Industries in Depth

These are the most congested cities in the world

An aerial view of the business district in Jakarta, May 5, 2014. Indonesia's economy grew at its slowest in more than four years in the first quarter as a mineral export ban, successive interest rate rises and uncertainty over upcoming presidential elections unnerved investors. REUTERS/Beawiharta (INDONESIA - Tags: CITYSCAPE BUSINESS) - RTR3NTOQ

These are the world's most congested cities, according to the TomTom Traffic Index. Image: REUTERS/Beawiharta

Sam Shead
Technology Reporter, Business Insider

The TomTom Traffic Index is based on 19 trillion data points collected over nine years from 390 cities, according to the Dutch company.

Each city's congestion level was given a percentage score out of 100, with levels ranging from 66% in the most congested cities to 9% in the least.

TomTom defined the congestion level as the "increase in overall traffic times when compared to a free flow situation (an uncongested situation)."

Ralf-Peter Schaefer, VP TomTom Traffic, said in a statement that the traffic index is "designed to help drivers, cities and transport planners to understand traffic congestion and, most importantly, how to reduce it."

25. London, UK (40%)

24. Taipei, Taiwan (40%)

23. Tianjin, China (41%)

22. Shanghai, China (41%)

21. St Petersburg, Russia (41%)

20. Kaohsiung, Taiwan (41%)

19. Buenos Aires, Argentina (42%)

18. Shijiazhuang, China (42%)

17. Santiago de Chile, Chile (43%)

16. Hangzhou, China (43%)

15. Shenzhen, China (44%)

14. Guangzhou, China (44%)

13. Moscow, Russia (44%)

12. Los Angeles, USA (45%)

11. Changsha, China (45%)

10. Beijing, China (46%)

9. Tainan, Taiwan (46%)

8. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (47%)

7. Chengdu, China (47%)

6. Istanbul, Turkey (49%)

5. Bucharest, Romania (50%)

4. Chongqing, China (52%)

3. Jakarta, Indonesia (58%)

2. Bangkok, Thailand (61%)

1. Mexico City, Mexico (66%)

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