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Geography Simple #megacity#urbanization#un-data

Megacity Growth

Cities over 10M people - 33 in 2018, 43 projected by 2030.

A free, animated megacity growth you can read here or embed on any website, from Scrollchart.

Megacity Growth

Megacity Growth (1970-2030)Cities exceeding 10 million residents. UN projection shows 43 megacities by 2030, up from just 2 in 1970.Number of megacities010203040501970198019902000201020202030YearProjected33megacities 201843by 2030Largest megacities2023 population (M)Tokyo37.4MDelhi32.9MShanghai27.1MSao Paulo22MMexico City21.7MNew hotspotsKinshasa, Lagos, Dhakaamong fastest-growing21x growth2 cities in 197043 projected 2030

Animated curve of megacity count from 1970 to 2030 (UN data). 2 megacities in 1970 to 33 in 2018, with dashed projection to 43 by 2030. Right panel lists the five largest cities by population.

Good for

  • Urban geography and city-planning educational content
  • Journalism covering global urbanization and migration
  • Data visualization portfolios showing time-series with projections

Source & accuracy

This megacity growth is an editorial illustration built to represent the concept accurately. Where it shows figures, they are typical or representative values chosen to make the relationship clear, not a single underlying dataset. The diagram and its explainer are reviewed and maintained centrally, and updated over time as understanding improves.

Urban population concentration and infrastructure strain

Megacities (over 10 million people) are economic hubs that attract workers, investment, and talent. But they also concentrate poverty, congestion, and environmental stress. A megacity's sewage system, power grid, and transportation network must handle extreme peaks. Growth from 33 to 43 megacities by 2030 means 200+ million additional residents in cities already struggling with water and waste management.

Uneven regional growth

Asia is adding most of the new megacities, while some African cities approach megacity status and a few European ones are stabilizing. This reflects global migration toward manufacturing hubs and emerging economies. The concentration of growth in Asia is reshaping global supply chains and labor markets.

Embed this diagram

Add this animated megacity growth to your own site. Copy one line of HTML, or use the embed builder for theme and sizing options.

Reference

What this is
A free, embeddable, animated megacity growth for any website.
Who uses it
Travel blogs, News organizations.
How to embed
Copy one line of HTML. No signup. No watermark. Works in WordPress, Webflow, Ghost, Substack, plain HTML.
File size
iframe embed, ~80 KB gzipped (loads on demand, does not block your page paint).
License
Free forever. Editorial explainer text included; updated centrally over time.
URL
scrollchart.com/diagram/megacity-growth

Embed format options

Copy the universal HTML snippet, the WordPress shortcode, or an iframe fallback - see the WordPress plugin page for details. Any format keeps the same Core Web Vitals profile and the same explainer text.

Embed snippet 
<div data-scrollchart="megacity-growth" data-scrollchart-v="1"></div>
<script src="https://scrollchart.com/embed.js" async></script>

By embedding, you acknowledge the diagram and explainer text are served from scrollchart.com and may be updated from time to time to reflect new research or to link to relevant sources within the explainer.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I get a free animated "Megacity Growth" for my website?
Scrollchart provides "Megacity Growth" as a free, embeddable animated diagram you can add to any website with one line of HTML. No signup is required and there is no watermark. The diagram and its explainer text are served from scrollchart.com, so the embed stays current without any maintenance on your end.
How do I embed a megacity growth in WordPress or a static site?
Paste the HTML snippet from the Scrollchart diagram page into your WordPress post (in HTML/code view), your Webflow embed block, or directly into a static HTML file. No plugin is needed. The diagram loads from scrollchart.com and paints in as the reader scrolls.
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