November 25, 2025
Big City Energy, Bigger Comment Wars
Jakarta is now the biggest city in the world
Jakarta grabs the crown as commenters battle over paywalls, immigration and visibility
TLDR: Jakarta is now the world’s largest city at about 42 million people, says the U.N. The comments fixate on paywalls and alternative sources, debate Indonesia’s global visibility, and riff on immigration and infrastructure—highlighting how urban growth is shifting power and attention toward Asia.
Jakarta just swiped the “world’s biggest city” title with nearly 42 million people, according to a new U.N. report—and the comments are louder than New Year fireworks. First wave: the paywall police. One user blasted Axios as a “paywalled summary” and dropped the U.N. press release plus the full report, with others piling on with an alternative link. Cue the “repost squad” linking a previous thread, because nothing says internet fame like arguing who posted it first.
Then came the big-picture takes. Commenters marveled—and grumbled—about Indonesia’s near-300 million population and how rarely it shows up in global pop culture. One hot take compared Canada’s population boom via immigration to Jakarta’s sheer scale, declaring the city’s civil infrastructure “must be epic,” which sparked jokes about “epic traffic” as the unofficial national sport. The U.N. backdrop added drama: megacities (10+ million people) have quadrupled since 1975, Asia dominates the top 10, and Dhaka is tipped to take the crown mid-century while Tokyo slides to seventh. The mood? A mix of “Asia rising,” source-hunting sleuths, and a surprising amount of fascination that the world’s biggest city might be undercovered—plus the perennial meme that the real megacity is, in fact, the paywall.
Key Points
- •A U.N. report names Jakarta the world’s largest city with nearly 42 million residents.
- •Tokyo is now third with 33 million residents; Dhaka is second with 40 million.
- •Cairo is the only non-Asian city in the top 10 most populous cities.
- •The number of megacities has grown from 8 in 1975 to 33 in 2025, with 37 projected by 2050.
- •Dhaka is projected to become the largest city by mid-century, while Tokyo may fall to seventh by 2050.