Cities · urban-area population

Largest Cities in the World

Q: What is the largest city in the world?

Tokyo, Japan, with about 37.2 million people in its urban area, followed by New Delhi (32.9 million), Shanghai (29.2 million), Dhaka (23.2 million) and São Paulo (22.6 million).

Tokyo is the largest city on Earth, with about 37.2 million people in its urban area. 35 cities now have more than 10 million inhabitants — India, China and Japan have the most. Here are the 150 biggest, measured as whole urban areas rather than city limits. ★ = capital city.

37.2 million

Largest: Tokyo

Megacities (10 million+)

Cities over 5 million

Capitals in the top 20

Top 10 largest cities in the world

37.2 million

32.9 million

29.2 million

23.2 million

22.6 million

22.3 million

22.2 million

21.8 million

21.3 million

19.0 million

Has a top-10 city
Top 25
Top 50
Top 150

The 150 largest cities in the world

Rank	City	Population (urban area)	Country	Continent
1	Tokyo ★	37.19 million	Japan	Asia
2	New Delhi ★	32.94 million	India	Asia
3	Shanghai	29.21 million	China	Asia
4	Dhaka ★	23.21 million	Bangladesh	Asia
5	São Paulo	22.62 million	Brazil	Americas
6	Mexico City ★	22.28 million	Mexico	Americas
7	Cairo ★	22.18 million	Egypt	Africa
8	Beijing ★	21.77 million	China	Asia
9	Mumbai	21.30 million	India	Asia
10	Osaka	19.01 million	Japan	Asia
11	New York-Newark	18.94 million	United States	Americas
12	Chongqing	17.34 million	China	Asia
13	Karachi	17.24 million	Pakistan	Asia
14	Kinshasa ★	16.32 million	DR Congo	Africa
15	Lagos	15.95 million	Nigeria	Africa
16	Istanbul	15.85 million	Türkiye	Asia
17	Buenos Aires ★	15.49 million	Argentina	Americas
18	Kolkata	15.33 million	India	Asia
19	Manila ★	14.67 million	Philippines	Asia
20	Guangzhou	14.28 million	China	Asia
21	Tianjin	14.24 million	China	Asia
22	Lahore	13.98 million	Pakistan	Asia
23	Rio de Janeiro	13.73 million	Brazil	Americas
24	Bangalore	13.61 million	India	Asia
25	Shenzhen	13.07 million	China	Asia
26	Moscow ★	12.68 million	Russia	Europe
27	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana	12.53 million	United States	Americas
28	Chennai	11.78 million	India	Asia
29	Bogota ★	11.51 million	Colombia	Americas
30	Jakarta ★	11.25 million	Indonesia	Asia
31	Paris ★	11.21 million	France	Europe
32	Lima ★	11.20 million	Peru	Americas
33	Bangkok ★	11.07 million	Thailand	Asia
34	Hyderabad	10.80 million	India	Asia
35	Johannesburg	10.32 million	South Africa	Africa
36	Seoul ★	9.99 million	South Korea	Asia
37	London ★	9.65 million	United Kingdom	Europe
38	Nagoya	9.57 million	Japan	Asia
39	Tehran ★	9.50 million	Iran	Asia
40	Ho Chi Minh City	9.32 million	Vietnam	Asia
41	Luanda ★	9.29 million	Angola	Africa
42	Chicago	8.94 million	United States	Americas
43	Kuala Lumpur ★	8.62 million	Malaysia	Asia
44	Dar Es Salaam ★	7.78 million	Tanzania	Africa
45	Baghdad ★	7.71 million	Iraq	Asia
46	Hong Kong	7.69 million	Hong Kong	Asia
47	Riyadh ★	7.68 million	Saudi Arabia	Asia
48	Santiago ★	6.90 million	Chile	Americas
49	Madrid ★	6.75 million	Spain	Europe
50	Houston	6.71 million	United States	Americas
51	Dallas-Fort Worth	6.57 million	United States	Americas
52	Toronto	6.37 million	Canada	Americas
53	Khartoum ★	6.34 million	Sudan	Africa
54	Belo Horizonte	6.25 million	Brazil	Americas
55	Singapore ★	6.08 million	Singapore	Asia
56	Barcelona	5.69 million	Spain	Europe
57	Abidjan	5.69 million	Côte d'Ivoire	Africa
58	Rangoon ★	5.61 million	Myanmar	Asia
59	Alexandria	5.59 million	Egypt	Africa
60	Saint Petersburg	5.56 million	Russia	Europe
61	Kitakyushu-Fukuoka	5.49 million	Japan	Asia
62	Washington, D.c. ★	5.49 million	United States	Americas
63	Addis Ababa ★	5.46 million	Ethiopia	Africa
64	Guadalajara	5.42 million	Mexico	Americas
65	Ankara ★	5.40 million	Türkiye	Asia
66	Chittagong	5.38 million	Bangladesh	Asia
67	Nairobi ★	5.33 million	Kenya	Africa
68	Hanoi ★	5.25 million	Vietnam	Asia
69	Melbourne	5.24 million	Australia	Oceania
70	Sydney	5.12 million	Australia	Oceania
71	Monterrey	5.12 million	Mexico	Americas
72	Cape Town ★	4.89 million	South Africa	Africa
73	Brasília ★	4.87 million	Brazil	Americas
74	Jeddah	4.86 million	Saudi Arabia	Asia
75	Kabul ★	4.59 million	Afghanistan	Asia
76	Yaounde ★	4.51 million	Cameroon	Africa
77	New Taipei City	4.50 million	Taiwan	Asia
78	Tel Aviv-Yafo	4.42 million	Israel	Asia
79	Kano	4.35 million	Nigeria	Africa
80	Rome ★	4.32 million	Italy	Europe
81	Montreal	4.31 million	Canada	Americas
82	Recife	4.26 million	Brazil	Americas
83	Porto Alegre	4.21 million	Brazil	Americas
84	Medellin	4.10 million	Colombia	Americas
85	Douala	4.06 million	Cameroon	Africa
86	Casablanca	3.89 million	Morocco	Africa
87	Ibadan	3.88 million	Nigeria	Africa
88	Antananarivo ★	3.87 million	Madagascar	Africa
89	Kampala ★	3.85 million	Uganda	Africa
90	Abuja ★	3.84 million	Nigeria	Africa
91	Kumasi	3.77 million	Ghana	Africa
92	Bekasi	3.73 million	Indonesia	Asia
93	Faisalabad	3.71 million	Pakistan	Asia
94	Berlin ★	3.57 million	Germany	Europe
95	Santo Domingo ★	3.52 million	Dominican Republic	Americas
96	Asuncion ★	3.51 million	Paraguay	Americas
97	Port Harcourt	3.48 million	Nigeria	Africa
98	Busan	3.47 million	South Korea	Asia
99	Mashhad	3.37 million	Iran	Asia
100	Puebla	3.35 million	Mexico	Americas
101	Dakar ★	3.34 million	Senegal	Africa
102	Kuwait ★	3.30 million	Kuwait	Asia
103	Sanaa ★	3.29 million	Yemen	Asia
104	Durban	3.23 million	South Africa	Africa
105	Ouagadougou ★	3.20 million	Burkina Faso	Africa
106	Lusaka ★	3.18 million	Zambia	Africa
107	Pyongyang ★	3.16 million	North Korea	Asia
108	Milan	3.16 million	Italy	Europe
109	Athens ★	3.15 million	Greece	Europe
110	Guayaquil	3.14 million	Ecuador	Americas
111	Guatemala City ★	3.10 million	Guatemala	Americas
112	Izmir	3.09 million	Türkiye	Asia
113	Surabaya	3.04 million	Indonesia	Asia
114	Depok	3.04 million	Indonesia	Asia
115	Kyiv ★	3.02 million	Ukraine	Europe
116	Dubai	3.01 million	United Arab Emirates	Asia
117	Lisbon ★	3.00 million	Portugal	Europe
118	Port-Au-Prince ★	2.99 million	Haiti	Americas
119	Caracas ★	2.97 million	Venezuela	Americas
120	Shizuoka-Hamamatsu	2.94 million	Japan	Asia
121	Bamako ★	2.93 million	Mali	Africa
122	Algiers ★	2.90 million	Algeria	Africa
123	Mbuji-Mayi	2.89 million	DR Congo	Africa
124	Cali	2.86 million	Colombia	Americas
125	Incheon	2.85 million	South Korea	Asia
126	Pretoria ★	2.82 million	South Africa	Africa
127	Lubumbashi	2.81 million	DR Congo	Africa
128	Manchester	2.79 million	United Kingdom	Europe
129	Taipei ★	2.75 million	Taiwan	Asia
130	Bandung	2.67 million	Indonesia	Asia
131	Sapporo	2.67 million	Japan	Asia
132	Birmingham	2.67 million	United Kingdom	Europe
133	Accra ★	2.66 million	Ghana	Africa
134	Vancouver	2.66 million	Canada	Americas
135	Brazzaville ★	2.64 million	Republic of the Congo	Africa
136	Toluca de Lerdo	2.63 million	Mexico	Americas
137	Mogadishu ★	2.61 million	Somalia	Africa
138	Tashkent ★	2.60 million	Uzbekistan	Asia
139	Damascus ★	2.59 million	Syria	Asia
140	Tangerang	2.51 million	Indonesia	Asia
141	Brisbane	2.51 million	Australia	Oceania
142	Tunis ★	2.48 million	Tunisia	Africa
143	San Juan ★	2.44 million	Puerto Rico	Other
144	Baku ★	2.43 million	Azerbaijan	Europe
145	Beirut ★	2.42 million	Lebanon	Asia
146	Gujranwala	2.42 million	Pakistan	Asia
147	Peshawar	2.41 million	Pakistan	Asia
148	Maracaibo	2.37 million	Venezuela	Americas
149	Barranquilla	2.35 million	Colombia	Americas
150	Taoyuan	2.32 million	Taiwan	Asia

Data: CIA World Factbook (public domain) — major urban areas (UN World Urbanization Prospects estimates, 2023).

City or urban area?

City sizes depend on where you draw the line. This ranking uses the urban area (agglomeration) — the continuous built-up area including suburbs — which is how the UN compares cities. By city limits alone, Chongqing or Shanghai would rank first; by metropolitan region, Tokyo has led the world since the 1960s.

Largest city on each continent

Asia: Tokyo, Japan — 37.2 million
Americas: São Paulo, Brazil — 22.6 million
Africa: Cairo, Egypt — 22.2 million
Europe: Moscow, Russia — 12.7 million
Oceania: Melbourne, Australia — 5.2 million

Countries with the most megacities

India (6), China (6), Japan (2), Brazil (2), United States (2), Pakistan (2), Bangladesh (1), Mexico (1), Egypt (1), DR Congo (1), Nigeria (1), Türkiye (1), Argentina (1), Philippines (1), Russia (1) and 6 more have cities of more than 10 million people.

Related rankings

Frequently asked questions

What is the largest city in the world?

Tokyo, Japan, with about 37.2 million people in its urban area, followed by New Delhi (32.9 million), Shanghai (29.2 million), Dhaka (23.2 million) and São Paulo (22.6 million).

What are the 10 largest cities in the world?

Tokyo (Japan), New Delhi (India), Shanghai (China), Dhaka (Bangladesh), São Paulo (Brazil), Mexico City (Mexico), Cairo (Egypt), Beijing (China), Mumbai (India) and Osaka (Japan).

What is the largest city in the United States?

New York-Newark, with about 18.9 million people in its urban area.

What is the largest city in Europe?

Moscow (Russia), 12.7 million.

How many megacities are there?

35 cities have more than 10 million inhabitants.