Japan’s largest city, greater Tokyo, had a staggering ***** 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 ** million inhabitants. Contrastingly, approximately *** 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.

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/

The TSABC analysis assumes the 1KGP demographic model in each population.

South Korea's capital Seoul had the highest cost of living among megacities in the Asia-Pacific region in 2024, with an index score of ****. Japan's capital Tokyo followed with a cost of living index score of ****. AffordabilityIn terms of housing affordability, Chinese megacity Shanghai had the highest rent index score in 2024. Affordability has become an issue in certain megacities across the Asia-Pacific region, with accommodation proving expensive. Next to Shanghai, Japanese capital Tokyo and South Korean capital Seoul boast some of the highest rent indices in the region. Increased opportunities in megacitiesAs the biggest region in the world, it is not surprising that the Asia-Pacific region is home to 28 megacities as of January 2024, with expectations that this number will dramatically increase by 2030. The growing number of megacities in the Asia-Pacific region can be attributed to raised levels of employment and living conditions. Cities such as Tokyo, Shanghai, and Beijing have become economic and industrial hubs. Subsequently, these cities have forged a reputation as being the in-trend places to live among the younger generations. This reputation has also pushed them to become enticing to tourists, with Tokyo displaying increased numbers of tourists throughout recent years, which in turn has created more job opportunities for inhabitants. As well as Tokyo, Shanghai has benefitted from the increased tourism, and has demonstrated an increasing population. A big factor in this population increase could be due to the migration of citizens to the city, seeking better employment possibilities.

By 2035, nearly ** million people are predicted to call Guangzhou home. As one of the key cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Guangzhou’s vibrancy is very attractive to people searching for their opportunities there.

Megacity – Guangzhou

As China’s cities become increasingly urbanized, the demographic of this megacity has also changed considerably over the years, with more and more Chinese locals and foreigners opting to dwell in Guangzhou for work and cultural opportunities. Together with Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, Guangzhou is listed as one of China’s first-tier cities, indicating its great economic power and developing potential. Guangzhou has been a large port of China for over *** thousand years and has contributed significantly to the economic and cultural exchange between China and the world. Today, the Guangzhou Port is one of the largest in the world.

Multicultural hub

The traces of immigrants from different times to this city can be easily found in Guangzhou’s architecture. In the former colonial area, there are still plenty of old western style buildings. Today’s Guangzhou is one of the Chinese cities with the highest density of skyscrapers in some business areas. The Canton Tower, landmark of Guangzhou, is *** meters tall and the second tallest tower in the world after Tokyo Skytree. In this capital city of the Guangdong province, Cantonese culture is highly respected and well developed. Guangzhou is also one of the Chinese cities with the largest foreign population. Cantonese, Mandarin and English are the widely used languages of the residents in Guangzhou.

aData from HapMap database (http://www.hapmap.org) showing the MAF in various populations, including HCB, JPT, CEU, YRI. Abbreviations: HCB: Han Chinese in Beijing, China; JPT: Japanese in Tokyo, Japan; CEU: Utah residents with Northern and Western European ancestry from the CEPH collection; YRI: Yoruban in Ibadan, Nigeria.b. The data display no G allele.c. No published data in HapMap database.d. Statistic difference between current studied population and HapMap populations with χ2 test (P

In fiscal year 2024 ended October 1, there were 7,594 company-operated Starbucks stores in China, with 855 newly open stores and 65 closures. From roots to global reach Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse chain worldwide, with revenues of 29.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2024 and more than 40,000 stores across the globe. From its humble coffee bean-roasting origins in Seattle, Washington in 1971, Starbucks expanded rapidly during the 1980s and 1990s, opening its first store outside of North America in Tokyo, Japan in 1996. In January 1999, Starbucks opened its first store in Beijing, China and has since gone on to expand its fleet. Key markets As of October 2024, the country with the most Starbucks stores worldwide was the United States, where more than 18,000 stores were located. China ranked second ahead of South Korea and Japan. China was also the second largest revenue source for the company, in terms of geographical region. Besides the U.S. and China, the rest of the revenues came from Japan, Canada, and the UK in fiscal year 2024.

In 2023, Universal Studios Japan welcomed around 16 million visitors, the largest number across all theme and amusement parks in the Asia-Pacific region that year. It also ranked within the top five leading amusement parks worldwide. As of 2022, theme park attendance seems to be similar to pre-pandemic levels. With Japan leading the Asia-Pacific region with Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo DisneySea, and Universal Studios Japan by number of visitors. Huge attendance drops across the region All theme parks in APAC reported significant visitor decreases in 2020 due to partial or complete closings amid the coronavirus pandemic. While 2021 visitor numbers marked a recovery, they still stayed below 2019 attendance for all parks across the region. In 2023, the top 20 theme parks recorded a positive growth in attendance compared to 2022. Parks located in China showed the biggest changes in attendance at amusement parks.The most-visited water parks in Asia have similarly recovered their attendance numbers, as three parks recorded visitor increases of over 100 percent. The biggest operator in Asia With seven of its amusement parks being among the most visited in Asia, Chinese company Fantawild Holdings is becoming Asia's leading theme park operator. Fantawild established a chain of amusement parks, operating 35 theme parks in China. Compared to 2022, Fantawild Group had the most significant growth in visitors in 2023. Especially Zhengzhou Fantawild Adventure recorded a Year-over-Year attendance growth of almost 179 percent.