This is an article that focuses primarily on energy consumption of cities now and in the future, but it had this one fact that I found fucking mind boggling.

Today, there are 20 so-called megacities, whose populations -- and therefore energy needs -- easily exceed that of countries, according to Earth Policy Institute (more people now live in Tokyo than Canada, for example).

:bugeye:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/12/31/eco.cities/index.html

Mumbai is set to beat Tokyo (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1093424.stm) by 2020.


Bombay is set to replace Tokyo as the world's most populous city by 2020, according to a study released in the US.

Bombay, home to about 18 million people, will over the next two decades see its population grow to about 28.5 million, according to the Washington-based Population Institute, in its annual overview of world population trends.

Tokyo is expected to be pushed into second place, with a population of 27.3 million by 2020



Current populations (2000)
Tokyo: 26.4m
Mexico City:18.1m
Bombay: 18.1m
Sao Paulo: 17.8m
New York: 16.6m
Source: United Nations Development Programme

This is an article that focuses primarily on energy consumption of cities now and in the future, but it had this one fact that I found fucking mind boggling.

Today, there are 20 so-called megacities, whose populations -- and therefore energy needs -- easily exceed that of countries, according to Earth Policy Institute (more people now live in Tokyo than Canada, for example).

:bugeye:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/12/31/eco.cities/index.html

What is your point ? More people use more energy; geographical distribution is irrelevant

My point? Only to express my shock at the concept of a population that can span the entirety of Canada living in one densely packed city like Tokyo. Energy really has little to do with it. I'm sure such a concept has been a reality for some time now, but I've never really thought about it and it still seems mind boggling.

Current populations
Tokyo: 26.4m
Mexico City:18.1m
Bombay: 18.1m
Sao Paulo: 17.8m
New York: 16.6m
Source: United Nations Development Programme


Not that it changes that fact that Tokyo IS a megacity, If the data above is correct, then the population of Canada is larger than Tokyo's:

Total Canadian population in 2006: 31,612,897
Source: 2006 Canadian Census, StatCan

My info is from 2000

Current population (2007-09-30) of

Tokyo: 33,600,000
Seoul : 23,400,000
Mexico City: 22,400,000
New York: 21,900,000
Mumbai (Bombay): 21,600,000

http://www.citypopulation.de/World.html

Canada — Population: 33,390,141 (July 2007 est.)

As of October 1, 2007, the population of Tokyo is estimated to be 12.790 million, or about 10% of Japan's total population, and it has the largest population among all the 47 prefectures.




http://www.metro.tokyo.jp/ENGLISH/PROFILE/overview03.htm


TOKYO POPULATION
With a population of over 12 million, or about 10 percent of Japan's population, Tokyo is by far the country's most populous and most densely populated prefecture. The centre of Tokyo is located at 35°41' North, 139°46' East (35.68333, 139.7667).

From 2003

http://www.japaneselifestyle.com.au/tokyo/tokyo_population.htm

The surrounding prefectures are part of the sprawl and the population with those included is about 28-30 million

33M people in Tokyo? No freaken way... I heard that Mexico City was the most populous city with about 18M people... and they have it pretty bad. You're only allowed to drive your car twice a week, unless you're rich and can afford to pay for the extra sticker. The smog is terrible, and the people must be really irritable with the streets being so crowded.

Though I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Tokyo consumes more energy than Mexico City. A huge source of consumption is office towers that have their lights and internal systems on 24/7... and there are lots of them in Tokyo.

My info is from 2000

Current population (2007-09-30) of

Tokyo: 33,600,000
Seoul : 23,400,000
Mexico City: 22,400,000
New York: 21,900,000
Mumbai (Bombay): 21,600,000

http://www.citypopulation.de/World.html

Canada — Population: 33,390,141 (July 2007 est.)

The problem with these numbers, is they're all estimates, and not the actual real numbers. Additionally, for many of these "cities", they're actually combining nearby areas to make the numbers seem larger.

I'm not disputing they're overpopulated areas, I'm just disputing the numbers and the regions they're covering.
Should we add all of California as a suburb of L.A. and say L.A. has a population of 30,000,000 :)

I had the actual numbers in my post....

The problem with these numbers, is they're all estimates, and not the actual real numbers. Additionally, for many of these "cities", they're actually combining nearby areas to make the numbers seem larger.

I'm not disputing they're overpopulated areas, I'm just disputing the numbers and the regions they're covering.
Should we add all of California as a suburb of L.A. and say L.A. has a population of 30,000,000 :)

Its more representative however; the "real" city of Bombay for instance is what is commonly known as South Bombay, however, residents of the suburbs would be incredibly surprised to learn that they are not residents of Bombay. :p

well alot of people that live in canada are from Tokyo and Korea