Davao City, Manila among world's worst cities for traffic in 2025
Davao City has once again topped the list for having the worst traffic in the Philippines.
In the 2025 TomTom Traffic Index, the city ranked 12th among the most congested cities worldwide, with Manila at 40th place.
Davao City had an overall congestion of 66.2%, with the average distance driven being 4.4 kilometers every 15 minutes.
Motorists have lost about 168 hours on the road per year while dealing with the rush hour. This is higher than the 136 hours lost in data collected back in 2024.
Meanwhile, Manila had a congestion level of 57%. The average distance driven in the area is 4.7 kilometers every 15 minutes, with motorists losing 143 hours of their time crawling through traffic per year. This is also higher than the 127 hours recorded in 2024.
The report detailed that July 29, 2025, which fell on a Tuesday, was the worst travel day in Manila, having an average congestion level of 88% that reached its peak 149% at 6 p.m. The distance driven was 2.8 kilometers every 15 minutes starting at 6 p.m.
Compared to 2024, Manila saw a 0.8% increase in average congestion in 2025.
The city with the worst traffic worldwide was Mexico City, having an average congestion of 75.9%. Motorists lost 184 hours during rush hour per year.
This was followed by Bengaluru in India, Dublin in Ireland, Lodz in Poland, Pune in India, and Lublin in Poland.
Overall, the Philippines emerged as Asia’s most congested country, posting an average congestion level of 45%, with India and Singapore trailing at 37%.
On how bad the traffic was in 2025, the report stated, "As was the case last year, traffic has continued to worsen. It moves slower in cities all over the globe, and, overall, most cities show an increase in congestion and travel times."
The 2025 TomTom Traffic Index looked into the traffic situation of a total of 492 countries. The report is built from anonymized GPS data and real driving speeds recorded across trillions of kilometers.
