December 16, 2025
Smog, sprawl, and spicy comments
Why many Asian megacities are miserable places
Readers clap back: bad bosses, unfair city rules, and smog—Tokyo gets a pass
TLDR: A UN report says Jakarta and Dhaka have overtaken Tokyo, and the article blames messy city governance for making many megacities hard to live in, with Tokyo and Shanghai as exceptions. Commenters fire back about unfair residency rules, paywall drama, and Delhi’s smog—arguing city politics and permits shape daily life for millions.
The UN just redrew the city map and crowned Jakarta the world’s biggest metropolis at 42 million, with Dhaka at 37 million and Tokyo bumped to 33 million. The article says many Asian megacities feel miserable because governance is a mess—too many agencies, not enough coordination—while Tokyo and Shanghai avoid the chaos by running tighter ships. The comments lit up.
One reader deadpanned the subhead—“And why Shanghai and Tokyo are not”—like, really? Cue a pile-on of hot takes: a top comment says misery comes from “subpar governance” delivering bad services, yet people still move in for jobs because the countryside offers even less. Another went deeper, saying the story missed how residency rules skew life in these cities. They flagged Japan’s Furusato Nōzei (a tax donation scheme) and China’s hukou (household registration) that can lock migrants out of top-tier healthcare and schools; rural hukou in a big city can mean second-class access. Meanwhile, Delhi got dragged in for its severe smog, complete with a YouTube clip of the air turning gray.
Of course, someone saved the day with the obligatory paywall bypass: an archive link. The verdict? The thread is split between blaming bungled city hall politics, calling out unfair rules for newcomers, and pointing to pollution as the daily misery multiplier.
Key Points
- •The UN updated its methodology to define city boundaries based on urban sprawl rather than national administrative definitions.
- •Jakarta is now ranked the world’s largest urban agglomeration with 42 million people.
- •Dhaka ranks second with 37 million, ahead of Tokyo at 33 million.
- •Delhi and Shanghai, with around 30 million people each, round out the top five.
- •The article was published in The Economist’s Asia section, print edition dated December 13, 2025.