Indonesians weigh peril and promise of life in Jakarta – the world’s most populous city

Indonesia’s capital is now officially the world’s most populous city, but for many among the 42 million people who call the greater Jakarta metropolitan area their home, the ranking is less a badge of honour than a symbol of endurance. Jakarta overtook Tokyo late last year under new UN criteria that also factor in the city’s wider metropolitan area, moving it to the top of the global rankings by population. For its residents, the title reflects the harsh realities of daily life – perpetually congested traffic, overbearing heat, regular monsoon floods and a challenging job market. For 22-year-old midwifery lecturer Fitri Sartika Rama, Jakarta is a place that straddles promise and the tough realities of life. “It is a good place to live if you are young and focused on your job and making money,” she said. “Jakarta is OK for a short time, but I don’t want to live here in the long term.” She calls it “a young person’s city” – a place that rewards ambition and speed, even as it exacts a heavy daily toll. Greater Jakarta has 42 million residents, ahead of Dhaka with 37 million and Tokyo with 33 million, according to a study by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs published in November. The findings reflect updated UN methodology measuring metropolitan areas rather than just administrative city limits. “The ‘largest population’ refers to the metropolitan area of Jabodetabekpunjur,” Elisa Sutanudjaja, executive director of the Rujak Centre for Urban Studies in Jakarta, told This Week in Asia. She was referring to a term that encompasses Jakarta and its satellite cities – Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi – as well as parts of the Puncak region and neighbouring Cianjur regency. The Jakarta Special Capital Region alone – the urban core – has about 11 million people. “Whether it is first or second in terms of population, the challenges remain the same,” Sutanudjaja said, pointing to the city’s long-standing systemic problems like flooding and poor water management. City of extremes In January, Jakarta was hit by widespread flooding due to heavy rains during the annual wet season. Authorities have resorted to weather manipulation to reduce rainfall. The Jakarta Disaster Mitigation Agency dispersed salt and quicklime into clouds to accelerate the condensation process from January 16 and said it would extend the measures until mid-February. According to Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency, illegal groundwater extraction also means that Jakarta, like Venice in Italy and other cities, is sinking. By 2050, some 25 per cent of the city could be under water, the agency warned. It is not just rainfall that Jakarta’s residents fear – the dry season, typically from March to September, as well as pollution, also pose major challenges for them. In 2021, residents filed a lawsuit against the central administration, the president and several government ministers over the city’s heavy pollution. A court ruled in favour of the plaintiffs, saying that the central government had been negligent in tackling the city’s poor air quality. However, for some living and working in Jakarta, little appeared to have changed for the better in recent years. “The weather in Jakarta is extreme and, when it is the dry season, the heat is unbearable. The heat makes the pollution worse, and breathing is difficult. It is so much worse than in other cities,” Rama said. “It is like you are burning from the inside out.” Tough job market In addition to rain, flooding, heatwaves and poor air quality, Jakarta also faces problems in public transport, affordable housing and jobs, according to Sutanudjaja. While Indonesia had an unemployment rate of 4.74 per cent as of November 2025, Jakarta’s jobless level was higher at 6.31 per cent in the same period, according to official data. Amat, who like many Indonesians uses a single name, works as a “silver man” in the capital due to few job opportunities. Every morning, he covers his body with coconut oil and silver paint and stands in Jakarta’s Chinatown, where he solicits donations from passers-by. “I’m forced to do this because of economic need,” said Amat, a father of six children aged between five and 18. Originally from Bumiayu in Central Java, Amat moved to Jakarta believing that it would be easier to find employment in the big city. “I worked for a few years as a rubbish collector, but I got sacked for not working fast enough,” he said. “A few months ago, a friend of mine, who is a ‘silver man’, asked me to join him. There was no other work, so I did it.” Amat, 52, said job opportunities were scarce in Jakarta, particularly as he did not graduate from high school. “But I don’t mind being a silver man as long as I can make enough money for my children to eat every day,” he said. The Nusantara conundrum With Jakarta’s rising population, attention has also turned to Nusantara, the planned new capital first proposed by former Indonesian president Joko Widodo. Inaugurated in 2024, the capital in East Kalimantan is envisioned to take in 1.9 million people from Jakarta by 2045, including thousands of civil servants. However, activities for the project have become more restrained under Widodo’s successor, President Prabowo Subianto. In addition to lower funding and fewer mentions of the city by Indonesian leaders, Nusantara has since been repositioned as a political and administrative hub rather than a metropolis. Even if the relocation were to proceed as planned, some analysts doubt it would significantly ease the pressure on Jakarta. “In my opinion, Nusantara won’t solve Jakarta’s problems. Jakarta needs its own strategy to address traffic congestion, flooding, riverside slums and land subsidence. A comprehensive approach and cross-sector and agency coordination are needed,” said Siwage Dharma Negara, a senior fellow and a specialist on Indonesian developments at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. Despite the downsides of living in Jakarta, some residents said they would not settle for anywhere else. For Mamay, who was born and raised in Jakarta and owns a local antiques business at the Jalan Surabaya flea market, the capital is “still the best city in the world”. “Jakarta has tourist attractions, is safe and strategically located in Indonesia. The people here are friendly, and it is a good place for me to work and sell my goods,” he said. Mamay said he had sourced many of his antiques from families moving out of Jakarta and that he often found heirlooms passed down through the generations. “I really like my job as it has taught me more about Jakarta’s history. As my antiques business has grown, I have had to learn more about where the items came from, what they would have been used for, and how people would have lived in Jakarta in the past,” he said. “It has made me appreciate the city even more.”

Indonesians weigh peril and promise of life in Jakarta – the world’s most populous city

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Extreme heat, floods, pollution, congested traffic and a tough job market are some of the major challenges faced by the city’s residents

Extreme heat, floods, pollution, congested traffic and a tough job market are some of the major challenges faced by the city’s residents