According to projections from the Global Cities Institute, a total of 13 African cities will surpass the current world’s largest cities such as New York, Moscow, New York, Tokyo, Cairo, or Rio de Janeiro. Over the next 80 years or so, some cities will literally be 10x or 20x in size which will turn into giant megacities that have comparable populations to entire countries like modern-day Germany, France, or the United Kingdom. None of these cities will be in the Americas, Europe, China, or Australia but these megacities will be located in Africa.
Here are the top four predicted megacities that will be the biggest in the world by 2100.
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Lagos, Nigeria
Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria, is the largest city in Africa with an estimated population of over 17.5 million inhabitants in the city. This Nigerian metropolis is growing very rapidly and the Global Cities Institute estimates that the city’s population will hit the 88.3 million mark by 2100 to make it the biggest city in the world.The city is already a center of West African trade and finance. Currently, the city is building Eko Atlantic, a massive new residential and commercial development that is being pitched as the “Manhattan of Nigeria”. It’s just off of Victoria Island, and it is being built on reclaimed land with special measures in place to prevent flooding from global warming.
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Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Kinshasa is the capital and the largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is on the Congo River. Once a site of fishing villages, Kinshasa is now an urban area with a 2014 population of over 11 million. The city has already likely passed Paris as the largest French-speaking city in the world. By 2100, it’s projected to be the world’s second largest city overall. Currently, approximately 60% of the 17 million people living there by 2025 will be younger than 18 years old. -
Dar Es Salaam, Tanzanian
Chances are you probably have never heard of Dar Es Salaam, the Tanzanian megacity that will hold 73.7 million inhabitants in 2100. Nestled along a natural harbor on the Indian Ocean, Dar es Salaam is a multicultural city, home to African Tanzanians, Arabic and South Asian communities, British and German expatriates, Catholics, Lutherans and Muslims. Its population will explode by 1,588% to become the third largest city in Africa, and in the world. -
Mumbai, India
Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay. This city is full of hard-labourers, gangsters, stray dogs and artists, servants, crorepatis (millionaires) and lots and lots of people. It has some of Asia’s biggest slums as well as the world’s most expensive home and the largest tropical forest in an urban zone. Mumbai is India’s financial powerhouse, fashion epicenter and a pulse point of religious tension. Mumbai is already one of the world’s biggest megacities with over 20 million people.
