In 2023, New York led the ranking of the largest built-up urban areas worldwide, with a land area of ****** square kilometers. Boston-Providence and Tokyo-Yokohama were the second and third largest megacities globally that year.

This statistic shows a forecast of the top ten most populous megacities in 2030. By 2030, Tokyo will be the most populous city in the world, with a projected 37 million inhabitants.

As of 2025, Tokyo-Yokohama in Japan was the largest world urban agglomeration, with 37 million people living there. Delhi ranked second with more than 34 million, with Shanghai in third with more than 30 million inhabitants.

As of January 2023, Zhengzhou in China was the most populous non-megacity in the Asia-Pacific region with a population of approximately 9.45 million. That year, there were more than ten Chinese megacities among APAC's most populous cities.

As of January 2024, Guangzhou had the largest metropolitan population in the Asia-Pacific region, with approximately 70.1 million inhabitants. Tokyo had the second-largest metropolitan population of around 41 million inhabitants. There were a total of 28 megacities with a population of over 10 million inhabitants in the Asia-Pacific region as of January 2024.

It is estimated that more than 8 billion people live on Earth and the population is likely to hit more than 9 billion by 2050. Approximately 55 percent of Earth’s human population currently live in areas classified as urban. That number is expected to grow by 2050 to 68 percent, according to the United Nations (UN).The largest cities in the world include Tōkyō, Japan; New Delhi, India; Shanghai, China; México City, Mexico; and São Paulo, Brazil. Each of these cities classifies as a megacity, a city with more than 10 million people. The UN estimates the world will have 43 megacities by 2030.Most cities' populations are growing as people move in for greater economic, educational, and healthcare opportunities. But not all cities are expanding. Those cities whose populations are declining may be experiencing declining fertility rates (the number of births is lower than the number of deaths), shrinking economies, emigration, or have experienced a natural disaster that resulted in fatalities or forced people to leave the region.This Global Cities map layer contains data published in 2018 by the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA). It shows urban agglomerations. The UN DESA defines an urban agglomeration as a continuous area where population is classified at urban levels (by the country in which the city resides) regardless of what local government systems manage the area. Since not all places record data the same way, some populations may be calculated using the city population as defined by its boundary and the metropolitan area. If a reliable estimate for the urban agglomeration was unable to be determined, the population of the city or metropolitan area is used.Data Citation: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. World Urbanization Prospects: The 2018 Revision. Statistical Papers - United Nations (ser. A), Population and Vital Statistics Report, 2019, https://doi.org/10.18356/b9e995fe-en.

This statistic shows the population growth rate of the top twenty largest urban agglomerations in the United States from 2000 to 2030. Between 2025 and 2030, the average annual population growth rate of the New York-Newark agglomeration is projected to be roughly **** percent.

Worldwide, coral reefs are challenged by multiple stressors due to growing urbanization, industrialization and coastal development. Coral reefs along the Thousand Islands off Jakarta, one of the largest megacities worldwide, have degraded dramatically over recent decades. The shift and decline in coral cover and composition has been extensively studied with a focus on large-scale gradients (i.e. regional drivers), however special focus on local drivers in shaping spatial community composition is still lacking. Here, the spatial impact of anthropogenic stressors on local and regional scales on coral reefs north of Jakarta was investigated. Results indicate that the direct impact of Jakarta is mainly restricted to inshore reefs, separating reefs in Jakarta Bay from reefs along the Thousand Islands further north. A spatial patchwork of differentially degraded reefs is present along the islands as a result of localized anthropogenic effects rather than regional gradients. Pollution is the main anthropogenic stressor, with over 80% of variation in benthic community composition driven by sedimentation rate, NO2, PO4 and Chlorophyll a. Thus, the spatial structure of reefs is directly related to intense anthropogenic pressure from local as well as regional sources. Therefore, improved spatial management that accounts for both local and regional stressors is needed for effective marine conservation.

Cities ranking and mega citiesTokyo is the world’s largest city with an agglomeration of 37 million inhabitants, followed by New Delhi with 29 million, Shanghai with 26 million, and Mexico City and São Paulo, each with around 22 million inhabitants. Today, Cairo, Mumbai, Beijing and Dhaka all have close to 20 million inhabitants. By 2020, Tokyo’s population is projected to begin to decline, while Delhi is projected to continue growing and to become the most populous city in the world around 2028.By 2030, the world is projected to have 43 megacities with more than 10 million inhabitants, most of them in developing regions. However, some of the fastest-growing urban agglomerations are cities with fewer than 1 million inhabitants, many of them located in Asia and Africa. While one in eight people live in 33 megacities worldwide, close to half of the world’s urban dwellers reside in much smaller settlements with fewer than 500,000 inhabitants.About the dataThe 2018 Revision of the World Urbanization Prospects is published by the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA). It has been issued regularly since 1988 with revised estimates and projections of the urban and rural populations for all countries of the world, and of their major urban agglomerations. The data set and related materials are available at: https://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/

Drawing on the diffusion of innovation theory, we argue that the development of digital economy has a positive effect on urban economic resilience. Using panel data from 284 cities in China from 2011 to 2018, we empirically examine the relationship between digital economy and urban economic resilience. We find a positive and significant link between them, mediated by technological innovation and entrepreneurial vitality. Moreover, the heterogeneity analysis shows that the impact of digital economy is most pronounced in smaller cities, with its effects diminishing in larger cities and megacities. Our results underscore the importance and the direction of fostering digital economy development.

In 2024, Bangladesh's capital Dhaka had a pollution index score of ****, the highest among megacities in the Asia-Pacific region. In contrast, Japan's capital Tokyo had a pollution index score of **** that year. Megacities on course for growth The United Nations defines megacities as cities with over ten million inhabitants. The population living in megacities has doubled in size in the last twenty years and is expected to rise even more until 2035. Today, the Asia-Pacific region is home to the highest number of megacities, with China and India alone accounting for around half of all megacities worldwide. At the same time, only half of the population in Asia is living in cities. This figure is also expected to rise exponentially over the next years, especially with much of the younger population migrating to larger cities. The growth of megacities and their higher population densities bring along several environmental problems. Exposure to pollution in India The most populated cities in APAC are located in Japan, China and India. As seen above, India's capital also falls among the top three most polluted megacities in the region and ranks second among the most polluted capital cities worldwide with an average PM2.5 concentration. As one of the fastest emerging economies in the world, India's rapid urbanization and industrialization have led to high pollution rates in different areas. The volume of emissions from coal-fired power plants has led to electricity and heat accounting for the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions in India. The country is also among the nations with the highest population share exposed to hazardous concentrations of air pollution worldwide.

In 2023, approximately ** percent of the population in Papua New Guinea were living in rural areas. In comparison, approximately ***** percent of the population in Japan were living in rural areas that year. Urbanization and development Despite the desirable outcomes that urbanization entails, these rapid demographic shifts have also brought about unintended changes. For instance, in countries like India, rapid urbanization has led to unsustainable and crowded cities, with **** of the urban population in India estimated to live in slums. In China, population shifts from rural to urban areas have aggravated regional economic disparities. For example, the migration of workers into coastal cities has made possible the creation of urban clusters of immense economic magnitude, with the Yangtze River Delta city cluster accounting for about a ******of the country’s gross domestic product. Megacities and their future Home to roughly 60 percent of the world’s population, the Asia-Pacific region also shelters most of the globe’s largest urban agglomerations. Megacities, a term used for cities or urban areas with a population of over ten million people, are characterized by high cultural diversity and advanced infrastructure. As a result, they create better economic opportunities, and they are often hubs of innovation. For instance, many megacities in the Asia-Pacific region offer high local purchasing power to their residents. Despite challenges like pollution, income inequality, or the rising cost of living, megacities in the Asia-Pacific region have relatively high population growth rates and are expected to expand.

Cities ranking and mega citiesTokyo is the world’s largest city with an agglomeration of 37 million inhabitants, followed by New Delhi with 29 million, Shanghai with 26 million, and Mexico City and São Paulo, each with around 22 million inhabitants. Today, Cairo, Mumbai, Beijing and Dhaka all have close to 20 million inhabitants. By 2020, Tokyo’s population is projected to begin to decline, while Delhi is projected to continue growing and to become the most populous city in the world around 2028.By 2030, the world is projected to have 43 megacities with more than 10 million inhabitants, most of them in developing regions. However, some of the fastest-growing urban agglomerations are cities with fewer than 1 million inhabitants, many of them located in Asia and Africa. While one in eight people live in 33 megacities worldwide, close to half of the world’s urban dwellers reside in much smaller settlements with fewer than 500,000 inhabitants.About the dataThe 2018 Revision of the World Urbanization Prospects is published by the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA). It has been issued regularly since 1988 with revised estimates and projections of the urban and rural populations for all countries of the world, and of their major urban agglomerations. The data set and related materials are available at: https://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/

Worldwide, coral reefs are challenged by multiple stressors due to growing urbanization, industrialization and coastal development. Coral reefs along the Thousand Islands off Jakarta, one of the largest megacities worldwide, have degraded dramatically over recent decades. The shift and decline in coral cover and composition has been extensively studied with a focus on large-scale gradients (i.e. regional drivers), however special focus on local drivers in shaping spatial community composition is still lacking. Here, the spatial impact of anthropogenic stressors on local and regional scales on coral reefs north of Jakarta was investigated. Results indicate that the direct impact of Jakarta is mainly restricted to inshore reefs, separating reefs in Jakarta Bay from reefs along the Thousand Islands further north. A spatial patchwork of differentially degraded reefs is present along the islands as a result of localized anthropogenic effects rather than regional gradients. Pollution is the main anthropogenic stressor, with over 80 % of variation in benthic community composition driven by sedimentation rate, NO2, PO4 and Chlorophyll a. Thus, the spatial structure of reefs is directly related to intense anthropogenic pressure from local as well as regional sources. Therefore, improved spatial management that accounts for both local and regional stressors is needed for effective marine conservation.

Japan’s largest city, greater Tokyo, had a staggering 37.19 million inhabitants in 2023, making it the most populous city across the Asia-Pacific region. India had the second largest city after Japan with a population consisting of approximately 33 million inhabitants. Contrastingly, approximately 410 thousand inhabitants populated Papua New Guinea's largest city in 2023. A megacity regionNot only did Japan and India have the largest cities throughout the Asia-Pacific region but they were among the three most populated cities worldwide in 2023. Interestingly, over half on the world’s megacities were situated in the Asia-Pacific region. However, being home to more than half of the world’s population, it does not seem surprising that by 2025 it is expected that more than two thirds of the megacities across the globe will be located in the Asia Pacific region. Other megacities are also expected to emerge within the Asia-Pacific region throughout the next decade. There have even been suggestions that Indonesia’s Jakarta and its conurbation will overtake Greater Tokyo in terms of population size by 2030. Increasing populationsIncreased populations in megacities can be down to increased economic activity. As more countries across the Asia-Pacific region have made the transition from agriculture to industry, the population has adjusted accordingly. Thus, more regions have experienced higher shares of urban populations. However, as many cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Seoul have an aging population, this may have an impact on their future population sizes, with these Asian regions estimated to have significant shares of the population being over 65 years old by 2035.

From 2000 to 2023, there was a steady increase in the number of deaths in São Paulo until 2019, leading to an exponential increase in the consecutive years, recording in 2021 the highest amount throughout the period shown with 105,070 deaths. In 2023, nearly 81,500 deaths were recorded

India's total population reached nearly **** billion people as of 2023, making the country by far the most populous throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Contrastingly, Micronesia had a total population of around *** thousand people in the same year. The demographics of APAC Asia-Pacific, made up of many different countries and regions, is the most populated region across the globe. Being home to a significant number of megacities, and with the population ever-increasing, the region is unsurprisingly expected to have the largest urban population by 2050. However, as of 2021, the majority of Asia-Pacific countries had rural populations greater than ** percent.  Population densities Despite China being the most populated country across the region, it fell in the middle of Asia-Pacific regions in terms of population density. On the other hand, Macao, Singapore, and Hong Kong all had the highest population densities across the Asia-Pacific region. These three Asia-Pacific regions also ranked among the top four densest populations worldwide.   

In 2025, approximately 23 million people lived in the São Paulo metropolitan area, making it the biggest in Latin America and the Caribbean and the sixth most populated in the world. The homonymous state of São Paulo was also the most populous federal entity in the country. The second place for the region was Mexico City with 22.75 million inhabitants. Brazil's cities Brazil is home to two large metropolises, only counting the population within the city limits, São Paulo had approximately 11.45 million inhabitants, and Rio de Janeiro around 6.21 million inhabitants. It also contains a number of smaller, but well known cities such as Brasília, Salvador, Belo Horizonte and many others, which report between 2 and 3 million inhabitants each. As a result, the country's population is primarily urban, with nearly 88 percent of inhabitants living in cities. Mexico City Mexico City's metropolitan area ranks sevenths in the ranking of most populated cities in the world. Founded over the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan in 1521 after the Spanish conquest as the capital of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, the city still stands as one of the most important in Latin America. Nevertheless, the preeminent economic, political, and cultural position of Mexico City has not prevented the metropolis from suffering the problems affecting the rest of the country, namely, inequality and violence. Only in 2023, the city registered a crime incidence of 52,723 reported cases for every 100,000 inhabitants and around 24 percent of the population lived under the poverty line.

Interactions between aerosols and meteorology have received increasing attention in recent decades. Through interactions with radiation, aerosols involve in thermodynamic processes and cause cloud adjustment, referred to as the direct and semi-direct effects respectively. They also involve in cloud microphysical processes by severing as cloud condensation nuclei or ice nuclei, referred to as indirect effect. Aerosol direct effect is found to potentially exacerbate air quality by stabilizing the planetary boundary layer (PBL). However, their impacts through the interaction with clouds, including semi-direct and indirect effect remain unclear. In this study, we conducted model simulations to evaluate the direct, semi-direct and indirect effects of aerosols in PBL structure and surface PM2.5 concentration during three heavy haze events under overcast conditions. Overall, the aerosol-PBL feedback results in a 22%–36% decrease of PBL height and 5%–28% increase of PM2.5 concentration. The indirect effect always has the largest impact on PBL and PM2.5 pollution, accounting for 59%–84% of the changes. The semi-direct effect is the weakest on average, although it can exceed the direct effect at certain times and locations. Black carbon aerosols play the vital role in both the direct and semi-direct effects. Our findings promote the understanding of heavy haze formation, and highlight the dominant role of aerosol-cloud interaction in the feedback process of aerosols to PBL structure and air quality.

Street Vending Cart Market Outlook

The global street vending cart market size was valued at approximately USD 3.5 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.2% from 2024 to 2032, reaching a forecasted market size of around USD 6.7 billion by 2032. The growth of this market is primarily driven by urbanization, changing consumer preferences towards convenient food and merchandise options, and the relatively low startup costs associated with vending carts, which are encouraging more entrepreneurs to enter the market.

Urbanization is one of the key growth factors for the street vending cart market. As more people migrate to urban areas, the demand for quick, accessible, and affordable food and merchandise options has risen significantly. Street vending carts provide an ideal solution to meet this demand, given their mobility and flexibility. Moreover, many consumers prefer the unique, often artisanal offerings found with street vendors, which adds an experiential element to their shopping or dining experience. This trend is particularly noticeable in burgeoning megacities where the space for traditional brick-and-mortar establishments is limited.

Another significant growth factor is the shift in consumer behavior towards more on-the-go lifestyles. As the pace of life increases, so does the need for convenient and quick service options. Street vending carts cater to this demand by offering ready-to-eat foods and beverages, as well as quick retail options. Furthermore, technological advancements, such as mobile payment systems and app-based ordering, have made transactions more seamless, thereby boosting the market further. Additionally, the relatively low capital investment required to start a vending cart business attracts a wide range of entrepreneurs, from small business owners to large food and beverage corporations looking to test new markets or products.

Additionally, the rise of tourism in various regions has led to an increased demand for street vending carts. Tourists often seek local, authentic experiences, and street vendors provide an accessible way for them to sample local cuisine and buy souvenirs. Government initiatives in some countries to support small businesses and street vendors have also played a crucial role in boosting the market. For instance, many cities have designated specific areas as “street food zones” to regulate and support vendors, thereby making it easier for them to operate and thrive.

The introduction of the Mobile Dining Cart has revolutionized the street vending landscape, offering vendors an innovative solution to meet the growing demand for mobility and convenience. These carts are designed to be easily maneuverable, allowing vendors to reach high-traffic areas and adapt quickly to changing consumer patterns. The Mobile Dining Cart is equipped with modern amenities such as built-in refrigeration, cooking facilities, and even solar panels, making it a self-sustaining unit that can operate in various environments. This flexibility not only enhances the vendor's ability to serve customers efficiently but also reduces operational costs by eliminating the need for permanent infrastructure. As urban areas continue to expand, the Mobile Dining Cart is poised to become an essential tool for vendors seeking to capitalize on the dynamic street food market.

From a regional perspective, Asia Pacific holds the largest share in the street vending cart market, followed by North America and Europe. The market in Asia Pacific is driven by high population density, rapid urbanization, and a strong cultural inclination towards street food. In contrast, North America and Europe are seeing growth due to increasing consumer interest in artisanal and gourmet street food options. Latin America and the Middle East & Africa are also witnessing growth, albeit at a slower pace, as urbanization and tourism in these regions continue to develop.

Product Type Analysis

The street vending cart market is segmented by product type into food carts, beverage carts, merchandise carts, and others. Food carts hold the largest share of the market due to the high consumer demand for diverse and convenient meal options. The versatility of food carts, which can offer anything from full meals to snacks and desserts, makes them extremely popular. Food carts are frequently seen in high-traffic areas such as business districts, parks, and event venues, where they cater to a diverse customer base. Innovati