Somewhere in the world, a set of parents and their extended family are getting ready to welcome a new member to that family. Perhaps a nursery is being painted pink or blue. Dad is struggling to assemble the crib while mom circles in on the best name. Grandmom is putting together the list of how to spoil that child while granddad is oiling up the baseball mitt.
As fate would have it, that new family member is also going to be the 7 billionth member of planet earth. Estimates are that someone around Halloween the world population will hit 7 billion. Think about that the next time you get stuck in a traffic jam or in a long line at the post office. On some level, there are 7 billion people behind you. So, where are the most populous places on the planet? TIME Magazine complied a list of earth’s 10 megacities based on population. Can you guess which city is number one? Scroll to the bottom to find out.
Manila: Current population: 16.3 million
“After Dresden, elegant Manila — once known as the Pearl of the Orient — was the most bombed-out city during World War II. Still, it has grown exponentially since the American recapture of the Philippine archipelago and now is a city of multiple cities, at once opulent and desperately poor, threaded together by slums, brackish canals and packed roads. The ravages of Typhoon Ketsana in 2009 — the worst to hit Manila, killing nearly a thousand and submerging swaths of the city — showed how rapid urbanization and lax municipal management had left Manila prone to such natural calamity. Plans to shift some businesses and government offices away from the dense Manila capital region have yet to be implemented and may do little to turn the overcrowding tide.”
Shanghai: Current population: 16.7 million
“In some ways, the growth of Shanghai tells the story of contemporary China. In 1980, it had a population of less than 6 million and was not among the top 15 global cities. In 30 years, it has nearly tripled in size to 16.7 million and leaped to the ninth spot on the list. In 2010, the city became the busiest container port the world, surpassing Singapore. It is also a burgeoning financial hub, drawing migrants from across the region. To cope with rapid growth, the government has invested in massive infrastructure projects, including the subway system, which is now the largest in the world.”Delhi: Current population: 18.6 million
“Between the downtown core and its vast network of city-size suburbs, the cosmopolitan Indian capital is home to some 18.6 million. Like many fast-growing cities, Delhi has struggled to accommodate waves of migrants from rural areas, leaving millions to live in unplanned shantytowns where water, electricity and proper sewer systems are spotty. The city is famous for its traffic jams, but public transportation isn’t always an option: the train system is supercrowded. Deadly stampedes at train stations have led to calls for urgently needed infrastructure improvements.”
Sao Paulo: Current Population: 18.8 million
Brazil’s financial and cultural hub is a thriving city of 18.8 million people, making it one of the largest cities in the southern hemisphere. São Paulo’s economy runs on global demand for its iron ore and offshore oil, while international banks and hedge funds are attracted to its strong currency. But the city has in recent years been unable to cope with the exploding population, resulting in inadequate housing, skyrocketing property prices and slums known as favelas. With 35% of its residents living in extreme poverty, the city’s high crime rate doesn’t come as much of a surprise.
Jakarta: Current population: 18.9 million
Any visitor to Indonesia’s capital city can tell you it’s a traffic nightmare. What was once a sleepy Dutch colonial outpost in the 17th century stands to be one of the most important (and congested) cities in Southeast Asia in the 21st century. Jakarta is a teeming metropolis drawing in migrants from every corner of the diverse archipelago nation, but poor urban planning and ramshackle development have led to annual floods that inundate much of the city, turning streets into rivers and daily life into a diluvial struggle. Tentative plans to tie the administration of Jakarta up with that of outlying areas surrounding it in West Java — creating a megacity with the awkward-looking name of Jabodetabekjur — are still infant and have yet to yield any real results for beleaguered commuters and city dwellers.
Mumbai: Current population: 19.2 million
The commercial capital of India is also home to Bollywood, one of the largest film producers in the world. Mumbai has grown tremendously following India’s economic liberalization in 1991, but its population explosion has left an estimated 60% of its 19.2 million people living in slums. Waves of migrants have built low structures of concrete, corrugated metal and cardboard on land that has since become valuable. The government wants to raze the slums, move millions of poor people to high-rise buildings and let developers build expensive flats. It’s a plan that has many of Mumbai’s residents crying foul as they are forced from their homes.
New York City: Current population: 19.8 million
The New York City metropolitan area was the world’s first megacity and remains a 19.8 million–strong powerhouse with global reach in everything from fashion to finance. It’s been the most populated place in the U.S. since Census Bureau records began in 1790, and the city’s five boroughs, spread over 301 sq. mi. (780 sq km), are also the most densely populated in America. New York City attracted nearly 50 million visitors in 2010 and is home to people from all corners of the globe (its residents speak an estimated 800 languages). It’s also the second wealthiest city in the world, after Tokyo.
Mexico City: Current population: 20.5 million
The Mexican capital’s population has grown extraordinarily over the past six decades. In 1950, the city had a population of just 2.9 million — making it the 16th largest in the world. But the population of Mexico City quadrupled over 30 years and has continued to expand ever since, with the current population at 20.5 million. The breakneck pace of growth has caused suffocating air pollution. Recent initiatives, including a World Bank–sponsored pollution-reduction program, have improved conditions, but smog persists.
Seoul: Current population: 20.6 million
Home to 20.6 million people, the Seoul metropolitan area owes its gargantuan size to its inclusion of surrounding areas like the Incheon metropolis and the Gyeonggi province. The South Korean capital is highly developed and plans to offer free wi-fi in outdoor spaces around the city by 2015. But its advanced infrastructure belies the typical urban problems that are magnified because of its size. Its high population density makes for severe air pollution and smog, overtaxed sewers, crowded public transportation and an affordable-housing shortage.
Tokyo: Current population: 32.5 million
You know what’s big in Japan? Tokyo. The 32.5 million–strong metropolitan area is the thriving heart of the country and the most populous urban area in the world. Although Japan’s overall birthrate is dropping and Tokyo’s population peaked in 2004, people from across Japan still flock to the capital in search of good jobs. Every day, 2 million souls commute in and out of the metropolitan area on a vast network of always-on-time trains. The March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis in northeastern Japan scared some Tokyo residents away, but the exodus of 4,000 barely made a dent in the population of this high-density city.
You can read more about these megacities at TIME.
