Do you live in a megacity?
Yes, that’s a real term.
It’s used to describe a metropolis with over 10 million residents.
Right now, there are 28 megacities in the world, with about 450 Million inhabitants
among them.
The most densely populated areas can have an average of more than 100 thousand people
per square mile.
So what are some of the largest cities in the world?
Well, when we talk about “largest cities”, we’re usually talking about the number of
inhabitants.
There are many organizations that rank cities, but for this video, we’re relying on 2014
data from the United Nations.
Cities in Asia have dominated the top-ten list for a long time now.
On the very top, by a long shot, is Tokyo, Japan, with about 38 million people.
Tokyo has been the most populous megacity since about 1955, and it will likely remain
that way until sometime after 2030.
After Tokyo, three other Asian cities dominate the top of the ranks - Delhi , Shanghai, and
Mumbai . Out of all the people living in urban areas in the world, 53% reside in Asian cities.
Before Tokyo grew so large, New York City in the United States was the most populous
city from the 1920s to the 1950s.
However today, NYC barely makes the top ten list.
To the south, Mexico City in Mexico and Sao Paulo in Brazil comprise other non-Asian metropolises.
The world’s largest cities are also sometimes measured in terms of population density, and
land size.
Asian cities, again, are at the top of these rankings.
City sizes, in square miles, tend to vary dramatically, but China’s Shanghai and Beijing
are reportedly among the largest land-wise, as is Pakistan’s Karachi . Then, cities
like Manila in the Philippines, and Dhaka in Bangladesh, reportedly have some of the
highest population densities in the world.
Dhaka , according to a report by Demographia, has more than 15 million people living on
just 139 square miles of land.
And that breaks down to about 100 thousand people per square mile.
For the past six decades, urban cities like these have seen unprecedented growth.
In 2007, for the first time ever, the global urban population outnumbered the global rural
population.
And the trends are expected to continue: by 2050, the UN predicts about two thirds of
the world will be living in urban cities.
And by that time, there could be 13 ADDITIONAL megacities prospering around the globe.
Languages, like cities, are one of the most interesting ways to study how people interact.
So what are the biggest languages in the world?
Take a look at our video here.
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