The Largest City in Asia Now And In 30 Years

The most populous continent in the world is the beautiful continent of Asia. Made up of 48 countries and over 4.5 billion residents, Asia is full of diverse cultures, languages, food, and people. It’s an excellent place to travel and reside due to the richness of its history and the vastness of its diversity. While Asia itself is pretty gigantic, you’re probably curious about the largest city in all of Asia. The answer is not what you’d expect!

What’s the largest city in Asia in 2024?

While India is known for its concentrated population, the largest city in Asia in 2024 is actually located in China. That’s right: Shangai, China, is the largest city in Asia! Shanghai’s population is estimated to be over 22 million, which is fairly substantial considering China itself has a total of 1.412 billion residents. While Shanghai makes up only a small percentage of the total, it’s worth considering that China is exceptionally large.

China has a few cities with noteworthy populations. Beijing follows as the fourth-biggest city in Asia in 2024, with a population of just under 12 million. Tianjin and Guangzhou are also in the top ten most populous cities in Asia, with populations of around 11 million each. Here’s a look at the top ten biggest cities in Asia in 2024:

Clearly, Shanghai has a fairly dramatic lead over the other top ten cities. While Shanghai, China, races far ahead, most of the other cities are fairly close to one another in population. Let’s take a look at growth rates to discover our guess for the largest city in Asia in 20 years.

What will be the largest city in Asia in 30 years?

To estimate the largest Asian city in 30 years, we’ve looked at the growth rates for the top ten largest cities and compared the present population with how quickly the city’s population seems to be growing. While growth rates can change over 30 years, this is a great way to estimate what a city’s population could look like in the future.

Shanghai’s growth rate has remained solidly around 2.5% for the last several years (with some slight variation). A competing city would need to have a very high growth rate to double its population and beat Shanghai’s growing population by 2054. Is it possible?

The Turkish city of Istanbul’s growth rate is low, only 1.36% in 2023 and similar in years prior. Mumbai’s is also below 2%, so the city is not a contender. Beijing’s growth rate also sits under 2%, so it won’t be able to edge out Shanghai by 2044.

Are there any cities in the top ten that stand a chance of becoming the largest city in Asia by 2054? Of the top ten, Dhaka is the only one that stands a chance, with a growth rate of 3.26%. All the other cities have a smaller growth rate than Shanghai, so there’s little to no chance that they could beat the city’s population unless their population growth rate significantly improved.

With that in mind, it’s likely that the largest city in Asia in 30 years will still be Shanghai, China! Of course, population growth rates can change, which could impact the largest city. However, Shanghai’s population and population growth rate are so far ahead of other competitors that it’s likely the city will remain #1.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © Sean Pavone/Shutterstock.com