Most populous city in the world

What to remember

According to UN estimates for 2025, the Jakarta agglomeration has 41,913,860 inhabitants, which puts it at the top of the world's most populous cities. The figure covers the whole urban region, known locally as Jabodetabek, well beyond the city's administrative limits.

It all depends on what counts as a city. The UN separates the city proper, its metropolitan region and its urban area. For Jakarta, the special region covers only 664 km² with 10,154,134 people, a density of 15,292 per km². The other definitions give 33,756,000 people over 3,546 km², or 33,430,285 over 7,063 km². In very large cities, slums and homelessness also make census figures less accurate.

Indonesia's capital since 1949, Jakarta lies on the northwestern coast of Java, facing the Java Sea. Known as Kalapa when it was the port of the Sunda Kingdom, it became Jayakarta in 1527 after its conquest by the Banten Sultanate. English-language media nickname it the "Big Durian", after the country's emblematic fruit.