Population tables of world cities

World's largest cities

World's largest cities proper

World's largest municipalities

World's largest urban areas

World's largest metropolitan areas

World's largest conurbations

World's largest urban agglomerations

World megacities

World megalopolises

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This is a list of contiguous urban areas of the world ordered according to population as of 2012. The figures here have been compiled by Demographia.^[1]

Definitions and issues[link]

Demographia defines an urban area (urbanized area agglomeration or urban centre) as a continuously built up land mass of urban development that is within a labor market (i.e. metropolitan area or metropolitan region), without regard for administrative boundaries (i.e. municipality, city or commune). Except in Australia, the authorities use a minimum urban density definition of 400 persons per square kilometer (or the nearly identical 1,000 per square mile in the United States). Demographia uses maps, satellite photographs to estimate continuous urbanization. Demographia also uses small area population data, where available, to match population estimates to urbanized land area. National census authority data are presented in Australia, Canada, France, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. Census of India urban agglomerations are not used in some cases because the geographical size of constituent units (municipalities) often includes large rural (non-urban) areas.

Sources for population estimates and land area definitions are coded by letter in the Table below, respectively.

A: National census authority data agglomeration data (land area or population).

B: Demographia land area estimate based upon map or satellite photograph analysis.

C: Demographia population estimate from lower order jurisdictions, including resuction for rural areas.

D: Population estimate based upon the United Nations agglomeration estimate.

E: Demographia population estimate from national census authority data.

F: Other Demographia population estimate, such as from unofficial local reports.

L: Demographia population estimate from local authority data.

N: Combined urban area using national census authority data.

The most reliable population estimates are A and N. Population estimates C are generally reliable. Population estimates D are less reliable, because it is sometimes difficult to determine whether the data is based upon metropolitan area, urban area populations or some other definition. Population estimates E are also less reliable, for generally these estimates are derived by subtracting estimated population for the rural parts of metropolitan areas based upon estimated urban versus rural population differentials. Population estimates coded F and L are the least reliable (e.g. Dhaka in Bangladesh, Ürümqi in the People's Republic of China, and Tunis in Tunisia).

The projected year (2012) population estimate is further calculated from the base year population estimate using population growth rate based upon the United Nations population growth rate with some exceptions.

The estimates are quite different from the list of World's largest urban agglomerations produced by the United Nations that reports inconsistently on urban geographic, despite its reference to agglomerations. This is evident, for example, in Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Seoul and Moscow, where the UN data are for political jurisdictions, rather than urban areas. In other cases, the UN data is for metropolitan area, which are larger than urban areas (such as in Brazil). Finally, the United Nations data is incomplete, excluding some significant urban areas (such as Essen–Düsseldorf in Germany or Pattaya in Thailand).

Urban areas are confined to a single metropolitan area or labor market area. In some cases, urban areas have virtually grown together (e.g. Taiheiyō Belt in Japan, the Pearl River Delta in the People's Republic of China and the Northeast megalopolis in the United States), yet are still considered separate urban areas. Urban areas that seem likely to grow together in the near future are also not combined (such as Tehran and Karaj in Iran).

Urban areas are confined to a single nation, unless there is freedom of movement (including labor) between the adjacent nations. Currently, this condition is met only between some continental nations of the European Union and Switzerland (e.g. Lille–Kortrijk in both France and Belgium, Aachen–Vaals in both Germany and Netherlands, Saarbrücken–Forbach in both Germany and France, and Geneva–Annemasse in both Switzerland and France). Thus, Detroit–Windsor in both the United States and Canada, and San Diego–Tijuana in both the United States and Mexico are not treated as single urban areas. Moreover, Shenzhen–Hong Kong in China is treated as separate urban areas, principally because labor movement between the two is limited.

According to the report, there are 841 identified urban areas in the world with 500,000 or more population as of 2012. As better satellite imagery has become available for a number of urban areas since the 2011 edition, this has resulted in land area increases or decreases in various urban areas. It is important to recognize that most of the data are estimated. Appropriate caution is therefore advised.

Urban areas (population over 2,000,000) ranked by 2012 projected population[link]

Rank	City	Country	Population	Area (km2)	Density (/km2)	Sources of Pop. / Area
1	Tokyo–Yokohama (Keihin)[2]	Japan	37,126,000	8,547	4,300	D / B
2	Jakarta (Jabodetabek)[3]	Indonesia	26,063,000	2,784	9,400	C / B
3	Seoul–Incheon (Sudogwon)[4]	South Korea	22,547,000	2,163	10,400	C / B
4	Delhi[5]	India	22,242,000	1,943	11,500	A / B
5	Manila (Metro Manila)[6]	Philippines	21,951,000	1,425	15,400	C / B
6	Shanghai[7]	China	20,860,000	3,497	6,000	C / B
7	New York[8]	United States	20,464,000	11,642	1,800	N / N
8	São Paulo[9]	Brazil	20,186,000	3,173	6,400	C / B
9	Mexico City (Valley of Mexico)[10]	Mexico	19,463,000	2,046	9,500	C / B
10	Cairo[11]	Egypt	17,816,000	1,709	10,400	E / B
11	Beijing[12]	China	17,311,000	3,497	5,000	C / B
12	Osaka–Kobe–Kyoto (Keihanshin)[13]	Japan	17,011,000	3,212	5,300	C / B
13	Mumbai (Bombay)[14]	India	16,910,000	546	30,900	A / B
14	Guangzhou–Foshan (Guangfo)[15]	China	16,827,000	3,173	5,300	C / B
15	Moscow[16]	Russia	15,512,000	4,403	3,500	C / B
16	Dhaka[17]	Bangladesh	15,414,000	347	44,400	F / B
17	Los Angeles[18]	United States	14,900,000	6,299	2,400	N / N
18	Kolkata (Calcutta)	India	14,374,000	1,204	11,900	A / B
19	Karachi[19]	Pakistan	14,198,000	777	18,300	D / B
20	Buenos Aires[20]	Argentina	13,639,000	2,642	5,200	D / B
21	Istanbul	Turkey	13,576,000	1,399	9,700	A / B
22	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	12,043,000	2,020	6,000	D / B
23	Shenzhen[15]	China	11,885,000	1,748	6,800	C / B
24	Lagos[21]	Nigeria	11,547,000	907	12,700	D / B
25	Paris	France	10,755,000	2,844	3,800	A / A
26	Nagoya (Chūkyō)[22]	Japan	10,027,000	3,820	2,600	C / B
27	Lima	Peru	9,121,000	648	14,100	C / B
27	Chicago[23]	United States	9,121,000	6,856	1,300	N / N
29	Kinshasa[24]	Democratic Republic of the Congo	9,046,000	583	15,500	D / B
30	Tianjin[25]	China	8,922,000	1,684	5,300	C / B
31	Chennai (Madras)	India	8,865,000	609	14,600	A / B
32	Bogotá	Colombia	8,702,000	414	21,000	D / B
33	Bengaluru (Bangalore)	India	8,670,000	8138	1066	A / B
34	London[26]	United Kingdom	8,586,000	1,623	5,300	A / A
35	Taipei[27]	Taiwan	8,338,000	1,140	7,300	C / B
36	Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)	Vietnam	8,314,000	842	9,900	C / B
37	Dongguan[15]	China	8,278,000	1,450	5,700	C / B
38	Hyderabad	India	7,903,000	881	9,000	A / B
39	Chengdu	China	7,895,000	971	8,100	C / B
40	Lahore	Pakistan	7,743,000	583	13,300	D / B
41	Johannesburg–East Rand[28]	South Africa	7,618,000	2,525	3,000	C / B
42	Tehran[29]	Iran	7,419,000	777	9,500	D / B
43	Essen (Ruhr)–Düsseldorf[30]	Germany	7,304,000	2,642	2,800	C / B
44	Bangkok	Thailand	7,151,000	2,202	3,200	C / B
45	Hong Kong[15]	Hong Kong	7,106,000	275	25,900	E / B
46	Wuhan	China	6,995,000	958	7,300	C / B
47	Ahmedabad	India	6,482,000	298	21,800	A / B
48	Chongqing[31]	China	6,321,000	777	8,100	C / B
49	Baghdad	Iraq	6,204,000	596	10,400	D / B
50	Hangzhou[7]	China	6,178,000	1,127	5,500	C / B
51	Toronto[32]	Canada	6,139,000	2,286	2,700	N / N
52	Kuala Lumpur (Klang Valley)[33]	Malaysia	6,094,000	2,137	2,900	E / B
53	Santiago[34]	Chile	6,015,000	919	6,500	C / B
54	Dallas–Fort Worth[35]	United States	5,874,000	5,175	1,100	N / N
55	San Francisco–San Jose[36]	United States	5,864,000	2,797	2,100	N / N
56	Quanzhou[37]	China	5,798,000	1,399	4,100	C / B
57	Miami[38]	United States	5,582,000	3,209	1,700	A / A
58	Shenyang[39]	China	5,553,000	881	6,300	C / B
59	Belo Horizonte	Brazil	5,523,000	1,010	5,500	D / B
60	Philadelphia[8]	United States	5,474,000	5,131	1,100	A / A
61	Nanjing[7]	China	5,455,000	1,062	5,100	C / B
62	Madrid	Spain	5,427,000	945	5,700	C / B
63	Houston[40]	United States	5,383,000	4,644	1,200	N / N
64	Xi'an[41]	China	5,253,000	803	6,500	C / B
65	Milan[42]	Italy	5,232,000	1,891	2,800	C / B
66	Luanda	Angola	5,204,000	492	10,600	D / B
67	Pune	India	5,156,000	376	13,700	A / B
68	Singapore[43]	Singapore	5,155,000	466	11,100	A / B
69	Riyadh	Saudi Arabia	5,037,000	1,502	3,400	E / B
70	Khartoum	Sudan	4,887,000	1,075	4,500	D / B
71	Saint Petersburg[44]	Russia	4,879,000	1,191	4,100	D / B
72	Atlanta[45]	United States	4,715,000	6,851	700	A / A
73	Surat	India	4,687,000	161	29,200	A / B
74	Washington, D.C.[46]	United States	4,679,000	3,424	1,400	A / A
75	Bandung	Indonesia	4,674,000	427	10,900	C / B
76	Surabaya	Indonesia	4,617,000	673	6,900	C / B
77	Yangon (Rangoon)	Myanmar	4,528,000	350	13,000	D / B
78	Alexandria	Egypt	4,526,000	293	15,500	E / B
79	Guadalajara	Mexico	4,524,000	699	6,500	D / B
80	Harbin[47]	China	4,477,000	518	8,600	C / B
81	Boston[48]	United States	4,427,000	5,325	800	N / N
82	Zhengzhou	China	4,379,000	777	5,600	C / B
83	Qingdao	China	4,378,000	1,153	3,800	C / B
84	Abidjan	Côte d'Ivoire	4,368,000	324	13,500	D / B
85	Barcelona	Spain	4,223,000	803	5,300	C / B
86	Monterrey	Mexico	4,180,000	894	4,700	D / B
87	Ankara	Turkey	4,172,000	583	7,200	D / B
88	Suzhou[7]	China	4,159,000	907	4,600	C / B
89	Phoenix–Mesa[49]	United States	4,076,000	3,276	1,200	N / N
90	Salvador[50]	Brazil	4,032,000	389	10,400	D / B
91	Porto Alegre	Brazil	3,965,000	777	5,100	D / B
92	Rome[51]	Italy	3,799,000	1,114	3,400	C / B
93	Accra	Ghana	3,792,000	932	4,100	C / B
94	Sydney[52]	Australia	3,785,000	1,788	2,100	C / A
95	Recife	Brazil	3,756,000	414	9,100	D / B
96	Naples	Italy	3,726,000	1,023	3,600	C / B
97	Detroit[53]	United States	3,724,000	3,463	1,100	A / A
98	Dalian	China	3,717,000	777	4,800	C / B
99	Fuzhou	China	3,713,000	453	8,200	C / B
100	Medellín	Colombia	3,686,000	189	19,500	D / B
101	Dar es Salaam	Tanzania	3,676,000	518	7,100	D / B
102	Fortaleza	Brazil	3,597,000	725	5,000	D / B
103	Melbourne[54]	Australia	3,536,000	2,152	1,600	C / A
104	Nairobi	Kenya	3,479,000	466	7,500	D / B
105	Taiyuan	China	3,466,000	466	7,400	C / B
105	Kano	Nigeria	3,466,000	220	15,700	D / B
107	Cape Town	South Africa	3,458,000	686	5,000	C / B
108	Hefei	China	3,456,000	596	5,800	C / B
109	Berlin	Germany	3,453,000	984	3,500	C / B
110	Montreal[55]	Canada	3,429,000	1,545	2,200	A / A
111	Busan[56]	South Korea	3,389,000	259	13,100	E / B
112	Tel Aviv	Israel	3,387,000	479	7,100	D / B
113	Wuxi[7]	China	3,379,000	673	5,000	C / B
114	Kunming	China	3,357,000	596	5,600	C / B
115	Jeddah	Saudi Arabia	3,351,000	842	4,000	E / B
116	Jinan	China	3,350,000	648	5,200	C / B
117	Kabul	Afghanistan	3,327,000	259	12,800	D / B
118	Xiamen[57]	China	3,324,000	583	5,700	C / B
119	Athens	Greece	3,269,000	684	4,800	C / B
120	Ningbo[7]	China	3,248,000	738	4,400	C / B
121	Dubai[58]	United Arab Emirates	3,244,000	1,230	2,600	C / B
121	Caracas	Venezuela	3,244,000	272	11,900	D / B
123	Aleppo	Syria	3,196,000	259	12,300	D / B
124	Curitiba	Brazil	3,195,000	842	3,800	D / B
125	Changsha	China	3,168,000	466	6,800	C / B
126	Changchun	China	3,157,000	531	5,900	C / B
127	Jaipur	India	3,140,000	168	18,700	A / B
128	Seattle[59]	United States	3,127,000	2,616	1,200	A / A
129	Addis Ababa	Ethiopia	3,112,000	337	9,200	D / B
130	Faisalabad	Pakistan	3,111,000	181	17,200	D / B
131	Dakar	Senegal	3,092,000	207	14,900	D / B
132	Casablanca	Morocco	3,083,000	220	14,000	D / B
133	Lisbon	Portugal	3,051,000	958	3,200	D / B
134	Rawalpindi–Islamabad	Pakistan	3,047,000	427	7,100	C / B
135	Ibadan	Nigeria	3,028,000	363	8,400	D / B
136	San Diego[60]	United States	2,988,000	1,896	1,600	A / A
137	Shijiazhuang	China	2,987,000	518	5,800	C / B
138	Chittagong	Bangladesh	2,985,000	111	26,800	C / B
139	Kanpur	India	2,981,000	192	15,600	A / B
140	Lucknow	India	2,963,000	238	12,400	A / B
141	Algiers	Algeria	2,946,000	453	6,500	D / B
142	Durban (eThekwini)	South Africa	2,929,000	829	3,500	C / B
143	Taichung	Taiwan	2,919,000	492	5,900	E / B
144	Changzhou[15]	China	2,913,000	829	3,500	C / B
145	İzmir	Turkey	2,910,000	272	10,700	D / B
146	Ürümqi	China	2,884,000	376	7,700	X / B
147	Pyongyang	North Korea	2,865,000	207	13,800	D / B
148	Kiev	Ukraine	2,812,000	544	5,200	D / B
149	Wenzhou[61]	China	2,763,000	259	10,700	C / B
150	Kaohsiung	Taiwan	2,754,000	363	7,600	E / B
151	Mashhad	Iran	2,738,000	207	13,200	D / B
152	Kumasi	Ghana	2,703,000	414	6,500	C / B
153	Minneapolis–Saint Paul[62]	United States	2,699,000	2,647	1,000	A / A
154	Guiyang	China	2,698,000	298	9,100	C / B
155	San Juan	Puerto Rico	2,697,000	2,309	1,200	A / A
156	Damascus	Syria	2,691,000	181	14,800	D / B
157	Karaj[29]	Iran	2,682,000	233	11,500	C / B
158	Sapporo	Japan	2,652,000	622	4,300	D / B
159	Amman[63]	Jordan	2,594,000	344	7,500	E / B
160	Maputo[64]	Mozambique	2,584,000	350	7,400	E / B
161	Fukuoka[65]	Japan	2,554,000	531	4,800	C / B
162	Nagpur	India	2,551,000	220	11,600	A / B
163	Tampa–St. Petersburg[66]	United States	2,513,000	2,479	1,000	A / A
164	Campinas	Brazil	2,510,000	932	2,700	C / B
165	Katowice–Gliwice–Tychy (Upper Silesian Metropolis)	Poland	2,505,000	725	3,500	C / B
166	Sana'a	Yemen	2,497,000	179	14,000	D / B
167	Hanoi	Vietnam	2,472,000	285	8,700	C / B
168	Douala	Cameroon	2,471,000	194	12,700	D / B
169	Lanzhou	China	2,467,000	220	11,200	C / B
170	Pretoria (Tshwane)[28]	South Africa	2,466,000	1,153	2,100	C / B
171	Cali	Colombia	2,457,000	155	15,800	D / B
172	Denver[67]	United States	2,443,000	1,730	1,400	A / A
173	Yaoundé	Cameroon	2,441,000	194	12,600	D / B
174	Nanchang	China	2,420,000	544	4,400	C / B
174	Tunis	Tunisia	2,420,000	363	6,700	F / B
176	Daegu	South Korea	2,400,000	246	9,800	E / B
177	Kuwait City	Kuwait	2,394,000	544	4,400	D / B
178	Brasília[68]	Brazil	2,362,000	673	3,500	E / B
179	Puebla	Mexico	2,349,000	622	3,800	D / B
180	Guayaquil	Ecuador	2,342,000	220	10,600	D / B
181	Shantou[69]	China	2,317,000	363	6,400	C / B
182	Maracaibo	Venezuela	2,313,000	155	14,900	D / B
183	Frankfurt	Germany	2,300,000	673	3,400	C / B
184	Birmingham[70]	United Kingdom	2,294,000	600	3,800	A / A
185	Tashkent	Uzbekistan	2,280,000	531	4,300	D / B
186	Zhongshan[15]	China	2,275,000	648	3,500	C / B
187	Port-au-Prince	Haiti	2,266,000	171	13,300	D / B
188	Zhangjiagang–Jiangyin[15]	China	2,261,000	492	4,600	C / B
189	Abuja	Nigeria	2,245,000	225	10,000	D / B
190	Manchester[71]	United Kingdom	2,244,000	558	4,000	A / A
191	Nanning	China	2,234,000	306	7,300	E / B
192	Baltimore[46]	United States	2,224,000	1,857	1,200	A / A
193	Santo Domingo	Dominican Republic	2,221,000	246	9,000	D / B
194	Indore[72]	India	2,215,000	130	17,100	A / B
195	Medan	Indonesia	2,207,000	246	9,000	D / B
196	Chaoyang–Chaonan[69]	China	2,200,000	272	8,100	C / B
197	Coimbatore	India	2,198,000	171	12,900	A / B
198	Kalyan[14]	India	2,180,000	85	25,500	A / B
199	St. Louis[73]	United States	2,172,000	2,393	900	A / A
200	Kochi (Cochin)	India	2,164,000	220	9,800	A / B
201	Asunción	Paraguay	2,158,000	557	3,900	D / B
202	Vancouver[74]	Canada	2,150,000	1,150	1,900	A / A
203	Colombo	Sri Lanka	2,145,000	223	9,600	E / B
204	Panama City	Panama	2,144,000	168	12,700	D / B
205	Havana	Cuba	2,116,000	285	7,400	D / B
206	Rotterdam–The Hague[75]	Netherlands	2,113,000	842	2,500	C / B
207	Goiânia	Brazil	2,103,000	673	3,100	D / B
208	Bamako	Mali	2,101,000	311	6,800	D / B
209	Baku[76]	Azerbaijan	2,095,000	298	7,000	D / B
210	Ouagadougou	Burkina Faso	2,094,000	350	6,000	D / B
211	Patna	India	2,093,000	127	16,500	A / B
212	Belém	Brazil	2,090,000	259	8,100	D / B
212	Linyi	China	2,090,000	596	3,500	C / B
214	Kozhikode (Calicut)	India	2,075,000	119	17,400	A / B
215	Cologne–Bonn[30]	Germany	2,063,000	932	2,200	C / B
216	Shaoxing[15]	China	2,052,000	461	4,500	E / B
217	Baotou	China	2,026,000	376	5,400	C / B
217	Tangshan[25]	China	2,026,000	277	7,300	E / B
219	Beirut	Lebanon	2,016,000	673	3,000	D / B
220	Antananarivo	Madagascar	2,006,000	220	9,100	C / B
221	Kitakyūshū[65]	Japan	2,003,000	492	4,100	C / B

Number of urban areas (population over 2,000,000) by country in 2012[link]

221 areas in total.

• People's Republic of China (including Hong Kong): 46
• United States (including Puerto Rico): 21
• India: 19
• Brazil: 12
• Japan: 6
• Germany, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan and South Africa: 4 each
• Canada, Republic of China (Taiwan), Colombia, Iran, Italy, Republic of Korea (South Korea), Turkey and United Kingdom: 3 each
• Australia, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Syria, Venezuela and Vietnam: 2 each
• 47 other countries: 1 each

Number of urban areas (population over 500,000) by country in 2012[link]

841 areas in total. Urban areas of Lille, Aachen, Saarbrücken and Geneva are counted twice below.

• People's Republic of China (including Hong Kong and Macau): 146
• India: 93
• United States (including Puerto Rico): 74
• Russia: 39
• Brazil: 34
• Mexico: 27
• Japan: 23
• Indonesia: 22
• Nigeria: 17
• Germany: 15
• Iran: 14
• France and Turkey: 12 each
• Pakistan and Republic of Korea (South Korea): 11 each
• Ukraine and United Kingdom: 10 Each
• Argentina, Italy and Spain: 9 each
• Canada and Colombia: 8 each
• Democratic Republic of the Congo, Morocco, Poland, South Africa and Venezuela: 7 each
• Iraq and Saudi Arabia: 6 each
• Australia and Republic of China (Taiwan): 5 each
• Bangladesh, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), Malaysia, Peru, Philippines, Vietnam and Yemen: 4 each
• Algeria, Belgium, Bolivia, Chile, Israel, Ivory Coast, Myanmar, Netherlands and Syria: 3 each
• Angola, Belarus, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Ghana, Greece, Kenya, Libya, Malawi, Portugal, Senegal, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Zimbabwe: 2 each
• 74 other countries: 1 each

See also[link]

• List of metropolitan areas by population
• List of urban agglomerations by population
• List of agglomerations by population
• List of cities by population
  • List of the 100 largest urban areas in Canada by population
  • Largest urban areas of the European Union
  • List of cities and towns in Malaysia by population
  • Largest urban areas of the United States
    • List of California urban areas
• List of largest cities throughout history
• List of countries by population

References and notes[link]