Tokyo Has Been Dethroned As The World’s Largest City By Population In 2025

The Japanese capital, Tokyo, has been the most populous city in the world for decades. But in 2025, it lost its crown to not one but two other Asian megacities. At the top of the ranking is Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, with 42 million inhabitants. In second place is Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, with a population of around 37 million. Meanwhile, Tokyo slipped to third place with around 33 million residents.

In fact, Tokyo may not have held the top spot in a decade or two. That’s according to new population counting methods introduced by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, outlined in their report World Urbanization Outlook 2025. Using updated definitions of urban sprawl, the report predicts that Tokyo will fall further in the rankings in coming decades as population decline accelerates. Dhaka is expected to top the rankings around 2050.

Are travelers about to abandon Tokyo for Jakarta or Dhaka, bragging about visiting the world’s most populous city? Perhaps the most adventurous. Among the urban giants that make up the top ten, Tokyo, Shanghai and Seoul stand out as being among the easiest and most pleasant to visit. In contrast, Jakarta and Dhaka pose challenges for travelers, such as a lack of reliable public transportation and fragmented urban development, resulting in cityscapes that are difficult to navigate and unattractive. Yet both offer rewards for visitors willing to look beyond the surface.

Read more: 10 Dangerous Cities You Should Never Visit Alone

Explore Jakarta and Dhaka, the most populated cities in the world

Jakarta and Dhaka appeal to travelers eager to dive headfirst into urban intensity. Most travelers to Indonesia have the beautiful and serene island of Bali at the top of their bucket list, without thinking about Jakarta. The capital is more chaos than calm. Traffic jams are notorious, there is only one metro line and Jakarta is not particularly walkable.

That said, there are places worth exploring. The old town can be explored on foot and you’ll find colonial buildings lining canals reminiscent of those in Amsterdam (parts of Indonesia were a Dutch colony). The Jakarta History Museum is also located there, as is Café Batavia, housed in an elegant early 19th century building, perfect places to escape the crowds. Outside of this area, Glodok, Jakarta’s Chinatown, is a winding maze of alleyways and traditional shops. But the most famous shopping can be found in one of the capital’s many malls, ranging from glitzy to gritty.

Dhaka offers an equally intense urban experience. Traffic is rough, to put it mildly, and driving in Dhaka is not a good choice for travelers. Instead, take a rickshaw and spring into action at Sadarghat, a teeming and wonderfully photographic river port where you can watch teetering ferries collide with tiny wooden boats and see daily life unfold along the banks. For more striking photos, head to the colorful Shankharia Bazaar, where traditional buildings hide artisan workshops, perfect for picking up a souvenir. Although the megacities of Jakarta and Dhaka may not be as easy to explore as Tokyo, they offer different and enriching experiences and the bragging rights of having visited the most populated cities in the world.

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