These will be the world's 10 biggest cities in 2030
These are the future cities of innovation, according to the U.N. Image: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
The human population is growing at an alarming rate. By 2050, there will be almost 10 billion people on the planet.
We've been hearing this for years, but where is all this growth happening?
Today, Tokyo is the most populous city in the world, with about 38 million residents.
New York City is still in the top 10 ranking, with its nearly 8.5 million people. But in the next three decades, that's going to change.
While population growth in the US and Europe stagnates, the number of people living in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa is going to skyrocket.
By 2030, these will be the new 10 biggest cities in the world, according to the United Nations' World Urbanization Prospects:
10. Mexico City, Mexico: 23.9 million people
9. Lagos, Nigeria: 24.2 million people
8. Cairo, Egypt: 24.5 million people
7. Karachi, Pakistan: 24.8 million people
6. Dhaka, Bangladesh: 27.4 million people
5. Beijing, China: 27.7 million people
4. Mumbai, India: 27.8 million people
3. Shanghai, China: 30.8 million people
2. Delhi, India: 36.1 million people
1. Tokyo, Japan: 37.2 million people
The Global Cities Institute projects that Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, will be the most populous city in the world by 2075, and that by 2100, it will be surpassed by the 88 million future residents of Lagos, Nigeria.
Don't miss any update on this topic
Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.
License and Republishing
World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
Stay up to date:
Long-Term Investing, Infrastructure and Development
Forum Stories newsletter
Bringing you weekly curated insights and analysis on the global issues that matter.
More on Urban TransformationSee all
Federico Cartín Arteaga and Heather Thompson
December 20, 2024