UN Calls Jakarta The World's Most Populous City, Rano Karno: Honestly, It's A Little Confused

JAKARTA - Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta Rano Karno admitted that he was confused by the report by the World Urbanization Prospect 2025 released by the United Nations (UN) which places Jakarta as the most congested city in the world.

According to Rano, the UN data that reveals Jakarta is the most populous city with 42 million people including residents in buffer areas that are included in the Jabodetabek agglomeration area.

"Honestly, we are a bit confused, yes. Maybe Jakarta is counted as part of the algomerization, because the calculation is Depok, Bekasi, Bogor, suddenly the population of Jakarta is up to 41 million, right," said Rano in the HI Roundabout area, Central Jakarta, Sunday, November 30.

In fact, administratively, Jakarta recorded an official population of 11,010,514 people based on Net Population Data for Semester 1 of 2025, DKI Jakarta Province sourced from the Directorate General of Dukcapil, Ministry of Home Affairs.

"Wow, we are also surprised that our BPS Jakarta data is 11 million, but it indicates that Jakarta is the spearhead of the population development in the Jabodetabek area," said Rano.

Rano menyadari tinggi jumlah penduduk di Jakarta, termasuk warga daerah penggungan yang beraktivitas di Jakarta menimbulkan masalah tersendiri, salah satunya adalah angka kemacetan yang cukup tinggi.

According to Rano, the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government cannot solve this congestion problem. People, he continued, also need to change their habit of switching their use from private vehicles to public transportation.

"Yes, of course, there must be awareness from all friends in the regions. It is impossible for Jakarta to be alone," he said.

It is known that the United Nations released a report recording Jakarta as the world's most populous city with a population of nearly 42 million people. In this global ranking, the population density in Jakarta beat Dhaka (Bangladesh) in second place with around 40 million people, and Tokyo (Japan) which is said to have around 33 million people.

According to a UN report, currently about 45 percent of the world's population lives in urban areas. This urbanization rate has soared rapidly since 1950 where only 20 percent of the world's population live in cities.