As per a decadal analysis of forest cover change in megacities of India between 2011 and 2021, Hyderabad emerged as the city with a *** percent growth in forest area, followed by Chennai and Delhi. Ahmedabad lost ** percent of its forest cover in a period of ten years.

Delhi was the largest city in terms of number of inhabitants in India in 2023.The capital city was estimated to house nearly 33 million people, with Mumbai ranking second that year. India's population estimate was 1.4 billion, ahead of China that same year.

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.

This statistic shows the projected population of the largest urban agglomerations worldwide in 2035. In that year, the population of the New York-Newark agglomeration in the United States is projected to be **** million people.

Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainableHalf of humanity – 3.5 billion people – lives in cities today. By 2030, almost 60% of the world’s population will live in urban areas.828 million people live in slums today and the number keeps rising.The world’s cities occupy just 2% of the Earth’s land, but account for 60 – 80% of energy consumption and 75% of carbon emissions. Rapid urbanization is exerting pressure on fresh water supplies, sewage, the living environment, and public health. But the high density of cities can bring efficiency gains and technological innovation while reducing resource and energy consumption.Cities have the potential to either dissipate the distribution of energy or optimise their efficiency by reducing energy consumption and adopting green – energy systems. For instance, Rizhao, China has turned itself into a solar – powered city; in its central districts, 99% of households already use solar water heaters.68% of India’s total population lives in rural areas (2013-14).By 2030, India is expected to be home to 6 mega-cities with populations above 10 million. Currently 17% of India’s urban population lives in slums.This map layer is offered by Esri India, for ArcGIS Online subscribers, If you have any questions or comments, please let us know via content@esri.in.

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.

ObjectiveTuberculosis (TB) is a major source of mortality in urban India, with many structural challenges to optimal care delivery. In the government TB program in Chennai, India’s fourth most populous city, there is a 49% gap between the official number of smear-positive TB patients diagnosed and the official number registered in TB treatment within the city in 2014. We hypothesize that this “urban registration gap” is partly due to rural patients temporarily visiting the city for diagnostic evaluation.MethodsWe collected data for one month (May 2015) from 22 government designated microscopy centers (DMCs) in Chennai where 90% of smear-positive TB patients are diagnosed and coded patient addresses by location. We also analyzed the distribution of chest symptomatics (i.e., patients screened for TB because of pulmonary symptoms) and diagnosed smear-positive TB patients for all of Chennai’s 54 DMCs in 2014.ResultsAt 22 DMCs in May 2015, 565 of 3,543 (15.9%) chest symptomatics and 71 of 412 (17.2%) diagnosed smear-positive patients had an address outside of Chennai. At the city’s four high patient volume DMCs, 54 of 270 (20.0%) smear-positive patients lived out-of-city. At one of these high-volume DMCs, 31 of 59 (52.5%) smear-positive patients lived out-of-city. Out of 6,135 smear-positive patients diagnosed in Chennai in 2014, 3,498 (57%) were diagnosed at the four high-volume DMCs. The 32 DMCs with the lowest patient volume diagnosed 10% of all smear-positive patients.ConclusionsTB case detection in Chennai is centralized, with four high-volume DMCs making most diagnoses. One-sixth of patients are from outside the city, most of whom get evaluated at these high-volume DMCs. This calls for better coordination between high-volume city DMCs and rural TB units where many patients may take TB treatment. Patient mobility only partly explains Chennai’s urban registration gap, suggesting that pretreatment loss to follow-up of patients who live within the city may also be a major problem.

As of 2024, Mumbai had a gross domestic product of *** billion U.S. dollars, the highest among other major cities in India. It was followed by Delhi with a GDP of around *** billion U.S. dollars. India’s megacities also boast the highest GDP among other cities in the country. What drives the GDP of India’s megacities? Mumbai is the financial capital of the country, and its GDP growth is primarily fueled by the financial services sector, port-based trade, and the Hindi film industry or Bollywood. Delhi in addition to being the political hub hosts a significant services sector. The satellite cities of Noida and Gurugram amplify the city's economic status. The southern cities of Bengaluru and Chennai have emerged as IT and manufacturing hubs respectively. Hyderabad is a significant player in the pharma and IT industries. Lastly, the western city of Ahmedabad, in addition to its strategic location and ports, is powered by the textile, chemicals, and machinery sectors. Does GDP equal to quality of life? Cities propelling economic growth and generating a major share of GDP is a global phenomenon, as in the case of Tokyo, Shanghai, New York, and others. However, the GDP, which measures the market value of all final goods and services produced in a region, does not always translate to a rise in quality of life. Five of India’s megacities featured in the Global Livability Index, with low ranks among global peers. The Index was based on indicators such as healthcare, political stability, environment and culture, infrastructure, and others.

The data shows the year-wise statistics for incidence of accidental deaths in different cities of India by natural or unnatural causes between 2009 and 2015.

Note: 1. Vasai Virar, Tiruchirappalli, Thrissur, Thiruvananthapuram, Ranchi, Srinagar, Raipur, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kota, Kollam, Kannur, Jodhpur, Gwalior, Ghaziabad, Durg Bhilainagar, Aurangabad and Chandigarh (City) newly emerged Mega Cities as per Population Census 2011. 2. Poisoning includes the incidence due to food poisoning/accidental intake of insects, spurious/poisoning liquor, leakage of poisoning gases etc., snake bite/animal bite and others. 3. Traffic accidents includes Road accidents, Rail road accidents and other railway accidents. 4. Collapse of structure includes House, Building, Dam, Bridge others. 5. Sudden deaths include i) Heart Attacks ii) Epileptic fits/giddiness iii) Abortion/Childbirth iv) Influence of alcohol. 6. Fire includes i) Fireworks/crackers ii) Short-Circuit iii) Cooking Gas Cylinder/Stove burst iv) other fire accidents.

In 2023, the congestion level of Bengaluru amounted to ** percent each, meaning that it took ** percent more time to get from one point to another compared to a free flow situation. Comparatively, the congestion level in Sydney and Hong Kong amounted to ** and ** percent respectively during the same year.

Mit rund 32,1 Millionen Einwohnern im Jahr 2022 ist die Hauptstadt Delhi die bevölkerungsreichste Stadt Indiens. Mumbai folgt mit etwa 20,96 Millionen Einwohnern auf dem zweiten Platz. Beide Metropolen finden sich auch in der Liste der zehn größten Städten Asiens wieder. Land der Superlative Mit insgesamt etwa 1,4 Milliarden Einwohnern ist Indien das zweitgrößte Land der Welt und umfasst gemeinsam mit dem Spitzenreiter China etwa ein Drittel der Weltbevölkerung. Die schiere Größe des Landes könnte erklären, wieso es keine regelmäßigen Schätzungen der städtischen Bevölkerungszahlen gibt. Indien ist eine aufstrebende Wirtschaftsmacht und die am schnellsten wachsende Volkswirtschaft der G20-Mitglieder. Zusammen mit Brasilien, Russland und China gehört Indien zu den sogenannten BRIC-Staaten, einem Verbund der größten Schwellenländer weltweit. In Indien werden weit über 100 unterschiedliche Sprachen gesprochen, das Land gilt zudem als größte Demokratie der Welt. Städte, Metropolen, Megacities Immer mehr Menschen leben in städtischen Ballungszentren – ein Trend, der sich auch zukünftig fortsetzen wird. Ab welcher Einwohnerzahl eine Ortschaft als Stadt zu zählen hat und wie ihre Grenzen zu ziehen sind, ist allerdings international nicht einheitlich definiert.

Agglomeration 

Mit Agglomeration (Ballungsraum) ist zumeist ein zusammenhängendes urbanes Gebiet gemeint, wie z.B. das Ruhrgebiet, das aus mehreren Städten und Vororten bestehen kann. Metropolen Metropolen sind Städte, die für die Region grundsätzlich eine herausragende Stellung besitzen (z.B. in wirtschaftlicher oder kultureller Hinsicht).
Megacities Als Megacities werden Städte mit mindestens 10 Millionen Einwohnern bezeichnet.

Aufgrund der Vielzahl unterschiedlicher Definitionen, Abgrenzungen und Überschneidungen, sind Städte hinsichtlich der Einwohnerzahl international nur begrenzt vergleichbar.