About this chart race
Tokyo starts far ahead — 24.3 million in 1975 against Osaka's 14.4 million — and holds first place for thirty-five consecutive years. What ends that run is not decline but the speed of everyone else. Tokyo keeps growing, from 24.3 to 33.4 million, while Jakarta more than triples from 11.7 to 41.9 million and Dhaka grows more than sevenfold, from 5.0 to 36.6 million. Jakarta takes the lead in 2010; Dhaka passes Tokyo in 2022. The fall is just as dramatic at the other end: New York is the third-largest city in the world in 1975 and twenty-second in 2025, and Osaka drops from second to twenty-fifth while actually shrinking, from 14.4 to 13.0 million. Mexico City goes from fifth to fifteenth, Moscow from tenth to nineteenth. Every one of the twelve largest cities in 2025 is in Asia or Africa.
This animated ranking shows how city population changed across 18 series between 1975 and 2025. The bars re-order themselves as the years advance, so overtakes are visible as they happen rather than hidden inside a table. Use the list on the left to choose exactly who competes, drag the slider to jump to any year, or open the table view to read the underlying numbers.
As of 2025, Jakarta leads with 41.9 million people.
Included in this race
Jakarta, Dhaka, Tokyo, New Delhi, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Cairo, Manila, Kolkata, Seoul, Karachi, Mumbai, São Paulo, Mexico City, Osaka, Moscow, New York, Buenos Aires.
Source
Data from UN World Urbanization Prospects 2025. Every figure shown comes from this source — nothing is estimated or generated.
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