The most crowded cities in the world

The data and statistics website "Visual Capitalist" published a report on the world's largest cities by population, indicating that more than half of the world's population currently lives in cities and with time more urban residents will find themselves living in megacities.

The site defines major cities as urban areas with a population of more than 10 million people, which makes Cairo Governorate occupies an advanced position in this arrangement, with a population of 20 million and 901 thousand people, according to the report.

The report attributes this to rural to urban migration as there is an increasingly important trend in the twenty-first century, the main causes of which are better job prospects and higher wages, as well as shifts from agricultural to industrial and service economies, ultimately leading to mass migration to cities.

It has been found that more than 80% of people in high-income countries live in urban areas, and in upper-middle-income countries the number ranges from 50-80%.

The report notes that while Tokyo increased only 559,000 people between 2010 and 2020, Delhi increased more than 8 million people in the same time frame and Shanghai increased more than 7 million people. Meanwhile, São Paulo has grown by more than 2 million, and Mexico City has gained just over 1.6 million people.

Interestingly, Mexico City ranked third on the list of largest cities in 2010, but has since experienced slower growth compared to its competitors, Shanghai and Sao Paulo.

While Tokyo is the most populous city in the world with a population of 37,393,000, that number is declining due to declining birth rates and an aging population.

But on the other hand, Indian and Chinese cities continue to grow rapidly in the coming years. The population of Delhi is expected to outnumber the population of Tokyo by 2028.

By 2035, two new cities are expected to top the top 20, namely Bangalore (India) and Lahore (Pakistan) and will replace Itianjin and Buenos Aires.

The report notes that urban growth is mainly in Asia and Africa, with some cities in regions such as Europe actually starting to shrink in population due to aging citizens and low birth rates. Since 2012, deaths in the EU have effectively outnumbered births – and in 2019, there were 4.7 million deaths compared to 4.2 million births, although net migration has prevented population numbers from falling.

The following is the ranking of the largest cities in the world in terms of population so far:

1- Tokyo, Japan: 37,393,000 people

2- Delhi - India: 30,291,000 people

3- Shanghai - China: 27,058,000 people

4- Sao Paulo - Brazil: 22,043,000 people

5- Mexico City - Mexico: 21,782,000 people

6- Dakar - Bangladesh: 21,006.000 people

7- Cairo - Egypt: 20,901,000 people

8- Beijing - China: 20,463,000 people

9- Mumbai - India: 20,411,000 people

10- Osaka - Japan: 19,165,000 people