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

v t e

For a list of the most populous cities within administrative limits, see List of cities proper by population and World's largest municipalities by population. For a list of urban areas, see List of urban areas by population. See also historical urban community sizes for historical data.

This is a list of the 100 largest urban agglomerations in the world according to the United Nations World Urbanization Prospects report (2009 revision).^[1] The term “urban agglomeration” refers to the population contained within the contours of a contiguous territory inhabited at urban density levels without regard to administrative boundaries or commuter flows. It usually incorporates the population in a city or town plus that in the suburban areas lying outside of but being adjacent to the city boundaries. Whenever possible, data classified according to the concept of urban agglomeration are used. However, some countries do not produce data according to the concept of urban agglomeration but use instead metropolitan area or city proper. Figures in the tables below are estimates for mid-2010. The basis of the data is not consistent, so the list cannot be relied upon as hard fact. It should be seen as simply one response to the question "what are the world's largest cities"?

100 largest agglomerations in the world[link]

Rank	City	Population	Country	Statistical concept[2]	Area (km²)[3]
1	Tokyo	36,669,000	Japan	Metropolitan area[4]	13,500
2	Delhi (National Capital Region)	22,157,000	India	Urban agglomeration[5]	33,578
3	São Paulo	20,262,000	Brazil	Metropolitan area (região metropolitana)	8,050
4	Mumbai	20,041,000	India	Urban agglomeration	1,097[6]
5	Mexico City	19,460,000	Mexico	Metropolitan area (zona metropolitana)	7,815
6	New York–Newark	19,425,000	United States	Urban agglomeration[7]	8,683[8]
7	Shanghai	16,575,000	China	Urban agglomeration[9]	3,920
8	Kolkata (Calcutta)	15,552,000	India	Urban agglomeration	1,026[10]
9	Dhaka	14,648,000	Bangladesh	Metropolitan area (megacity)	1,600
10	Karachi	13,125,000	Pakistan	Urban agglomeration	3,530
11	Buenos Aires	13,074,000	Argentina	Urban agglomeration[11]	4,758
12	Los Angeles–Long Beach–Santa Ana	12,762,000	United States	Urban agglomeration[7]	4,320[8]
13	Beijing	12,385,000	China	Urban agglomeration[9][12]	7,860
14	Rio de Janeiro	11,950,000	Brazil	Metropolitan area (região metropolitana)	5,000
15	Metro Manila	11,628,000	Philippines	Urban agglomeration[13]	640
16	Osaka–Kobe	11,337,000	Japan	Urban agglomeration[14]	1,220
17	Cairo	11,001,000	Egypt	Official metropolitan area[15]	6,640
18	Lagos	10,578,000	Nigeria	Urban agglomeration[16]	640
19	Moscow	10,550,000	Russia	City Proper[17]	1,080
20	Istanbul	10,525,000	Turkey	Urban agglomeration[18]	1,830
21	Paris	10,485,000	France	Urban agglomeration	2,720
22	Seoul	9,773,000	South Korea	City proper (metropolitan city)	610
23	Chongqing	9,401,000	China	Urban aglomeration[9][19]	7,490
24	Jakarta	9,210,000	Indonesia	City proper[20]	1,360
25	Chicago	9,204,000	United States	Urban agglomeration[7]	5,498[8]
26	Shenzhen	9,005,000	China	Urban agglomeration[9]	1,950
27	Lima	8,941,000	Peru	Metropolitan area[21]	2,810
28	Guangzhou	8,884,000	China	Urban agglomeration[9]	7,260
29	Kinshasa	8,754,000	Democratic Republic of the Congo	City proper	9,960
30	London	8,631,000	United Kingdom	Urban agglomeration[22]	1,620
31	Bogotá	8,500,000	Colombia	Urban agglomeration[23]	1,980
32	Tianjin	7,884,000	China	Urban agglomeration[9][24]	7,130
33	Wuhan	7,681,000	China	Urban agglomeration[9]	8,490
34	Chennai (Madras)	7,547,000	India	Urban agglomeration	1,180
35	Tehran	7,241,000	Iran	City proper	660
36	Bangalore	7,218,000	India	Urban agglomeration	1,280
37	Lahore	7,132,000	Pakistan	Urban agglomeration	1,770
38	Hong Kong	7,069,000	Hong Kong	Urban agglomeration[25]	1,100
39	Bangkok	6,976,000	Thailand	Official metropolitan area	1,570
40	Hyderabad	6,751,000	India	Urban agglomeration	1,860
41	Ho Chi Minh City	6,167,000	Vietnam	Urban agglomeration	2,090
42	Toronto	6,054,191	Canada	Metropolitan area[26]	5,888
43	Santiago	5,952,000	Chile	Urban agglomeration[27]	2,350
44	Baghdad	5,891,000	Iraq	Metropolitan area	730
45	Belo Horizonte	5,852,000	Brazil	Metropolitan area (região metropolitana)	9,190
46	Madrid	5,851,000	Spain	Metropolitan area	1,700
47	Miami	5,750,000	United States	Urban agglomeration[7]	2,891[8]
49	Ahmedabad	5,717,000	India	Urban agglomeration	1,300
49	Philadelphia	5,626,000	United States	Urban agglomeration[7]	4,661[8]
50	Dongguan	5,347,000	China	City proper[9]	2,460
51	Khartoum	5,172,000	Sudan	Urban agglomeration	580
52	Shenyang	5,166,000	China	Urban agglomeration[9]	3,460
53	Barcelona	5,083,000	Spain	Metropolitan area	3,240
54	Pune	5,002,000	India	Urban agglomeration	700
55	Foshan	4,969,000	China	Urban agglomeration[9][28]
56	Chittagong	4,962,000	Bangladesh	Statistical metropolitan area	990
57	Chengdu	4,961,000	China	Urban agglomeration[9][29]	2,130
58	Dallas–Fort Worth	4,951,000	United States	Urban agglomeration[7]	3,644[8]
59	Riyadh	4,848,000	Saudi Arabia	City proper	1,550
60	Singapore	4,837,000	Singapore	Urban agglomeration	690
61	Luanda	4,772,000	Angola	Urban agglomeration
62	Xi'an	4,747,000	China	Urban agglomeration[9][30]	3,550
63	Atlanta	4,691,000	United States	Urban agglomeration[7]	5,083[8]
64	Houston	4,605,000	United States	Urban agglomeration[7]	3,355[8]
65	Boston	4,593,000	United States	Urban agglomeration[7]	4,497[8]
66	Saint Petersburg	4,575,000	Russia	City proper[17]	1,150
67	Nanjing	4,591,000	China	Urban agglomeration[9][31]	6,600
68	Washington, D.C.	4,460,000	United States	Urban agglomeration[7]	2,996[8]
69	Sydney	4,429,000	Australia	Urban agglomeration	12,140
70	Guadalajara	4,402,000	Mexico	Metropolitan area (zona metropolitana)	2,730
71	Alexandria	4,387,000	Egypt	City proper	2,970
72	Yangon	4,350,000	Myanmar	City proper	350
73	Harbin	4,251,000	China	Urban agglomeration[9][32]	4,280
74	Detroit	4,200,000	United States	Urban agglomeration [7]	3,267[8]
75	Surat	4,168,000	India	Urban agglomeration	326
76	Abidjan	4,125,000	Côte d'Ivoire	Urban agglomeration	550
77	Porto Alegre	4,092,000	Brazil	Metropolitan area (região metropolitana)	9,890
78	Salvador	3,918,000	Brazil	Metropolitan area (região metropolitana)	2,340
79	Ankara	3,906,000	Turkey	Urban agglomeration[33]	2,500
80	Brasília	3,905,000	Brazil	Metropolitan area (região metropolitana)[34]	14,400
81	Monterrey	3,896,000	Mexico	Metropolitan area (zona metropolitana)	4,010
82	Recife	3,871,000	Brazil	Metropolitan area (região metropolitana)	2,770
83	Hangzhou	3,860,000	China	Urban agglomeration[9][35]
84	Melbourne	3,853,000	Australia	Urban agglomeration	7,690
85	Montreal	3,783,000	Canada	Metropolitan area[26]	4,050
86	Kabul	3,731,000	Afghanistan	City proper
87	Fortaleza	3,719,000	Brazil	Metropolitan area (região metropolitana)	4,950
88	Phoenix–Mesa	3,684,000	United States	Urban agglomeration[7]	2,069[8]
89	Johannesburg	3,670,000	South Africa	Official metropolitan area	1,640
90	Changchun	3,597,000	China	Urban agglomeration[9]
91	Medellín	3,594,000	Colombia	Metropolitan area[36]	1,150
92	San Francisco–Oakland	3,541,000	United States	Urban agglomeration[7][37]	1,364[8]
93	Nairobi	3,523,000	Kenya	City proper
94	Berlin	3,450,000	Germany	City proper	890
95	Busan	3,425,000	South Korea	City proper (metropolitan city)	760
96	Birmingham-Wolverhampton	2,500,020	United Kingdom	Urban conurbation	ˡ
97	Cape Town	2,400,000	South Africa	Urban agglomeration	690
98	Kano	2,395,000	Nigeria	Urban agglomeration
99	Manchester	2,284,093	United Kingdom	Urban conurbation
100	Bucuresti	2,200,000	Romania	Urban agglomeration	8,600

See also[link]

• Megacity
• Metropolis
• Megalopolis (city type)
• Metropolitan areas
• List of metropolitan areas by population
• List of countries by population
• List of agglomerations by population

References and notes[link]

External links[link]

• United Nations: World Urbanization Prospects, the 2011 Revision
• e-Geopolis
• Principal Agglomerations of the World

Look up list in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

List or lists may refer to:

Enumerations[link]

• Any enumeration of a set of items
• A list of comma separated values, a common way of listing in everyday life and computing. (British usage: Comma-separated values)
• A mailing list
• An electronic mailing list
• An electoral list
• List (computing)
• Task lists, a list of tasks to be completed
• Listicle, an article in list format
• Watchlist
• Ranker

Other meanings[link]

• List (watercraft), the leaning to either port or starboard of a ship
• List, an alternative term for roll in flight dynamics
• Lists (jousting), a roped-off enclosure where medieval knights jousted
• SC Germania List, German rugby union club
• List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America

People[link]

• Friedrich List, German economist
• Guido von List, Austrian Armanist
• John List, murderer
• Liesbeth List, Dutch singer
• Maximilian List, SS officer and Commandant of Lager Sylt, a labour camp on Alderney
• Paul List, chess player
• Peyton List, the name of two American actresses:
  • Peyton List (actress born 1986), American actress in the TV series Mad Men
  • Peyton List (actress born 1998), American actress in the Disney Channel TV series Jessie
• Siegmund Wilhelm List, WWII German field marshal

Places[link]

• List, Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost village in Germany, on the island Sylt

Work titles[link]

The List may refer to:

• The List (magazine), a Scottish magazine
• The List (South Park), an episode of the television show South Park
• The List (The X-Files), an episode of the television show The X-Files
• The List (2007 film), a film based on the novel by Robert Whitlow
• The List (album), an album by Rosanne Cash

See also[link]

• Liszt (surname)
• Listing (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

An example of an urban agglomeration is the San Diego-Tijuana metropolitan area. The cities together create a bi-national agglomeration between Mexico and the United States.

In the study of human settlements, an urban agglomeration is an extended city or town area comprising the built-up area of a central place (usually a municipality) and any suburbs linked by continuous urban area. In France, INSEE the French Statistical Institute, translate it as "Unité urbaine" which means continuous urbanized area. However, because of differences in definitions of what does and does not constitute an "agglomeration", as well as variations and limitations in statistical or geographical methodology, it can be problematic to compare different agglomerations around the world. It may not be clear, for instance, whether an area should be considered to be a satellite and part of an agglomeration, or a distinct entity in itself.

The term "agglomeration" is also linked to "Conurbation", which is a more specific term for large urban clusters where the built-up zones of influence of distinct cities or towns are connected by continuous built-up development (Essen - Dortmund and others in the Rhine-Ruhr district), even in different regions, states or countries, Lille - Kortrijk in France and Belgium). Each city or town in a conurbation may nevertheless continue to act as an independent focus for a substantial part of the area.

Largest occurrences[link]

The term "agglomeration" is more appropriate for determining the populations of large super-cities like Tokyo, Mexico City, Delhi and Seoul. These examples are super-cities which have expanded enough to consume other neighborhoods. Although administration may be separate for outlying districts, the population might say they are from the central city. There are various lists of agglomeration populations. Three are presented here.

The 10 largest agglomerations by population in April 2011, according to Demographia^[1]:

The Greater Tokyo Area has more than 35 million people.

Rank	City	Country	Population
1	Tokyo	Japan	36,690,000
2	Delhi	India	22,630,000
3	Seoul	South Korea	22,525,000
4	Jakarta	Indonesia	22,245,000
5	Metro Manila	Philippines	21,295,000
6	Mumbai	India	21,290,000
7	New York	United States	20,710,000
8	São Paulo	Brazil	20,395,000
9	Mexico City	Mexico	19,565,000
10	Shanghai	People's Republic of China	18,665,000

According to one list ^[2] dated 2011-07-01, the largest agglomerations in the world are as follows:

Rank	City Name	English Name	Country	Continent	Population
1	東京 (Tōkyō)	Tokyo	Japan	Asia	34,300,000
2	广州 (Guangzhou)	Guangzhou	China	Asia	25,200,000
3	서울 (Seoul)	Seoul	South Korea	Asia	25,100,000
4	上海 (Shànghǎi)	Shanghai	China	Asia	24,800,000
5	दिल्ली (Dilli)	Delhi	India	Asia	23,300,000
6	मुंबई (Mumbai)	Mumbai	India	Asia	23,000,000
7	Ciudad de México	Mexico City	Mexico	North America	22,900,000
8	New York City	New York City	USA	North America	22,000,000
9	São Paulo	São Paulo	Brazil	South America	20,900,000
10	Kalakhang Maynila	Metro Manila	Philippines	Asia	20,300,000

Another list indicates substantially smaller populations for some urban agglomerations in 2010. This list uses a “build up” method of population estimation of administrative jurisdictions within the confines of the continuously built up area (except where a census authority estimate is available). The principal difference between the population figures in the two lists is that the first list substitutes metropolitan area populations in urban agglomerations such as New York, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Mumbai and Delhi, which explains the higher figures.

Specific legal definitions[link]

Canada[link]

An agglomeration, or urban agglomeration, is an administrative subdivision of Quebec at the local level that may group together a number of municipalities which were abolished as independent entities on 1 January 2002 but reconstituted on 1 January 2006.

The eleven agglomerations of Quebec, under this legal definition, range in population from 2,000 to 2 million. In fact, only the agglomerations of Montreal, Quebec City, and Longueuil exceed 120,000 inhabitants.

Agglomerations are administered by agglomeration councils, and comprise a central municipality as well as numerous related municipalities, and their powers are defined by the Act respecting the exercise of certain municipal powers in certain urban agglomerations. Agglomerations have certain powers which, elsewhere in Quebec, are exercised by individual municipalities. (These powers are not the same as those of the metropolitan communities of Montreal and Quebec, which cover geographically larger areas than the corresponding agglomerations.) In some cases, agglomerations also have powers ordinarily exercised by regional county municipalities.

See also[link]

• City
• World's largest cities - A list of the largest municipalities (cities) areas by population
• Megacity
• Metropolis
• Metropolitan area
• Transborder agglomeration
• Urban sprawl
• Global city

External links[link]

• United Nations World Urbanization Prospects, the 2009 Revision, Web Site of the United Nations Population Division: Data on Urban Agglomerations
• e-Geopolis project Research Group, University Paris-Diderot
• Principal Agglomerations of the World

References[link]

Look up urban in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Urban means "related to cities." It may refer to:

• Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas
• Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities, sometimes used as a euphemism for African-American culture

Media[link]

• Urban contemporary, an African American music radio format
  • Mainstream urban
  • Urban adult contemporary
• Urban (newspaper), Danish free daily newspaper
• Urban Records, record label

Other uses[link]

• Urban, California, former town in El Dorado County
• Urban (name), given name and surname

See also[link]

• Pope Urban (disambiguation)
• All pages beginning with "urban"
• All pages with titles containing "urban"

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Distribution of world population in 1994.

Key

A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. In ecology the population of a certain species in a certain area is estimated using the Lincoln Index. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals from other areas. Normally breeding is substantially more common within the area than across the border.^[1]

In sociology, population refers to a collection of human beings. Demography is a social science which entails the statistical study of human populations. This article refers mainly to human population.

Population genetics[link]

In population genetics a sexual population is a set of organisms in which any pair of members can breed together. This implies that all members belong to the same species, such as humans.^[2] .

World human population[link]

As of today's date, the world population is estimated by the United States Census Bureau to be 7.022 billion.^[3] The US Census Bureau estimates the 7 billion number was surpassed on 12 March 2012. According to a separate estimate by the United Nations, Earth’s population exceeded 7 billion in October 2011, a milestone that offers unprecedented challenges and opportunities to all of humanity, according to UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.^[4]

According to papers published by the United States Census Bureau, the world population hit 6.5 billion (6,500,000,000) on 24 February 2006. The United Nations Population Fund designated 12 October 1999 as the approximate day on which world population reached 6 billion. This was about 12 years after world population reached 5 billion in 1987, and 6 years after world population reached 5.5 billion in 1993. The population of some countries, such as Nigeria, is not even known to the nearest million,^[5] so there is a considerable margin of error in such estimates.^[6]

Researcher, Carl Haub, calculated that a total of over 100 billion people have probably been born in the last 2000 years.^[7]

Predicted Growth and Decline[link]

Time taken for each billion people to be added to the world's population (including future estimates). See also alt. chart

Population growth increased significantly as the Industrial Revolution gathered pace from 1700 onwards.^[8] The last 50 years have seen a yet more rapid increase in the rate of population growth^[8] due to medical advances and substantial increases in agricultural productivity, particularly beginning in the 1960s,^[9] made by the Green Revolution.^[10] In 2007 the United Nations Population Division projected that the world's population will likely surpass 10 billion in 2055.^[11]

In the future, world population has been expected to reach a peak of growth, from there it will decline due to economic reasons, health concerns, land exhaustion and environmental hazards. According to one report, it is very likely that the world's population will stop growing before the end of the 21st century. Further, there is some likelihood that population will actually decline before 2100.^[12] Population has already declined in the last decade or two in Eastern Europe, the Baltics and in the Commonwealth of Independent States.^[13]

The population pattern of less-developed regions of the world in recent years has been marked by gradually declining birth rates following an earlier sharp reduction in death rates.^[14] This transition from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates is often referred to as the demographic transition.^[14]

Control[link]

Human population control is the practice of artificially altering the rate of growth of a human population. Historically, human population control has been implemented by limiting the population's birth rate, usually by government mandate, and has been undertaken as a response to factors including high or increasing levels of poverty, environmental concerns, religious reasons, and overpopulation. While population control can involve measures that improve people's lives by giving them greater control of their reproduction, some programs have exposed them to exploitation.

Worldwide, the population control movement was active throughout the 1960s and 1970s, driving many reproductive health and family planning programs. In the 1980s, tension grew between population control advocates and women's health activists who advanced women's reproductive rights as part of a human rights-based approach.^[15] Growing opposition to the narrow population control focus led to a significant change in population control policies in the early 1990s.^[16]

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• UNFPA, The United Nations Population Fund
• United Nations Population Division
• CICRED homepage a platform for interaction between research centres and international organizations, such as the United Nations Population Division, UNFPA, WHO and FAO.
• Current World Population
• NECSP HomePage
• Overpopulation
• Population Matters
• Population Reference Bureau (2005). Retrieved 13 February 2005.
• Population World: Population of World. Retrieved 13 February 2004.
• SIEDS, Italian Society of Economics Demography and Statistics
• United Nations Economic Commission for Europe - Official Web Site
• World Population Counter, and separate regions.
• WorldPopClock.com. (French)
• Populations du monde. (French)
• OECD population data
• Understanding the World Today Reports about world and regional population trends