The Largest Cities in the World
Ranked by the population recorded for each city. Figures are city (not metropolitan area) populations from the GeoNames database, so agglomerations such as Tokyo or Mexico City may appear smaller than in metro-area rankings.
| # | Name | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shanghai Shanghai, China | 24,874,500 |
| 2 | Chongqing Chongqing, China | 22,000,000 |
| 3 | Chengdu Sichuan, China | 20,937,757 |
| 4 | Beijing Beijing, China | 18,960,744 |
| 5 | Guangzhou Guangdong, China | 18,676,605 |
| 6 | Shenzhen Guangdong, China | 17,494,398 |
| 7 | Kinshasa Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo | 16,000,000 |
| 8 | Istanbul Istanbul, Turkey | 15,701,602 |
| 9 | Lagos Lagos, Nigeria | 15,388,000 |
| 10 | Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam | 14,002,598 |
| 11 | Tianjin Tianjin, China | 13,866,009 |
| 12 | Wuhan Hubei, China | 13,739,000 |
| 13 | Lahore Punjab, Pakistan | 13,004,135 |
| 14 | Xi’an Shaanxi, China | 12,952,907 |
| 15 | Mumbai Maharashtra, India | 12,691,836 |
| 16 | São Paulo São Paulo, Brazil | 12,400,232 |
| 17 | Mexico City Mexico City, Mexico | 12,294,193 |
| 18 | Hangzhou Zhejiang, China | 11,936,010 |
| 19 | Karachi Sindh, Pakistan | 11,624,219 |
| 20 | Delhi Delhi, India | 11,034,555 |
| 21 | Moscow Moscow, Russia | 10,381,222 |
| 22 | Dhaka Dhaka Division, Bangladesh | 10,356,500 |
| 23 | Seoul Seoul, South Korea | 10,349,312 |
| 24 | Harbin Heilongjiang, China | 10,009,854 |
| 25 | Tokyo Tokyo, Japan | 9,733,276 |
| 26 | Dongguan Guangdong, China | 9,644,871 |
| 27 | Cairo Cairo, Egypt | 9,606,916 |
| 28 | Hefei Anhui, China | 9,465,881 |
| 29 | Johannesburg Gauteng, South Africa | 9,418,183 |
| 30 | Weifang Shandong, China | 9,386,705 |
| 31 | Nanjing Jiangsu, China | 9,314,685 |
| 32 | Shenyang Liaoning, China | 9,070,093 |
| 33 | Foshan Guangdong, China | 9,042,509 |
| 34 | London England, United Kingdom | 8,961,989 |
| 35 | New York City New York, United States | 8,804,190 |
| 36 | Jakarta Jakarta, Indonesia | 8,540,121 |
| 37 | Bengaluru Karnataka, India | 8,495,492 |
| 38 | Jinan Shandong, China | 8,352,574 |
| 39 | Hanoi Hanoi, Vietnam | 8,053,663 |
| 40 | Taipei Taiwan, Taiwan | 7,871,900 |
| 41 | Lima Lima Province, Peru | 7,737,002 |
| 42 | Bogotá Bogota D.C., Colombia | 7,674,366 |
| 43 | Dalian Liaoning, China | 7,450,785 |
| 44 | Hong Kong Hong Kong | 7,396,076 |
| 45 | Baghdad Baghdad, Iraq | 7,216,000 |
| 46 | Wuzhong Ningxia, China | 7,202,654 |
| 47 | Qingdao Shandong, China | 7,172,451 |
| 48 | Tehran Tehran, Iran | 7,153,309 |
| 49 | Yantai Shandong, China | 7,102,100 |
| 50 | Hyderabad Telangana, India | 6,993,262 |
| 51 | Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 6,747,815 |
| 52 | Suzhou Jiangsu, China | 6,715,559 |
| 53 | Puxi Shanghai, China | 6,683,712 |
| 54 | Zhengzhou Henan, China | 6,650,532 |
| 55 | Ahmedabad Gujarat, India | 6,357,693 |
| 56 | Abidjan Abidjan Autonomous District, Ivory Coast | 6,321,017 |
| 57 | Nanning Guangxi, China | 5,977,185 |
| 58 | Kunming Yunnan, China | 5,950,578 |
| 59 | Shijiazhuang Hebei, China | 5,758,403 |
| 60 | Changchun Jilin, China | 5,691,024 |
| 61 | Pudong Shanghai, China | 5,681,512 |
| 62 | Sydney New South Wales, Australia | 5,638,830 |
| 63 | Singapore Singapore | 5,638,700 |
| 64 | Melbourne Victoria, Australia | 5,435,590 |
| 65 | Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam Region, Tanzania | 5,383,728 |
| 66 | Saint Petersburg St.-Petersburg, Russia | 5,351,935 |
| 67 | Taiyuan Shanxi, China | 5,305,061 |
| 68 | Alexandria Alexandria, Egypt | 5,263,542 |
| 69 | Bangkok Bangkok, Thailand | 5,104,476 |
| 70 | Kano Kano State, Nigeria | 4,910,000 |
| 71 | Santiago Santiago Metropolitan, Chile | 4,837,295 |
| 72 | Cape Town Western Cape, South Africa | 4,772,846 |
| 73 | Peshawar Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan | 4,758,762 |
| 74 | Zibo Shandong, China | 4,704,138 |
| 75 | Jeddah Mecca Region, Saudi Arabia | 4,697,000 |
| 76 | Chennai Tamil Nadu, India | 4,681,087 |
| 77 | Kolkata West Bengal, India | 4,631,392 |
| 78 | Xiamen Fujian, China | 4,617,251 |
| 79 | Surat Gujarat, India | 4,591,246 |
| 80 | Yangzhou Jiangsu, China | 4,559,797 |
| 81 | Huai'an Jiangsu, China | 4,556,230 |
| 82 | Guiyang Guizhou, China | 4,506,134 |
| 83 | Yangon Yangon, Myanmar | 4,477,638 |
| 84 | Bao'an Guangdong, China | 4,476,554 |
| 85 | Kabul Kabul, Afghanistan | 4,434,550 |
| 86 | Nairobi Nairobi County, Kenya | 4,397,073 |
| 87 | Wuxi Jiangsu, China | 4,396,835 |
| 88 | Giza Giza, Egypt | 4,367,343 |
| 89 | Lanzhou Gansu, China | 4,359,446 |
| 90 | Bamako Bamako, Mali | 4,227,569 |
| 91 | Riyadh Riyadh Region, Saudi Arabia | 4,205,961 |
| 92 | Fuzhou Fujian, China | 4,094,491 |
| 93 | Ürümqi Xinjiang, China | 4,054,000 |
| 94 | New Taipei City Taipei, Taiwan | 4,004,367 |
| 95 | New Territories Hong Kong | 3,984,077 |
| 96 | Chattogram Chittagong, Bangladesh | 3,920,222 |
| 97 | Addis Ababa Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | 3,860,000 |
| 98 | Zaozhuang Shandong, China | 3,855,601 |
| 99 | Zhongshan Guangdong, China | 3,841,873 |
| 100 | Shantou Guangdong, China | 3,838,900 |
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Frequently asked questions
What is the largest city in the world?
By city-proper population the largest cities are Tokyo, Delhi, Shanghai and São Paulo. Rankings differ between city-proper and metropolitan-area definitions — this list uses the population recorded for the city itself.
How many people live in the largest cities?
The largest cities each hold well over 10 million residents, and the top 100 together account for a large share of the world's urban population.
See all world rankings, browse the countries index or jump to the world clock.