11,153,000	12,900,000	11,950,000	11,466,400	11,528,915
Chongqing	File:重庆市渝中区半岛.jpg	Template:Flagg	East Asia	7,071,000*	12,900,000	11,524,000	8,449,690*	8,913,804*
Delhi	File:Skyline at Rajiv Chowk.JPG	Template:Flagg	South Asia	30,222,000	35,700,000	33,224,000	31,422,508	33,495,554
Dhaka	File:Drone view from Kamal Atatürk Avenue.jpg	Template:Flagg	South Asia	36,585,000	23,100,000	25,305,000	37,307,160	22,762,988
Guangzhou	File:Guangzhou Twin Towers.jpg	Template:Flagg	East Asia	27,563,000	72,700,000	69,562,000	42,987,704	16,650,322
Hangzhou	File:20201012从钱塘江江面上空观看钱江新城.jpg	Template:Flagg	East Asia	7,500,000*	14,600,000	12,422,000	6,387,064*	9,013,951*
Ho Chi Minh City	File:Saigon skyline night view.jpg	Template:Flagg	Southeast Asia	14,053,000	14,300,000	16,024,000	14,557,830	14,247,593
Hyderabad	File:Manjeera Trinity corporate building, KPHB.jpg	Template:Flagg	South Asia	9,191,000*	11,700,000	10,101,000	9,455,230*	9,706,886*
Istanbul	File:View of Levent financial district from Istanbul Sapphire.jpg	Template:Flagg	Europe West Asia	15,015,000	16,000,000	14,749,000	14,210,222	14,693,269
Jakarta	File:SCBD, Jakarta.jpg	Template:Flagg	Southeast Asia	41,914,000	29,500,000	36,877,000	40,545,126	32,513,588
Johannesburg	File:Johannesburg CBD.jpg	Template:Flagg	Script error: No such module "sort".	7,077,000*	14,800,000	15,026,000	8,592,843*	9,497,036*
Karachi	File:Skyline view in Karachi after lockdown.jpg	Template:Flagg	South Asia	21,423,000	21,000,000	21,258,000	21,031,703	18,916,709
Kinshasa	File:Boulevard du 30 juin, Kinshasa.jpg	Template:Flagg	Script error: No such module "sort".	10,944,000	16,300,000	13,060,000	12,945,683	10,077,694
Kolkata	File:EM Bypass Kolkata.jpg	Template:Flagg	South Asia	22,550,000	17,900,000	20,327,000	23,314,585	24,106,859
Lagos	File:Lagos skyline.jpg	Template:Flagg	Script error: No such module "sort".	12,792,000	21,300,000	15,283,000	12,486,045	12,642,198
Lahore	File:Badshahi Mosquee, Lahore.jpg	Template:Flagg	South Asia	15,156,000	14,600,000	14,256,000	14,305,060	15,696,939
Lima	File:City of Lima, Peru.jpg	Template:Flagg	South America	10,580,000	12,000,000	10,914,000	10,828,104	10,496,389
London	File:City of London skyline from London City Hall - Sept 2015 - Crop Aligned.jpg	Template:Flagg	Europe	10,416,000	15,100,000	11,360,000	10,408,333	13,475,297
Los Angeles	File:Los Angeles with Mount Baldy.jpg	Template:Flagg	North America	12,740,000	17,100,000	15,582,000	13,474,333	16,206,529
Luanda	File:Marginal de Luanda HD Dji Mavic 3 Classic - By Délcio Geovany Borges.jpg	Template:Flagg	Script error: No such module "sort".	11,370,000	9,650,000*	11,892,000	11,672,134	10,212,263
Metro Manila	File:Makati Guadalupe-Poblacion skyline with Paco, Quirino (Manila; 12-23-2023).jpg	Template:Flagg	Southeast Asia	24,735,000	27,800,000	25,521,000	25,921,189	27,327,889
Mexico City	File:Ciudad.de.Mexico.City.- Paseo.Reforma.Skyline CDMX 2016 (cropped).jpg	Template:Flagg	North America	17,734,000	25,400,000	18,942,000	17,639,164	19,229,491
Moscow	File:Business Centre of Moscow 2.jpg	Template:Flagg	Europe	14,525,000	18,800,000	18,509,000	14,384,082	17,217,606
Mumbai	File:ওরলির গগনরৈখিক দৃশ্য.jpg	Template:Flagg	South Asia	20,203,000	27,600,000	26,237,000	20,453,270	23,435,141
Nagoya	File:Meieki from Heiwa Park Aqua Tower.jpg	Template:Flagg	East Asia	7,146,000*	10,500,000	9,617,000*	7,721,742*	9,853,994*
New York City	File:Billionaires NY.jpg	Template:Flagg	North America	13,920,000	21,800,000	20,892,000	14,197,659	20,106,617
Osaka	File:Nakanoshima Skyscrapers in 201504 001.jpg	Template:Flagg	East Asia	12,964,000	17,700,000	14,998,000	12,653,994	16,866,788
Paris	File:Eiffel Tower from the Tour Montparnasse 3, Paris May 2014.jpg	Template:Flagg	Europe	9,382,000*	11,500,000	11,282,000	9,328,385*	11,249,025
Rhine-Ruhr	File:Aerial view of Essen.jpg	Template:Flagg	Europe	—	10,900,000	6,874,000*	—	—
Rio de Janeiro	File:Aerial View of Flamengo 1.jpg	Template:Flagg	South America	9,500,000*	13,600,000	12,546,000	9,853,693*	11,068,999
São Paulo	File:SP from Altino Arantes Building.jpg	Template:Flagg	South America	18,950,000	22,600,000	21,747,000	19,485,158	21,671,857
Seoul	File:Seoul (South Korea).jpg	Template:Flagg	East Asia	22,490,000	25,200,000	23,825,000	22,261,692	25,199,125
Shanghai	File:Shanghai skyline waterfront pudong 5166168 69 70.jpg	Template:Flagg	East Asia	29,559,000	41,600,000	45,115,000	30,678,616	30,504,083
Shenzhen	File:Shenzhen Skyline from Nanshan.jpg	Template:Flagg	East Asia	13,878,000	Combined with Guangzhou	Combined with Guangzhou	Combined with Guangzhou	Combined with Guangzhou
Surabaya	File:Central Surabaya view taken from JW Marriott Surabaya.jpg	Template:Flagg	Southeast Asia	6,844,000*	5,950,000*	6,820,000*	6,856,993*	10,695,358
Suzhou	File:东方之门1.jpg	Template:Flagg	East Asia	7,731,000*	Combined with Shanghai	Combined with Shanghai	11,540,430	13,458,006
Taipei	File:Taipei Skyline 2022.06.29.jpg	Template:Flagg	East Asia	9,137,000*	10,100,000	9,866,000*	9,686,521*	10,048,037
Tehran	File:North of Tehran Skyline view.jpg	Template:Flagg	West Asia	9,175,000*	16,800,000	14,137,000	9,363,124*	13,563,316
Tianjin	File:Tianjin Skyline 2009 Sep 11 by Nangua 1.jpg	Template:Flagg	East Asia	7,285,000*	11,700,000	12,095,000	7,330,648*	8,963,397*
Tokyo	File:Minato City, Tokyo, Japan.jpg	Template:Flagg	East Asia	33,413,000	41,200,000	37,325,000	33,155,907	36,697,549
Wuhan	File:Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge in 2020.jpg	Template:Flagg	East Asia	7,364,000*	12,600,000	10,041,000	8,079,484*	8,947,812*
Xiamen	File:Amoy Skyscrapers 2018.jpg	Template:Flagg	East Asia	—	15,400,000	6,237,000*	1,676,987*	4,261,898*
Xi'an	File:Xi'an erhuan southeast.JPG	Template:Flagg	East Asia	5,231,000*	13,400,000	8,312,000*	5,298,991*	6,818,858*
Zhengzhou	File:20211224 CBD of Zhengdong New Area.jpg	Template:Flagg	East Asia	—	10,300,000	6,860,000*	5,126,112*	6,381,637*

Notes

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History

Pre-industrial era

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File:Détail de la maquette de Rome à lépoque de Constantin (5839479770).jpg

Gismondi's model of Rome in the time of Constantine

In the Antiquity era, for almost five hundred years, Rome was the largest, wealthiest, and most politically important city of the ancient world, ruling over Europe, Western Asia and Northern Africa.^[14]Template:Sps^[15] Population estimates of 750,000–1,000,000 people by the end of the 1st century BC are generally given by scholars; however, that would require population densities as high as 72,150 per square kilometre.^[16]^[17] If densities were similar to those in the well-preserved cities of Pompeii and Ostia, the population would be around 500,000.^[17] Rome's population started declining in 402 AD when Flavius Honorius, Western Roman Emperor from 395 to 423, moved the government to Ravenna and Rome's population declined to a mere 20,000 during the Early Middle Ages, reducing the sprawling city to groups of inhabited buildings interspersed among large areas of ruins and vegetation.

Baghdad was likely the largest city in the world from shortly after its foundation in 762 AD until the 930s, with some estimates putting its population at over one million.^[18] Chinese capital cities Chang'an and Kaifeng also experienced huge population booms during prosperous empires. According to the census in the year 742 recorded in the New Book of Tang, 362,921 families with 1,960,188 persons were counted in Jingzhao Fu (Script error: No such module "Lang".), the metropolitan area including small cities in the vicinity of Chang'an.^[19] The medieval settlement surrounding Angkor, the one-time capital of the Khmer Empire which flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, could have supported a population of up to one million people.^[20]

Formation of Megacities

File:Trafalgar Square by James Pollard.jpg

During the 19th century, London was transformed into the world's largest city and capital of the British Empire.

In 1800, only 3% of the world's population lived in cities, a figure that rose to 47% by the end of the twentieth century.^[21] The term "megacity" entered common use in the late 19th or early 20th centuries; one of the earliest documented uses of the term was by the University of Texas in 1904.^[22] Initially the United Nations used the term to describe cities of 8 million or more inhabitants, but now uses the threshold of 10 million.^[23] In the mid 1970s the term was coined by urbanist Janice Perlman referring to the phenomenon of very large urban agglomerations.^[24]

From around 1825 to 1918 London was the largest city in the world, with the population growing rapidly; it was the first city to reach a population of over 5 million in 1900. In 1950, New York City was the only urban area with a population of over 10 million.^[25] This increase has happened as the world's population moves towards the high (75–85%) urbanization levels of North America and Western Europe.

Since the 2000s, the largest megacity has been the Greater Tokyo Area. The population of this urban agglomeration includes areas such as Yokohama and Kawasaki, and is estimated to be between 37 and 38 million. This variation in estimates can be accounted for by different definitions of what the area encompasses. While the prefectures of Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa, and Saitama are commonly included in statistical information, the Japan Statistics Bureau only includes the area within 50 kilometers of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices in Shinjuku, thus arriving at a smaller population estimate.^[26]^[27]

A characteristic issue of megacities is the difficulty in defining their outer limits and accurately estimating the populations. To correct for this an Urban Metric System was proposed, including measurement of Paropolis, that has tantamount calculation values to megacities.^[28] It has been applied limitedly, f.e. by Canada in cases since 2018. Another list defines megacities as urban agglomerations instead of metropolitan areas.^[29]

Growth

Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Acceleration of urbanization led geographers to identify nine megacities in 1985, 19 in 2004 and 25 such areas as of October 2005.^[30] Among the 27 megacities with populations over 10 million globally in 2007, 15 were situated in Asia.^[21] The top eight provincial capital cities in China with urban areas exceeding 400 km²—Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Wuhan, and Xi'an—accounted for 54.8% of the total urban area of all provincial capital cities in the country in 2015.^[21] Other sources list Nagoya^[7] and the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region^[31] as megacities.

In 2010, UN forecasted that urban population of 3.2 billion would rise to nearly 5 billion by 2030, when three out of five, or 60%, of people would live in cities.^[32] This increase will be most dramatic on the least-urbanized continents, Asia and Africa. By 2025, Asia's growth alone modeled having at least 30 megacities.

Surveys and projections indicate that all urban growth over the next 25 years will be in developing countries.^[33] One billion people, almost one-seventh of the world's population, now live in shanty towns.^[34] In many poor countries, overcrowded slums exhibit high rates of disease due to unsanitary conditions, malnutrition, and lack of basic health care.^[35] By 2030, over 2 billion people in the world will be living in slums.^[36] Over 90% of the urban population of Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda, three of the world's most rural countries, already live in slums.

Challenges

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Slums

File:Mumbai (5356346073).jpg

Mumbai's Dharavi slum is home to 1 million residents.

According to the United Nations, the proportion of urban dwellers living in slums or informal settlements decreased from 47 percent to 37 percent in the developing world between 1990 and 2005.^[37] However, due to rising population, the absolute number of slum dwellers is rising and passed 1 billion in 2018.^[38] The increase in informal settlement population has been caused by massive migration, both internal and transnational, into cities, which has caused growth rates of urban populations and spatial concentrations not seen before in history.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". The majority of these are located in informal settlements which often lack sufficient quality housing, sanitation, drainage, water access, and officially recognized addresses. These issues raise problems in the political, social, and economic arenas.^[39] People who live in slums or informal settlements often have minimal or no access to education, healthcare, or the urban economy.

Crime

File:View over Complexo do Alemao (Favela) - From Igreja da Penha - Rio de Janeiro - Brazil - 03 (17556920491).jpg

Most murders in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, are gang-related and happen in the favelas.

As with any large concentration of people, there is usually crime.^[40]^[41] High population densities often result in higher crime rates, as visibly seen in growing megacities such as Karachi, Delhi, Cairo, Rio de Janeiro, and Lagos.^[42]

Homelessness

Megacities often have significant numbers of homeless people. The actual legal definition of homelessness varies from country to country, or among different entities or institutions in the same country or region.^[43]

In 2002, research showed that children and families were the largest growing segment of the homeless population in the United States,^[44]^[45] and this has presented new challenges, especially in services, to agencies. In the US, the government asked many major cities to come up with a ten-year plan to end homelessness. One of the results of this was a "Housing first" solution, rather than to have a homeless person remain in an emergency homeless shelter it was thought to be better to quickly get the person permanent housing of some sort and the necessary support services to sustain a new home. But there are many complications with this kind of program and these must be dealt with to make such an initiative work successfully in the middle to long term.^[46]^[47]

Traffic congestion

File:Ratchadamri to Pratunam.jpg

Bangkok is notorious for its traffic congestion.

Traffic congestion is a condition on road networks that occurs as use increases, and is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, increased pollution, and increased vehicular queueing. The Texas Transportation Institute estimated that, in 2000, the 75 largest metropolitan areas experienced 3.6 billion vehicle-hours of delay, resulting in 5.7 billion U.S. gallons (21.6 billion liters) in wasted fuel and $67.5 billion in lost productivity, or about 0.7% of the nation's GDP. It also estimated that the annual cost of congestion for each driver was approximately $1,000 in very large cities and $200 in small cities.^[48] Traffic congestion is increasing in major cities and delays are becoming more frequent in smaller cities and rural areas. It also can result in various issues, including economic losses, energy waste, air and noise pollution, and more.^[21]

Urban sprawl

File:South-Los-Angeles-110-and-105-freeways-Aerial-view-from-north-August-2014.jpg

A flat land area in the Greater Los Angeles Area in the U.S. state of California with houses, buildings, roads, and freeways. Areas constructed to capacity contribute to urban expansion.

Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a multifaceted concept, which includes the spreading outwards of a city and its suburbs to its outskirts to low-density, auto-dependent development on rural land, with associated design features that encourage car dependency.^[49] As a result, some critics argue that sprawl has certain disadvantages including longer transport distances to work, high car dependence, inadequate facilities (e.g. health, cultural. etc.) and higher per-person infrastructure costs. Discussions and debates about sprawl are often obfuscated by the ambiguity associated with the phrase. For example, some commentators measure sprawl only with the average number of residential units per acre in a given area. But others associate it with decentralization (spread of population without a well-defined center), discontinuity (leapfrog development), segregation of uses, etc.^[50]

Gentrification

Gentrification and urban gentrification are terms for the socio-cultural changes in an area as a result of wealthier people buying property in a less prosperous community.^[51] As living costs rise, lower-income residents are forced to move out of the community leading to an increase in average income, which in turn makes the area more desirable to other wealthier property or business owners, further pushing the living costs up. This process also tends to lead to a decrease in average family size in the area. This type of population change reduces industrial land use when it is redeveloped for commerce and housing.

Air pollution

File:Shanghai Smog.JPG

Air pollution in Shanghai, China

Air pollution is the introduction into the atmosphere of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or damages the natural environment.^[52]^[53] This issue is particularly prevalent in developing nations. As part of the Global Environment Monitoring System, WHO and UNEP established an air pollution monitoring network that oversees 50 cities.^[54] Many urban areas have significant problems with smog, a type of air pollution derived from vehicle emissions from internal combustion engines and industrial fumes that react in the atmosphere with sunlight to form secondary pollutants that also combine with the primary emissions to form photochemical smog.^[21]

Energy and material resources

The sheer size and complexity of megacities gives rise to enormous social and environmental challenges. Whether megacities can develop sustainably depends to a large extent on how they obtain, share, and manage their energy and material resources. There are correlations between electricity consumption, heating and industrial fuel use, ground transportation energy use, water consumption, waste generation, and steel production in terms of level of consumption and how efficiently they use resources.^[55]

In fiction

Megacities are a common backdrop in dystopian science fiction, with examples such as the Sprawl in William Gibson's Neuromancer,^[56] and Mega-City One, a megalopolis of between 50 and 800 million people (fluctuations due to war and disaster) across the east coast of the United States, in the Judge Dredd comic.^[57] In Demolition Man a megacity called "San Angeles" was formed from the joining of Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Diego and the surrounding metropolitan regions following a massive earthquake in 2010.^[58] Fictional planet-wide megacities (ecumenopoleis) include Trantor in Isaac Asimov's Foundation series of books and Coruscant (population two trillion) in the Star Wars universe.^[59]

References

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Megacity: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 15:16, 30 December 2025

Contents

List of megacities

History

Pre-industrial era

Formation of Megacities

Growth

Challenges

Slums

Crime

Homelessness

Traffic congestion

Urban sprawl

Gentrification

Air pollution

Energy and material resources

In fiction

See also

References

Navigation menu

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{Short description|Metropolitan area with a total population in excess of ten million people}}
+{{Short description|Urban area with a total population in excess of ten million people}}
 {{Redirect|Mega city||Megacity (disambiguation)}}
 {{pp-protected|small=yes}}
+[[File:Cities with 10M People in 2025.png|thumb|upright=1.6|right|Map showing urban areas with at least ten million inhabitants in 2025, according to the [[Global Human Settlement Layer|GHSL]]]]
 {{World city population tables}}
-A '''megacity''' is a very large [[city]], typically with a [[population]] of more than 10 million people.<ref>{{Cite OED|megacity|1021749197}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=megacity meaning |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/megacity|website=Cambridge English Dictionary |access-date=27 March 2018|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Safarik |first1=Daniel |last2=Ursini |first2=Shawn |last3=Wood |first3=Antony |title=Megacities and tall buildings: symbiosis |bibcode-access=free |journal=E3S Web of Conferences |date=2018 |volume=33 |page=01001 |doi=10.1051/e3sconf/20183301001 |bibcode=2018E3SWC..3301001S |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Yeung |first1=Y.-M. |last2=Shen |first2=Jianfa |last3=Kee |first3=Gordon |title=International Encyclopedia of Human Geography |chapter=Megacities |date=2020 |pages=31–38 |doi=10.1016/B978-0-08-102295-5.10284-7 |isbn=978-0-08-102296-2 }}</ref> The [[United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs]] (UN DESA) in its 2018 "World Urbanization Prospects" report defines megacities as [[urban agglomeration]]s with over 10 million inhabitants.<ref name = "UrbanizationProspects2018"/> A [[University of Bonn]] report holds that they are "usually defined as [[metropolitan area]]s with a total population of 10 million or more people".<ref>{{cite web|last1=Kötter|first1=Theo|last2=Friesecke|first2=Frank|title=Developing urban Indicators for Managing Mega Cities|url=http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTIE/Resources/T_Koetter.doc|website=[[World Bank]]|publisher=[[University of Bonn]]|date=1 March 2009}}</ref> Elsewhere in other sources, from five to eight million is considered the minimum threshold, along with a [[population density]] of at least 2,000 per square kilometre.<ref name=seos>{{cite web|url=http://www.seos-project.eu/modules/landuse/landuse-c02-s03-p01.html |title=Land Use and Land Use Change |website=seos-project.eu|access-date=March 26, 2018}}</ref> The terms [[conurbation]], [[metropolis]], and metroplex are also applied to the latter.<ref name=seos/>
+A '''megacity''' is a very large [[city]], typically with a [[population]] of more than 10 million people.<ref>{{multiref2|{{Cite OED|megacity|1021749197}}|{{cite web|title=megacity meaning |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/megacity|website=Cambridge English Dictionary |access-date=27 March 2018|language=en}}|{{cite journal |last1=Safarik |first1=Daniel |last2=Ursini |first2=Shawn |last3=Wood |first3=Antony |title=Megacities and tall buildings: symbiosis |bibcode-access=free |journal=E3S Web of Conferences |date=2018 |volume=33 |page=01001 |doi=10.1051/e3sconf/20183301001 |bibcode=2018E3SWC..3301001S |doi-access=free}}|{{cite book |last1=Yeung |first1=Y.-M. |last2=Shen |first2=Jianfa |last3=Kee |first3=Gordon |title=International Encyclopedia of Human Geography |chapter=Megacities |date=2020 |pages=31–38 |doi=10.1016/B978-0-08-102295-5.10284-7 |isbn=978-0-08-102296-2 }}}}</ref> The [[United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs]] (UN DESA) in its "World Urbanization Prospects" report defines megacities as [[urban agglomeration]]s with over 10 million inhabitants.<ref name="UrbanizationProspects2018">{{cite web |date=7 August 2019 |title=World Urbanization Prospects, The 2018 Revision |url=https://population.un.org/wup/Publications/Files/WUP2018-Report.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200318222514/https://population.un.org/wup/Publications/Files/WUP2018-Report.pdf |archive-date=18 March 2020 |access-date=15 February 2023 |publisher=[[United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs]] |page=77}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web | url=https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa.pd/files/undesa_pd_2025_wup2025_summary_of_results.pdf | title=World Urbanization Prospects 2025 - Summary of Results | website=www.un.org}}</ref> A [[University of Bonn]] report holds that they are "usually defined as [[metropolitan area]]s with a total population of 10 million or more people".<ref>{{cite web|last1=Kötter|first1=Theo|last2=Friesecke|first2=Frank|title=Developing urban Indicators for Managing Mega Cities|url=http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTIE/Resources/T_Koetter.doc|website=[[World Bank]]|publisher=[[University of Bonn]]|date=1 March 2009}}</ref> Elsewhere in other sources, from five to eight million is considered the minimum threshold, along with a [[population density]] of at least 2,000 per square kilometre.<ref name=seos>{{cite web|url=http://www.seos-project.eu/modules/landuse/landuse-c02-s03-p01.html |title=Land Use and Land Use Change |website=seos-project.eu|access-date=March 26, 2018}}</ref> The terms [[conurbation]], [[metropolis]], and metroplex are also applied to the latter.<ref name=seos/>
-The total number of megacities in the world varies between different sources and their publication dates. The world had 32 according to EU [[Global Human Settlement Layer]] (in 2024), 33 according to UN DESA (in 2018), 39 according to the OECD, 42 according to ''[[Demographia]]'' (in 2025), and 45 according to ''CityPopulation.de'' (in 2023). In total, at most 54 unique places are mentioned as megacities across these sources, although some of these are just aglomerated differently between them. A good percentage of these urban agglomerations are in [[China]] and [[India]]. The other four countries with more than one megacity are [[Brazil]], [[Japan]], [[Pakistan]], and the [[United States]]. African megacities are present in [[Nigeria]], [[Egypt]], [[South Africa]], [[Angola]] and [[the DRC]]; [[Europe]]an megacities are present in [[Russia]], [[France]], the [[United Kingdom]], and [[Turkey]] (also in [[Asia]]); megacities can be found in [[Latin America]] in the countries of Brazil, [[Mexico]], [[Colombia]], [[Peru]], and [[Argentina]].
+The total number of megacities in the world varies between different sources and their publication dates. The world had 32 according to EU [[Global Human Settlement Layer]] (2024), 33 according to UN DESA (2025), 39 according to the OECD (2020), 42 according to ''[[Demographia]]'' (2025), and 45 according to ''CityPopulation.de'' (2023). The later two add 13 additional cities that are calculated outside the range otherwise. In total, at most 53 unique places are mentioned as megacities across these sources, although some of these are just agglomerated differently between them. A good percentage of these urban agglomerations are in [[China]] and [[India]]. The other three-to-five countries with more than one megacity are [[Brazil]], [[Indonesia]], [[Japan]], [[Pakistan]], and the [[United States]]. African megacities are present in [[Angola]], [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]], [[Egypt]], [[Nigeria]] and [[South Africa]]; [[Europe]]an megacities are present in [[France]], [[Germany]], [[Russia]], the [[United Kingdom]], and [[Turkey]] (also in [[Asia]]); megacities can be found in [[Latin America]] in the countries of Brazil, [[Mexico]], [[Colombia]], [[Peru]], and [[Argentina]].
-Many recent [[satellite imagery|satellite image]]-based sources identify the [[Pearl River Delta]] in China as the largest megacity and continuously built up area of the world,<ref name="Demographia"/><ref name="citypopulation"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/jan/28/china-pearl-river-delta-overtake-tokyo-world-largest-megacity-urban-area|title=China's Pearl River Delta overtakes Tokyo as world's largest megacity|work=[[The Guardian]]|first=Nick|last=Van Mead|date=January 28, 2015|access-date=April 3, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-mega-city-has-more-people-than-canada-argentina-or-australia-2015-7?IR=T|title=The world's largest megacity already has more people than Canada, Argentina, or Australia|first=Chris|last=Weller|date=July 8, 2015|work=[[Business Insider]]|access-date=April 3, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Zand |first=Bernhard |date=2019-09-06 |title=China Tries Building A New Kind of Megapolopolis |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/china-tries-building-a-new-kind-of-megapolopolis-a-1285094.html |access-date=2025-10-25 |work=Der Spiegel }}</ref> while older sources list the [[Greater Tokyo Area]] as the largest.<ref name = "UrbanizationProspects2018"/>
+Many recent [[satellite imagery|satellite image]]-based sources identify China's [[Pearl River Delta]] (anchored by [[Guangzhou]]) as the largest megacity and continuously [[built-up area]] of the world.<ref name="Demographia"/><ref name="citypopulation"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/jan/28/china-pearl-river-delta-overtake-tokyo-world-largest-megacity-urban-area|title=China's Pearl River Delta overtakes Tokyo as world's largest megacity|work=[[The Guardian]]|first=Nick|last=Van Mead|date=January 28, 2015|access-date=April 3, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-mega-city-has-more-people-than-canada-argentina-or-australia-2015-7?IR=T|title=The world's largest megacity already has more people than Canada, Argentina, or Australia|first=Chris|last=Weller|date=July 8, 2015|work=[[Business Insider]]|access-date=April 3, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Zand |first=Bernhard |date=2019-09-06 |title=China Tries Building A New Kind of Megapolopolis |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/china-tries-building-a-new-kind-of-megapolopolis-a-1285094.html |access-date=2025-10-25 |work=Der Spiegel }}</ref> However, as of 2025, the UN sees both urban centres of Guangzhou and [[Shenzhen]] in the Pearl River Delta as disjointed megacities, and instead lists [[Jakarta metropolitan area|Jakarta]] as the world's largest megacity.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2025-11-25 |title=Jakarta is now the world's largest city dwarfing Australia's entire population |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-25/jakarta-overtakes-tokyo-as-worlds-largest-city/106049122 |access-date=2025-11-25 |work=ABC News |language=en-AU}}</ref> Older sources, such as OECD in 2020, still list the [[Greater Tokyo Area|Tokyo]] as the largest.
-==Urban Metric System==
-{{main|Settlement hierarchy}}
-{{rewrite section|date=February 2025}}
-Since, presently, urban data are based on arbitrary definitions that vary from country to country and from year or census to the next, making them difficult to compare, an Urban Metric System (UMS) has been conceived that could correct the problem,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tellier |first1=Luc-Normand |last2=Quesnel |first2=Frédéric |last3=Bur |first3=Justin |title=Estimating urban sprawl standards by means of the Urban Metric System |journal=Regional Science Policy & Practice |date=November 2024 |volume=16 |issue=11 |article-number=100131 |doi=10.1016/j.rspp.2024.100131 |doi-access=free }}</ref> since it allows computing the urban area limits and central points, and it can be applied in the same way to all past, present and future population and job distributions.
-It is based on vector field calculations obtained by assuming that, in a given space, all inhabitants and jobs exert the same attractive force ''A'' and repulsive force ''R''. The net force (''A'' &minus; ''R'') exerted by each inhabitant or job is given by [1/(1 + ''d'')] - [1/( ''β'' + ''d''/2)], where ''d'' = distance and ''β'' is the only parameter.
-UMS distinguishes the following types of urban areas (including "patropolises" that are tantamount to "megacities"), each type corresponding to a given value of ''β'':
-{| class="wikitable"
-|+
-!
-!Urban area
-!Distance at which the attractive force = the repulsive force
-!Value of ''β''
-|-
-|1
-|Central city
-|style="text-align:center"|{{0|0,0}}10 km
-|6
-|-
-|2
-|Agglomeration
-|style="text-align:center"|{{0|0,0}}20 km
-|11
-|-
-|3
-|Metropolis
-|style="text-align:center"|{{0|0,0}}40 km
-|21
-|-
-|4
-|Patropolis
-|style="text-align:center"|{{0|0,0}}80 km
-|41
-|-
-|5
-|Megalopolis
-|style="text-align:center"|{{0|0,}}160 km
-|81
-|-
-|6
-|Urban system
-|style="text-align:center"|{{0|0,}}320 km
-|161
-|-
-|7
-|Urban macrosystem
-|style="text-align:center"|{{0|0,}}640 km
-|321
-|-
-|8
-|Continental system
-|style="text-align:center"|1,280 km
-|641
-|-
-|9
-|Intercontinental system
-|style="text-align:center"|2,560 km
-|1,281
-|-
-|10
-|World system
-|style="text-align:center"|5,120 km
-|2,561
-|}
-UMS has been applied to some Canadian cases since 2018, but the data presented in this article are still based on the various existing national definitions, which are disparate.
 ==List of megacities==
@@ Line 88: / Line 21: @@
 !scope="col" rowspan=2| Country
 !scope="col" rowspan=2| Region
-! colspan="5" scope="col" | Estimated population
+! colspan="5" |Estimated population
 |- class="static-row-header"
-!scope="col"| Citypopulation.de<br />(2025)<ref name="citypopulation">{{cite web |title=Major Agglomerations of the World – Population Statistics and Maps |url=http://www.citypopulation.de/en/world/agglomerations/ |website=City Population |access-date=16 May 2024}}</ref>
+![[United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs|UN DESA]]<br />(2025)<ref name=":1" />
-!scope="col"| [[Wendell Cox|Demographia]]<br />(2025)<ref name="Demographia">{{cite web |date=August 2025 |title=Demographia World Urban Areas |url=http://demographia.com/db-worldua.pdf |access-date=25 October 2025 |publisher=[[Demographia]] |edition=20th annual}}</ref>
+! scope="col" | Citypopulation.de<br />(2025)<ref name="citypopulation">{{cite web |title=Major Agglomerations of the World – Population Statistics and Maps |url=http://www.citypopulation.de/en/world/agglomerations/ |website=City Population |access-date=16 May 2024}}</ref>
+!scope="col"| [[Wendell Cox|Demographia]] (2025)<ref name="Demographia">{{cite web |date=August 2025 |title=Demographia World Urban Areas |url=http://demographia.com/db-worldua.pdf |access-date=25 October 2025 |publisher=[[Demographia]] |edition=20th annual}}</ref>
 ![[Global Human Settlement Layer|GHSL]]<br />(2024)<ref name="GHS">{{cite web | url=https://human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu/ghs_ucdb_2024.php | title= Urban Centre database R2024A |website=Global Human Settlement Layer |publisher=European Commission }}</ref>
-! scope="col" | [[United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs|UN DESA]]<br />(2018)<ref name = "UrbanizationProspects2018">{{cite web|title=World Urbanization Prospects, The 2018 Revision|url=https://population.un.org/wup/Publications/Files/WUP2018-Report.pdf|publisher=[[United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs]]|page=77|date=7 August 2019|access-date=15 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200318222514/https://population.un.org/wup/Publications/Files/WUP2018-Report.pdf|archive-date=18 March 2020|url-status=live}}</ref>
 !scope="col"| [[OECD]]<br />(2020)<ref name = "OECD-FUA">{{cite web|title=FUAs and Cities|url=https://regions-cities-atlas.oecd.org/EFUA/x/x/T_T/2020|publisher=[[OECD]]|page=77|date=|access-date=10 October 2024}}</ref>
 |-
@@ Line 100: / Line 33: @@
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|IND}}
 | [[South Asia]]
+|13,187,000
 | 14,700,000
 | 16,216,000
 | 15,178,533
-| 11,440,000
 | 14,253,019
 |-
@@ Line 110: / Line 43: @@
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|THA}}
 | [[Southeast Asia]]
+|18,180,000
 | 21,800,000
 | 20,284,000
 | 19,048,032
-| 10,156,000
 | 18,601,400
 |-
@@ Line 120: / Line 53: @@
 |{{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|CHN}}
 | [[East Asia]]
+|17,013,000
 | 21,500,000
 | 22,363,000
 | 18,150,576
-| 19,618,000
 | 20,738,738
 |-
@@ Line 130: / Line 63: @@
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|COL}}
 | [[South America]]
+|10,624,000
 | 10,600,000
 | 10,734,000
 | 10,419,361
-| 10,574,000
 | 10,544,590
 |-
@@ Line 140: / Line 73: @@
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|ARG}}
 | [[South America]]
+|14,018,000
 | 16,800,000
 | 15,933,000
 | 14,179,912
-| 14,967,000
 | 14,590,526
 |-
 !scope="row"| [[Cairo]]
-| [[File:Cropped Cairo.jpg|120px]]
+| [[File:Egypt-2B-002 - Cairo at Night (2217349566).jpg|120px]]
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|EGY}}
 | {{sort|Africa|[[North Africa]]}}
+|25,566,000
 | 22,800,000
 | 22,684,000
 | 25,230,325
-| 20,076,000
 | 27,925,433
 |-
@@ Line 160: / Line 93: @@
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|CHN}}
 | [[East Asia]]
+| {{n/a}}
 | 11,500,000
 | {{red|3,709,000}}*
 | {{red|3,246,971}}*
-| {{red|4,345,000}}*
 | {{red|4,009,195}}*
+|-
+! scope="row" | [[Chaoshan]]{{efn|The term isn't used officially. Two sources list the area under [[Jieyang]], another two under [[Shantou]] and one under [[Chaozhou]].}}
+| [[File:Puning Urban Night View from Baierqiutian.jpg|120px]]
+|{{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|CHN}}
+| [[East Asia]]
+|{{red|6,804,000}}*
+| {{red|8,050,000}}*
+| 12,187,000
+|10,579,303
+|13,891,202
 |-
 !scope="row"| [[Chengdu]]
@@ Line 170: / Line 113: @@
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|CHN}}
 | [[East Asia]]
+|{{red|6,140,000}}*
 | 18,100,000
 | {{red|8,040,000}}*
 | {{red|5,609,627}}*
-| {{red|8,813,000}}*
 | {{red|9,768,500}}*
 |-
@@ Line 180: / Line 123: @@
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|IND}}
 | [[South Asia]]
+|11,153,000
 | 12,900,000
 | 11,950,000
 | 11,466,400
-| 10,456,000
 | 11,528,915
 |-
@@ Line 190: / Line 133: @@
 |{{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|CHN}}
 | [[East Asia]]
+|{{red|7,071,000}}*
 | 12,900,000
 | 11,524,000
 | {{red|8,449,690}}*
-| 14,838,000
 | {{red|8,913,804}}*
 |-
@@ Line 200: / Line 143: @@
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|IND}}
 | [[South Asia]]
+|30,222,000
 | 35,700,000
 | 33,224,000
 | 31,422,508
-| 28,514,000
 | 33,495,554
 |-
 !scope="row"| [[Dhaka]]
-|[[File:Dhaka 14th March (32624769393).jpg|alt=|120x120px]]
+|[[File:Drone view from Kamal Atatürk Avenue.jpg|alt=|120x120px]]
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|BAN}}
 | [[South Asia]]
+|36,585,000
 | 23,100,000
 | 25,305,000
 | 37,307,160
-| 19,578,000
 | 22,762,988
 |-
@@ Line 220: / Line 163: @@
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|CHN}}
 | [[East Asia]]
+|27,563,000
 | 72,700,000
 | 69,562,000
 | 42,987,704
-| 12,638,000
 | 16,650,322
 |-
@@ Line 230: / Line 173: @@
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|CHN}}
 | [[East Asia]]
+|{{red|7,500,000}}*
 | 14,600,000
 | 12,422,000
 | {{red|6,387,064}}*
-| {{red|7,236,000}}*
 | {{red|9,013,951}}*
 |-
@@ Line 240: / Line 183: @@
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|Vietnam}}
 | [[Southeast Asia]]
+|14,053,000
 | 14,300,000
 | 16,024,000
 | 14,557,830
-| {{red|8,145,000}}*
 | 14,247,593
 |-
@@ Line 250: / Line 193: @@
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|India}}
 | [[South Asia]]
+|{{red|9,191,000}}*
 | 11,700,000
 | 10,101,000
 | {{red|9,455,230}}*
-| {{red|9,482,000}}*
 | {{red|9,706,886}}*
 |-
@@ Line 260: / Line 203: @@
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|TUR}}
 | [[Europe]]<hr>[[West Asia]]
+|15,015,000
 | 16,000,000
 | 14,749,000
 | 14,210,222
-| 14,751,000
 | 14,693,269
 |-
@@ Line 270: / Line 213: @@
 |{{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|INA}}
 | [[Southeast Asia]]
+|41,914,000
 | 29,500,000
 | 36,877,000
 | 40,545,126
-| 10,517,000
 | 32,513,588
-|-
-! scope="row" | [[Jieyang]]
-| [[File:Puning Urban Night View from Baierqiutian.jpg|120px]]
-|{{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|CHN}}
-| [[East Asia]]
-| {{n/a|{{red|Combined with<br />[[Shantou]]}}}}*
-| {{n/a|Combined with<br />[[Shantou]]}}
-| 10,579,303
-| {{n/a}}
-| 13,891,202
 |-
 ! scope="row" | [[Johannesburg]]
@@ Line 290: / Line 223: @@
 |{{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|South Africa}}
 | {{sort|Africa|[[Southern Africa]]}}
+|{{red|7,077,000}}*
 | 14,800,000
 | 15,026,000
 | {{red|8,592,843}}*
-| {{red|5,486,000}}*
 | {{red|9,497,036}}*
 |-
@@ Line 300: / Line 233: @@
 |{{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|PAK}}
 | [[South Asia]]
+|21,423,000
 | 21,000,000
 | 21,258,000
 | 21,031,703
-| 15,400,000
 | 18,916,709
 |-
@@ Line 310: / Line 243: @@
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in the|COD}}
 | {{sort|AAfrica|[[Central Africa]]}}
+|10,944,000
 | 16,300,000
 | 13,060,000
 | 12,945,683
-| 13,171,000
 | 10,077,694
 |-
@@ Line 320: / Line 253: @@
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|IND}}
 | [[South Asia]]
+|22,550,000
 | 17,900,000
 | 20,327,000
 | 23,314,585
-| 14,681,000
 | 24,106,859
 |-
@@ Line 330: / Line 263: @@
 |{{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|NGR}}
 | {{sort|Africa|[[West Africa]]}}
+|12,792,000
 | 21,300,000
 | 15,283,000
 | 12,486,045
-| 13,463,000
 | 12,642,198
 |-
@@ Line 340: / Line 273: @@
 |{{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|PAK}}
 | [[South Asia]]
+|15,156,000
 | 14,600,000
 | 14,256,000
 | 14,305,060
-| 11,738,000
 | 15,696,939
 |-
@@ Line 350: / Line 283: @@
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|PER}}
 | [[South America]]
+|10,580,000
 | 12,000,000
 | 10,914,000
 | 10,828,104
-| 10,391,000
 | 10,496,389
 |-
@@ Line 360: / Line 293: @@
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|UK}}
 | [[Europe]]
+|10,416,000
 | 15,100,000
 | 11,360,000
 | 10,408,333
-| {{red|9,046,000}}*
 | 13,475,297
 |-
@@ Line 370: / Line 303: @@
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in the|USA}}
 | [[North America]]
+|12,740,000
 | 17,100,000
 | 15,582,000
 | 13,474,333
-| 12,458,000
 | 16,206,529
 |-
@@ Line 380: / Line 313: @@
 |{{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|ANG}}
 | {{sort|AAfrica|[[Central Africa]]}}
+|11,370,000
 | {{red|9,650,000}}*
 | 11,892,000
 | 11,672,134
-| {{red|7,774,000}}*
 | 10,212,263
 |-
@@ Line 390: / Line 323: @@
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|PHI}}
 | [[Southeast Asia]]
+|24,735,000
 | 27,800,000
 | 25,521,000
 | 25,921,189
-| 13,482,000
 | 27,327,889
 |-
@@ Line 400: / Line 333: @@
 |{{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|MEX}}
 | [[North America]]
+|17,734,000
 | 25,400,000
 | 18,942,000
 | 17,639,164
-| 21,581,000
 | 19,229,491
 |-
@@ Line 410: / Line 343: @@
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|RUS}}
 | [[Europe]]
+|14,525,000
 | 18,800,000
 | 18,509,000
 | 14,384,082
-| 12,410,000
 | 17,217,606
 |-
@@ Line 420: / Line 353: @@
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|IND}}
 | [[South Asia]]
+|20,203,000
 | 27,600,000
 | 26,237,000
 | 20,453,270
-| 19,980,000
 | 23,435,141
 |-
@@ Line 430: / Line 363: @@
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|JPN}}
 | [[East Asia]]
+|{{red|7,146,000}}*
 | 10,500,000
 | {{red|9,617,000}}*
 | {{red|7,721,742}}*
-| {{red|9,507,000}}*
 | {{red|9,853,994}}*
 |-
@@ Line 440: / Line 373: @@
 |{{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in the|USA}}
 | [[North America]]
+|13,920,000
 | 21,800,000
 | 20,892,000
 | 14,197,659
-| 18,819,000
 | 20,106,617
 |-
@@ Line 450: / Line 383: @@
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|JPN}}
 | [[East Asia]]
+|12,964,000
 | 17,700,000
 | 14,998,000
 | 12,653,994
-| 19,281,000
 | 16,866,788
 |-
@@ Line 460: / Line 393: @@
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|FRA}}
 | [[Europe]]
+|{{red|9,382,000}}*
 | 11,500,000
 | 11,282,000
 | {{red|9,328,385}}*
-| 10,901,000
 | 11,249,025
 |-
@@ Line 470: / Line 403: @@
 |{{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|GER}}
 |[[Europe]]
+| {{n/a}}
 |10,900,000
 | {{red|6,874,000}}*
-| {{n/a}}
 | {{n/a}}
 | {{n/a}}
@@ Line 480: / Line 413: @@
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|BRA}}
 | [[South America]]
+|{{red|9,500,000}}*
 | 13,600,000
 | 12,546,000
 | {{red|9,853,693}}*
-| 13,293,000
 | 11,068,999
 |-
@@ Line 490: / Line 423: @@
 |{{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|BRA}}
 | [[South America]]
+|18,950,000
 | 22,600,000
 | 21,747,000
 | 19,485,158
-| 21,650,000
 | 21,671,857
 |-
@@ Line 500: / Line 433: @@
 |{{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|KOR}}
 | [[East Asia]]
+|22,490,000
 | 25,200,000
 | 23,825,000
 | 22,261,692
-| {{red|9,963,000}}*
 | 25,199,125
 |-
@@ Line 510: / Line 443: @@
 |{{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|CHN}}
 | [[East Asia]]
+|29,559,000
 | 41,600,000
 | 45,115,000
 | 30,678,616
-| 25,582,000
 | 30,504,083
 |-
-!scope="row" | [[Shantou]]
+! scope="row" | [[Shenzhen]]
-|
-|{{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|CHN}}
-|[[East Asia]]
-| {{red|8,050,000}}
-| 12,187,000
-|
-|
-|
-|-
-!scope="row"| [[Shenzhen]]
 | [[File:Shenzhen Skyline from Nanshan.jpg|alt=|120x120px]]
 |{{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|CHN}}
 | [[East Asia]]
+|13,878,000
 | {{n/a|Combined with<br />[[Guangzhou]]}}
 | {{n/a|Combined with<br />[[Guangzhou]]}}
 | {{n/a|Combined with<br />[[Guangzhou]]}}
-| 11,908,000
 | {{n/a|Combined with<br />[[Guangzhou]]}}
 |-
-!scope="row"| [[Surabaya]]
+! scope="row" | [[Surabaya]]
 | [[File:Central Surabaya view taken from JW Marriott Surabaya.jpg|alt=|120x120px]]
 |{{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|INA}}
 | [[Southeast Asia]]
-| {{red|5,950,000}}
+|{{red|6,844,000}}*
-| {{red|6,820,000}}
+| {{red|5,950,000}}*
-| {{red|6,856,993}}
+| {{red|6,820,000}}*
-| {{n/a}}
+| {{red|6,856,993}}*
 | 10,695,358
 |-
-!scope="row"| [[Suzhou, Jiangsu|Suzhou]]
+! scope="row" | [[Suzhou, Jiangsu|Suzhou]]
 | [[File:东方之门1.jpg|alt=|120x120px]]
 |{{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|CHN}}
 | [[East Asia]]
+|{{red|7,731,000}}*
 | {{n/a|Combined with<br />[[Shanghai]]}}
 | {{n/a|Combined with<br />[[Shanghai]]}}
 | 11,540,430
-| {{red|6,339,000}}*
 | 13,458,006
 |-
-!scope="row"| [[Taipei]]
+! scope="row" | [[Taipei]]
 | [[File:Taipei Skyline 2022.06.29.jpg|alt=|120x120px]]
 |{{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|TWN}}
 | [[East Asia]]
+|{{red|9,137,000}}*
 | 10,100,000
 | {{red|9,866,000}}*
 | {{red|9,686,521}}*
-| {{n/a}}
 | 10,048,037
 |-
-!scope="row"| [[Tehran]]
+! scope="row" | [[Tehran]]
 | [[File:North of Tehran Skyline view.jpg|120px]]
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|IRN}}
 | [[West Asia]]
+|{{red|9,175,000}}*
 | 16,800,000
 | 14,137,000
 | {{red|9,363,124}}*
-| {{red|8,896,000}}*
 | 13,563,316
 |-
-!scope="row"| [[Tianjin]]
+! scope="row" | [[Tianjin]]
 | [[File:Tianjin Skyline 2009 Sep 11 by Nangua 1.jpg|alt=|120x120px]]
 |{{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|CHN}}
 | [[East Asia]]
+|{{red|7,285,000}}*
 | 11,700,000
 | 12,095,000
 | {{red|7,330,648}}*
-| 13,215,000
 | {{red|8,963,397}}*
 |-
-!scope="row"| [[Tokyo]]
+! scope="row" | [[Tokyo]]
 | [[File:Minato City, Tokyo, Japan.jpg|alt=|120x120px]]
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|JPN}}
 | [[East Asia]]
+|33,413,000
 | 41,200,000
 | 37,325,000
 | 33,155,907
-| 37,468,000
 | 36,697,549
 |-
-!scope="row"| [[Wuhan]]
+! scope="row" | [[Wuhan]]
 | [[File:Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge in 2020.jpg|alt=|120x120px]]
 | {{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|CHN}}
 | [[East Asia]]
+|{{red|7,364,000}}*
 | 12,600,000
 | 10,041,000
 | {{red|8,079,484}}*
-| {{red|8,176,000}}*
 | {{red|8,947,812}}*
 |-
-!scope="row"| [[Xiamen]]
+! scope="row" | [[Xiamen]]
 | [[File:Amoy Skyscrapers 2018.jpg|alt=|120x120px]]
 |{{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|CHN}}
 | [[East Asia]]
+| {{n/a}}
 | 15,400,000
 | {{red|6,237,000}}*
 | {{red|1,676,987}}*
-| {{red|3,585,000}}*
 | {{red|4,261,898}}*
 |-
-!scope="row"| [[Xi'an]]
+! scope="row" | [[Xi'an]]
 | [[File:Xi'an_erhuan_southeast.JPG|alt=|120x120px]]
 |{{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|CHN}}
 | [[East Asia]]
+|{{red|5,231,000}}*
 | 13,400,000
 | {{red|8,312,000}}*
 | {{red|5,298,991}}*
-| {{red|7,444,000}}*
 | {{red|6,818,858}}*
 |-
-!scope="row"| [[Zhengzhou]]
+! scope="row" | [[Zhengzhou]]
 | [[File:20211224 CBD of Zhengdong New Area.jpg|120x120px]]
 |{{flagg|pspe|al=c|pref=List of cities in|CHN}}
 | [[East Asia]]
+| {{n/a}}
 | 10,300,000
 | {{red|6,860,000}}*
 | {{red|5,126,112}}*
-| {{red|4,940,000}}*
 | {{red|6,381,637}}*
 |}
+;Notes
+{{notelist}}
 ==History==
-The term "megacity" entered common use in the late 19th or early 20th centuries; one of the earliest documented uses of the term was by the [[University of Texas at Austin|University of Texas]] in 1904.<ref>{{cite journal |date=1994 |title=Perspectives on Political and Economic Trends in the Americas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-1ALAAAAYAAJ&q=megacity |journal=Hemisfile |publisher=Institute of the Americas |volume=5–8 |page=12 |access-date=16 July 2015}}</ref> Initially the [[United Nations]] used the term to describe cities of 8 million or more inhabitants, but now uses the threshold of 10 million.<ref>{{cite journal |date=1981 |title=Special topics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pVxQAQAAIAAJ&q=Megacity+%228+million%22 |journal=Population Reports |location=Baltimore |publisher=Johns Hopkins University |issue=15–19 |page=38}}</ref> In the mid 1970s the term was coined by urbanist Janice Perlman referring to the phenomenon of very large urban agglomerations.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of the City|last=Caves|first=R. W.|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|isbn=978-0-415-25225-6|page=454}}</ref>
+=== Pre-industrial era ===
+{{see also|List of largest cities throughout history|Historical urban community sizes}}
+[[File:Détail de la maquette de Rome à lépoque de Constantin (5839479770).jpg|thumb|[[Italo Gismondi|Gismondi]]'s model of Rome in the time of [[Constantine the Great|Constantine]]]]
+In the [[Ancient history|Antiquity era]], for almost five hundred years, [[Rome]] was the [[Historical urban community sizes|largest]], wealthiest, and most politically important city of the ancient world, ruling over Europe, Western Asia and Northern Africa.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unrv.com/empire/roman-population.php |title=Roman Empire Population |website=UNRV.com |access-date=2010-09-01}}</ref>{{sps|certain=yes|date=July 2025}}<ref>{{Cite web |first=Amy |last=Irvine |date=3 July 2023 |title=Pax Romana: Rome's Golden Age |url=https://www.historyhit.com/pax-romana-romes-golden-age/ |access-date=2024-09-18 |website=History Hit |language=en-GB}}</ref> Population estimates of 750,000–1,000,000 people by the end of the 1st century BC are generally given by scholars; however, that would require population densities as high as 72,150 per square kilometre.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://home.vicnet.net.au/~ozideas/poprus.htm |title=Population crises and cycles in history |website=OzIdeas |publisher=[[Australian Centre for Social Innovations]] |access-date=2010-09-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110405081151/http://home.vicnet.net.au/~ozideas/poprus.htm |archive-date=April 5, 2011 }}</ref><ref name="Storey 1997">{{cite journal |last1=Storey |first1=Glenn R. |title=The population of ancient Rome |journal=Antiquity |date=December 1997 |volume=71 |issue=274 |pages=966–978 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00085859 |quote=Many have believed there were as many as one mil- lion inhabitants – the figure in recent standard accounts [Brunt 1971: 376–88; Hopkins 1978: 96–8; Hodges & Whitehouse 1983: 48–52; Stambaugh 1988: 90; Bairoch 1989: 259; Robinson 1992: 8] and commensurate with the city's grandeur as capital of a great empire&nbsp;... Many estimates in the favoured range of 750,000–1,000,000 inhabitants start with the founder of the principate, Augustus, whose posthumous testament to the Roman peo- ple, the Res Gestae divi Augusti ('Achievements of the Divine Augustus') says...}}</ref> If densities were similar to those in the well-preserved cities of Pompeii and Ostia, the population would be around 500,000.<ref name="Storey 1997" /> Rome's population started declining in 402 AD when [[Honorius (emperor)|Flavius Honorius]], [[Western Roman Empire|Western Roman Emperor]] from 395 to 423, moved the government to [[Ravenna]] and Rome's population declined to a mere 20,000 during the [[Early Middle Ages]], reducing the sprawling city to groups of inhabited buildings interspersed among large areas of ruins and vegetation.
-[[File:2020 1million cities.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|right|Map showing urban areas with at least one million inhabitants in 2020]]
+[[Baghdad]] was likely the largest city in the world from shortly after its foundation in 762 AD until the 930s, with some estimates putting its population at over one million.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa011201a.htm |title=Largest Cities Through History |website=[[ThoughtCo]] |date=2010-06-16 |access-date=2010-09-01 |archive-date=2005-05-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050527095609/http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa011201a.htm }}</ref> Chinese capital cities [[Chang'an]] and [[Kaifeng]] also experienced huge population booms during prosperous empires. According to the census in the year 742 recorded in the ''[[New Book of Tang]]'', 362,921 families with 1,960,188 persons were counted in [[Jingzhao Fu]] ({{lang|zh|京兆府}}), the [[metropolitan area]] including small cities in the vicinity of Chang'an.<ref>''New Book of Tang'', vol. 41 (Zhi vol. 27) Geography 1.</ref> The medieval settlement surrounding [[Angkor]], the one-time capital of the [[Khmer Empire]] which flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, could have supported a population of up to one million people.<ref>{{cite news |title=Metropolis: Angkor, the world's first mega-city |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/metropolis-angkor-the-worlds-first-megacity-461623.html |work=The Independent |date=15 August 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080923054500/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/metropolis-angkor-the-worlds-first-megacity-461623.html |archive-date=23 September 2008 |url-status=usurped}}</ref>
-In 1800, only 3% of the [[world population|world's population]] lived in cities, a figure that rose to 47% by the end of the twentieth century. In 1950, there were 83 cities with populations exceeding one million; by 2007, this number had risen to 468,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.citypopulation.de/World.html |title=World Index |publisher=City Population |access-date=2010-09-01}}</ref> with 153 of them located in Asia. Among the 27 megacities with populations over 10 million globally, 15 were situated in Asia.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last1=Li |first1=Deren |last2=Ma |first2=Jun |last3=Cheng |first3=Tao |last4=van Genderen |first4=J. L. |last5=Shao |first5=Zhenfeng |title=Challenges and opportunities for the development of MEGACITIES |journal=International Journal of Digital Earth |date=2 December 2019 |volume=12 |issue=12 |pages=1382–1395 |doi=10.1080/17538947.2018.1512662 |bibcode=2019IJDE...12.1382L |doi-access=free |bibcode-access=free }}</ref>
-In 2010, UN forecasted that urban population of 3.2 billion would rise to nearly 5 billion by 2030, when three out of five, or 60%, of people would live in cities.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.forbes.com/2007/06/11/megacities-population-urbanization-biz-cx_21cities_ml_0611megacities.html |first1=Mark |last1=Lewis |title=Megacities of the Future|magazine=Forbes|date=2007-06-11|access-date=2010-09-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101102211904/https://www.forbes.com/2007/06/11/megacities-population-urbanization-biz-cx_21cities_ml_0611megacities.html |archive-date= Nov 2, 2010 }}</ref> This increase will be most dramatic on the least-urbanized continents, [[Asia]] and [[Africa]]. Surveys and projections indicate that all urban growth over the next 25 years will be in [[developing countries]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.energypublisher.com/article.asp?id=5307 |title=Nigeria: Lagos, the mega-city of slums |publisher=EnerPub |date=September 6, 2006 |agency=IRIN |access-date=2010-09-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110218170316/http://www.energypublisher.com/article.asp?id=5307 |archive-date=February 18, 2011 }}</ref> One billion people, almost one-seventh of the world's population, now live in [[shanty towns]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Whitehouse |first=David |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4561183.stm |title=Half of humanity set to go urban |work=BBC News |date=2005-05-19 |access-date=2010-09-01}}</ref> In many poor countries, [[overcrowding|overcrowded]] slums exhibit high rates of [[tropical diseases|disease]] due to unsanitary conditions, malnutrition, and lack of basic health care.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blackcommentator.com/88/88_reprint_planet_slums.html |title=Planet of Slums – The Third World's Megacities |work=The Black Commentator |access-date=2010-09-01}}</ref> By 2030, over 2 billion people in the world will be living in [[slum]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2007/english/chapter_2/slums.html |title=State of World Population 2007 |publisher=United Nations Population Fund |access-date=2010-09-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122105358/http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2007/english/chapter_2/slums.html |archive-date=2009-01-22 |df=ymd-all}}</ref> Over 90% of the urban population of [[Ethiopia]], [[Malawi]] and [[Uganda]], three of the world's most rural countries, already live in slums.
+=== Formation of Megacities ===
+[[File:Trafalgar Square by James Pollard.jpg|thumb|[[19th-century London|During the 19th century]], [[London]] was transformed into the world's largest city and capital of the [[British Empire]].]]
+In 1800, only 3% of the [[world population|world's population]] lived in cities, a figure that rose to 47% by the end of the twentieth century.<ref name=":0" /> The term "megacity" entered common use in the late 19th or early 20th centuries; one of the earliest documented uses of the term was by the [[University of Texas at Austin|University of Texas]] in 1904.<ref>{{cite journal |date=1994 |title=Perspectives on Political and Economic Trends in the Americas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-1ALAAAAYAAJ&q=megacity |journal=Hemisfile |publisher=Institute of the Americas |volume=5–8 |page=12 |access-date=16 July 2015}}</ref> Initially the [[United Nations]] used the term to describe cities of 8 million or more inhabitants, but now uses the threshold of 10 million.<ref>{{cite journal |date=1981 |title=Special topics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pVxQAQAAIAAJ&q=Megacity+%228+million%22 |journal=Population Reports |location=Baltimore |publisher=Johns Hopkins University |issue=15–19 |page=38}}</ref> In the mid 1970s the term was coined by urbanist Janice Perlman referring to the phenomenon of very large urban agglomerations.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of the City|last=Caves|first=R. W.|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|isbn=978-0-415-25225-6|page=454}}</ref>
-By 2025, Asia alone will have at least 30 megacities, including [[Mumbai]], India (2015 population of 20.75 million people), [[Shanghai]], China (2015 population of 35.5 million people), [[Delhi]], India (2015 population of 21.8 million people), [[Tokyo]], [[Japan]] (2015 population of 38.8 million people), and [[Seoul]], South Korea (2015 population of 25.6 million people). The top eight provincial capital cities in China with urban areas exceeding 400 km{{sup|2}}—Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Wuhan, and Xi'an—accounted for 54.8% of the total urban area of all provincial capital cities in the country in 2015.<ref name=":0" />
+From around 1825 to 1918 [[London]] was the largest city in the world, with the population growing rapidly; it was the first city to reach a population of over 5 million in 1900. In 1950, [[New York City]] was the only urban area with a population of over 10 million.<ref>{{cite web|title=Top 10 Cities of the Year 1950|work=Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth: An Historical Census |first=Tertius |last=Chandler |year=1987 |publisher=St. David's University Press}}{{ISBN?|date=July 2025}} Cited in {{cite web |url=http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa011201g.htm |title=Largest Cities Throughout History |website=[[ThoughtCo]] |first=Matt |last=Rosenberg |date=May 4, 2025 |access-date=July 21, 2025 |archive-date=April 15, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415044639/http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa011201g.htm }}</ref> This increase has happened as the world's population moves towards the high (75–85%) urbanization levels of [[North America]] and [[Western Europe]].
-In Africa, [[Lagos]], Nigeria has grown from 300,000 in 1950 to an estimated 21 million today.
+Since the 2000s, the largest megacity has been the [[Greater Tokyo Area]]. The population of this [[urban agglomeration]] includes areas such as [[Yokohama]] and [[Kawasaki, Kanagawa|Kawasaki]], and is estimated to be between 37 and 38 million. This variation in estimates can be accounted for by different definitions of what the area encompasses. While the prefectures of [[Tokyo]], [[Chiba Prefecture|Chiba]], [[Kanagawa Prefecture|Kanagawa]], and [[Saitama Prefecture|Saitama]] are commonly included in statistical information, the Japan Statistics Bureau only includes the area within 50 kilometers of the [[Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building|Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices]] in [[Shinjuku, Tokyo|Shinjuku]], thus arriving at a smaller population estimate.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/handbook/c02cont.htm |title=Greater Tokyo population statistics |publisher=Statistics Bureau |location=Japan |date=2008-10-01 |access-date=2010-09-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411094023/http://www.stat.go.jp/English/data/handbook/c02cont.htm |archive-date=April 11, 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.citypopulation.de/World.html |title=Tokyo metropolitan area population statistics |publisher=Citypopulation.de |access-date=2010-09-01}}</ref>
-===Growth===
+A characteristic issue of megacities is the difficulty in defining their outer limits and accurately estimating the populations. To correct for this an [[Settlement hierarchy#Problems with concept of a settlement hierarchy|Urban Metric System]] was proposed, including measurement of Paropolis, that has tantamount calculation values to megacities.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tellier|first1=Luc-Normand|last2=Quesnel|first2=Frédéric|last3=Bur|first3=Justin|title=Estimating urban sprawl standards by means of the Urban Metric System|journal=Regional Science Policy & Practice|date=November 2024|volume=16|issue=11|article-number=100131|doi=10.1016/j.rspp.2024.100131|doi-access=free}}</ref> It has been applied limitedly, f.e. by Canada in cases since 2018. Another list defines megacities as [[urban agglomeration]]s instead of metropolitan areas.<ref>{{Cite web |title=World Megacities – Urban Areas with More than 10,000,000 Population (2015) |url=http://www.demographia.com/db-megacity.pdf |website=Demographia}}</ref>
-[[File:Détail de la maquette de Rome à lépoque de Constantin (5839479770).jpg|thumb|[[Italo Gismondi|Gismondi]]'s model of Rome in the time of [[Constantine the Great|Constantine]]]]
-For almost five hundred years, during the period of the [[Roman Republic|Republic]] and later of the [[Roman Empire|Empire]], [[Rome]] was the [[Historical urban community sizes|largest]], wealthiest, and most politically important city of the ancient world, rulling over Europe, Western Asia and Northern Africa.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unrv.com/empire/roman-population.php |title=Roman Empire Population |website=UNRV.com |access-date=2010-09-01}}</ref>{{sps|certain=yes|date=July 2025}}<ref>{{Cite web |first=Amy |last=Irvine |date=3 July 2023 |title=Pax Romana: Rome's Golden Age |url=https://www.historyhit.com/pax-romana-romes-golden-age/ |access-date=2024-09-18 |website=History Hit |language=en-GB}}</ref> Population estimates of 750,000–1,000,000 people by the end of the 1st century BC are generally given by scholars; however, that would require population densities as high as 72,150 per square kilometre.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://home.vicnet.net.au/~ozideas/poprus.htm |title=Population crises and cycles in history |website=OzIdeas |publisher=[[Australian Centre for Social Innovations]] |access-date=2010-09-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110405081151/http://home.vicnet.net.au/~ozideas/poprus.htm |archive-date=April 5, 2011 }}</ref><ref name="Storey 1997">{{cite journal |last1=Storey |first1=Glenn R. |title=The population of ancient Rome |journal=Antiquity |date=December 1997 |volume=71 |issue=274 |pages=966–978 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00085859 |quote=Many have believed there were as many as one mil- lion inhabitants – the figure in recent standard accounts [Brunt 1971: 376–88; Hopkins 1978: 96–8; Hodges & Whitehouse 1983: 48–52; Stambaugh 1988: 90; Bairoch 1989: 259; Robinson 1992: 8] and commensurate with the city's grandeur as capital of a great empire&nbsp;... Many estimates in the favoured range of 750,000–1,000,000 inhabitants start with the founder of the principate, Augustus, whose posthumous testament to the Roman peo- ple, the Res Gestae divi Augusti ('Achievements of the Divine Augustus') says...}}</ref> If densities were similar to those in the well-preserved cities of Pompeii and Ostia, the population would be around 500,000.<ref name="Storey 1997"/> Rome's population started declining in 402 AD when [[Honorius (emperor)|Flavius Honorius]], [[Western Roman Empire|Western Roman Emperor]] from 395 to 423, moved the government to [[Ravenna]] and Rome's population declined to a mere 20,000 during the [[Early Middle Ages]], reducing the sprawling city to groups of inhabited buildings interspersed among large areas of ruins and vegetation.
-[[Baghdad]] was likely the largest city in the world from shortly after its foundation in 762 AD until the 930s, with some estimates putting its population at over one million.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa011201a.htm |title=Largest Cities Through History |website=[[ThoughtCo]] |date=2010-06-16 |access-date=2010-09-01 |archive-date=2005-05-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050527095609/http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa011201a.htm }}</ref> Chinese capital cities [[Chang'an]] and [[Kaifeng]] also experienced huge population booms during prosperous empires. According to the census in the year 742 recorded in the ''[[New Book of Tang]]'', 362,921 families with 1,960,188 persons were counted in [[Jingzhao Fu]] ({{lang|zh|京兆府}}), the [[metropolitan area]] including small cities in the vicinity of Chang'an.<ref>''New Book of Tang'', vol. 41 (Zhi vol. 27) Geography 1.</ref> The medieval settlement surrounding [[Angkor]], the one-time capital of the [[Khmer Empire]] which flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, could have supported a population of up to one million people.<ref>{{cite news |title=Metropolis: Angkor, the world's first mega-city |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/metropolis-angkor-the-worlds-first-megacity-461623.html |work=The Independent |date=15 August 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080923054500/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/metropolis-angkor-the-worlds-first-megacity-461623.html |archive-date=23 September 2008 |url-status=usurped}}</ref>
+=== Growth ===
+{{Update|part=section|date=November 2025}}
-[[File:Trafalgar Square by James Pollard.jpg|thumb|[[19th-century London|During the 19th century]], [[London]] was transformed into the world's largest city and capital of the [[British Empire]].]]
+Acceleration of urbanization led geographers to identify nine megacities in 1985, 19 in 2004 and 25 such areas as of October 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.citypopulation.de/World.html |title=Population statistics |publisher=Citypopulation.de |access-date=2010-09-01}}</ref> Among the 27 megacities with populations over 10 million globally in 2007, 15 were situated in Asia.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last1=Li |first1=Deren |last2=Ma |first2=Jun |last3=Cheng |first3=Tao |last4=van Genderen |first4=J. L. |last5=Shao |first5=Zhenfeng |title=Challenges and opportunities for the development of MEGACITIES |journal=International Journal of Digital Earth |date=2 December 2019 |volume=12 |issue=12 |pages=1382–1395 |doi=10.1080/17538947.2018.1512662 |bibcode=2019IJDE...12.1382L |doi-access=free |bibcode-access=free }}</ref> The top eight provincial capital cities in China with urban areas exceeding 400 km{{sup|2}}—Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Wuhan, and Xi'an—accounted for 54.8% of the total urban area of all provincial capital cities in the country in 2015.<ref name=":0" /> Other sources list [[Nagoya]]<ref name="citypopulation" /> and the [[Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.espon.eu/export/sites/default/Documents/Projects/ESPON2006Projects/StudiesScientificSupportProjects/UrbanFunctions/fr-1.4.3_April2007-final.pdf |title=ESPON project 1.4.3 Study on Urban Functions Final Report |access-date=2013-08-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924002318/http://www.espon.eu/export/sites/default/Documents/Projects/ESPON2006Projects/StudiesScientificSupportProjects/UrbanFunctions/fr-1.4.3_April2007-final.pdf |archive-date=2015-09-24 }}</ref> as megacities.
-From around 1825 to 1918 [[London]] was the largest city in the world, with the population growing rapidly; it was the first city to reach a population of over 5 million in 1900. In 1950, [[New York City]] was the only urban area with a population of over 10 million.<ref>{{cite web|title=Top 10 Cities of the Year 1950|work=Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth: An Historical Census |first=Tertius |last=Chandler |year=1987 |publisher=St. David's University Press}}{{ISBN?|date=July 2025}} Cited in {{cite web |url=http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa011201g.htm |title=Largest Cities Throughout History |website=[[ThoughtCo]] |first=Matt |last=Rosenberg |date=May 4, 2025 |access-date=July 21, 2025 |archive-date=April 15, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415044639/http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa011201g.htm }}</ref> Geographers had identified 25 such areas as of October 2005,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.citypopulation.de/World.html |title=Population statistics |publisher=Citypopulation.de |access-date=2010-09-01}}</ref> as compared with 19 megacities in 2004 and only nine in 1985. This increase has happened as the world's population moves towards the high (75–85%) urbanization levels of [[North America]] and [[Western Europe]].
-Since the 2000s, the largest megacity has been the [[Greater Tokyo Area]]. The population of this [[urban agglomeration]] includes areas such as [[Yokohama]] and [[Kawasaki, Kanagawa|Kawasaki]], and is estimated to be between 37 and 38 million. This variation in estimates can be accounted for by different definitions of what the area encompasses. While the prefectures of [[Tokyo]], [[Chiba Prefecture|Chiba]], [[Kanagawa Prefecture|Kanagawa]], and [[Saitama Prefecture|Saitama]] are commonly included in statistical information, the Japan Statistics Bureau only includes the area within 50 kilometers of the [[Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building|Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices]] in [[Shinjuku, Tokyo|Shinjuku]], thus arriving at a smaller population estimate.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/handbook/c02cont.htm |title=Greater Tokyo population statistics |publisher=Statistics Bureau |location=Japan |date=2008-10-01 |access-date=2010-09-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411094023/http://www.stat.go.jp/English/data/handbook/c02cont.htm |archive-date=April 11, 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.citypopulation.de/World.html |title=Tokyo metropolitan area population statistics |publisher=Citypopulation.de |access-date=2010-09-01}}</ref> A characteristic issue of megacities is the difficulty in defining their outer limits and accurately estimating the populations.
+In 2010, UN forecasted that urban population of 3.2 billion would rise to nearly 5 billion by 2030, when three out of five, or 60%, of people would live in cities.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.forbes.com/2007/06/11/megacities-population-urbanization-biz-cx_21cities_ml_0611megacities.html |first1=Mark |last1=Lewis |title=Megacities of the Future|magazine=Forbes|date=2007-06-11|access-date=2010-09-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101102211904/https://www.forbes.com/2007/06/11/megacities-population-urbanization-biz-cx_21cities_ml_0611megacities.html |archive-date= Nov 2, 2010 }}</ref> This increase will be most dramatic on the least-urbanized continents, [[Asia]] and [[Africa]]. By 2025, Asia's growth alone modeled having at least 30 megacities.
-Another list defines megacities as [[urban agglomeration]]s instead of metropolitan areas.<ref>{{Cite web |title=World Megacities – Urban Areas with More than 10,000,000 Population (2015) |url=http://www.demographia.com/db-megacity.pdf |website=Demographia}}</ref> As of 2021, there are 28 megacities by this definition, like Tokyo.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Society |first=National Geographic |date=2018-08-28 |title=The Age of Megacities |url=http://www.nationalgeographic.org/interactive/age-megacities/ |access-date=2022-04-19 |website=National Geographic Society |language=en}}</ref> Other sources list [[Nagoya]]<ref name="citypopulation"/> and the [[Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.espon.eu/export/sites/default/Documents/Projects/ESPON2006Projects/StudiesScientificSupportProjects/UrbanFunctions/fr-1.4.3_April2007-final.pdf |title=ESPON project 1.4.3 Study on Urban Functions Final Report |access-date=2013-08-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924002318/http://www.espon.eu/export/sites/default/Documents/Projects/ESPON2006Projects/StudiesScientificSupportProjects/UrbanFunctions/fr-1.4.3_April2007-final.pdf |archive-date=2015-09-24 }}</ref> as megacities.
+Surveys and projections indicate that all urban growth over the next 25 years will be in [[developing countries]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.energypublisher.com/article.asp?id=5307 |title=Nigeria: Lagos, the mega-city of slums |publisher=EnerPub |date=September 6, 2006 |agency=IRIN |access-date=2010-09-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110218170316/http://www.energypublisher.com/article.asp?id=5307 |archive-date=February 18, 2011 }}</ref> One billion people, almost one-seventh of the world's population, now live in [[shanty towns]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Whitehouse |first=David |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4561183.stm |title=Half of humanity set to go urban |work=BBC News |date=2005-05-19 |access-date=2010-09-01}}</ref> In many poor countries, [[overcrowding|overcrowded]] slums exhibit high rates of [[tropical diseases|disease]] due to unsanitary conditions, malnutrition, and lack of basic health care.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blackcommentator.com/88/88_reprint_planet_slums.html |title=Planet of Slums – The Third World's Megacities |work=The Black Commentator |access-date=2010-09-01}}</ref> By 2030, over 2 billion people in the world will be living in [[slum]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2007/english/chapter_2/slums.html |title=State of World Population 2007 |publisher=United Nations Population Fund |access-date=2010-09-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122105358/http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2007/english/chapter_2/slums.html |archive-date=2009-01-22 |df=ymd-all}}</ref> Over 90% of the urban population of [[Ethiopia]], [[Malawi]] and [[Uganda]], three of the world's most rural countries, already live in slums.
 ==Challenges==

Megacity: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 15:16, 30 December 2025

List of megacities

History

Pre-industrial era

Formation of Megacities

Growth

Challenges

Slums

Crime

Homelessness

Traffic congestion

Urban sprawl

Gentrification

Air pollution

Energy and material resources

In fiction

See also

References

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