How did Jakarta suddenly become the biggest city in the world?

At the previous count, Indonesia’s capital was 33rd on the list of the world’s most populous cities. Now, it has replaced longstanding first-place Tokyo and stands clear at the top with a total population of 42 million. The reason for the swift rise? The United Nations has revised how it tallies up urban populations. While it previously relied on official statistics, the UN now uses more consistent metrics, which, in Jakarta’s case, incorporate high-density neighbourhoods, many of them informal settlements, connected to the main city. Jakarta features in a World Economic Forum report, Resilient Economies: Strategies for Sinking Cities and Flood Risks, which explores how cities facing the threat of land subsidence are responding through integrated policies, nature-based infrastructure and systems-level governance.