With Karachi’s uncontrollable population growth, it is likely to become one of the 10 largest cities in the world by 2030, according to the United Nations(UN), Dawn reported. Between 2025 to 2030, the population is expected to grow, especially in the middle of the century.
In their “World Urbanisation Prospects 2025” summary, the UN concluded that Karachi could become the fifth-most populous city by 2050, with its population nearing 33 million. It surpasses Cairo (32 million), Tokyo (31 million), Guangzhou (29 million), Manila (27 million), and Kolkata (24 million).
So far, there are 33 megacities worldwide, 19 of which are in Asia. The rise has been sharp, from 8 megacities in 1975 to 33 in 2025. It is likely that there will be 37 megacities in Asia.
The summary also stated that Dhaka is most likely to become the world’s largest city in 2030, while Tokyo, which is now the third-most populous city, will fall to the 7th-most populous as its population is expected to reduce to 31 million.
Several of the world’s most densely populated cities exceeded 20,000 inhabitants per square kilometre in 2025. Karachi is among them, with an estimated density of 25,000 people per square kilometre. India and China, however, are expected to maintain the largest urban populations through 2050, as they are the two most densely populated countries.
From 2000 to 2025, urban living rapidly increased, as the number of people living in cities grew by 1.25 billion, with more than half of this increase due to nations including India, China, Nigeria, Pakistan, and the United States, which added over 500 million people to the global urban total.
Urban living has become the norm globally, with urban density increasing from only 20 per cent of the world’s 2.5 billion people living in cities in 1950 to 45 per cent in 2025. The global population has also increased to 8.2 billion.
The report also highlighted that more than 3,000 cities around the world have experienced population decline between 2015 and 2025.
