Largest Cities and Urban Areas in the World (2026)

The 200 most populated urban areas in the world, ranked by the UN's 2026 estimates.

Urban area (or urban agglomeration) population refers to the population contained within a continuous built-up area mapped from satellite imagery, regardless of city limits. An urban area is named after one place inside it even if it spans multiple cities.

Why don't these match official city populations?Official figures typically count only the population within administrative boundaries. UN urban area figures cover the entire built-up area, which can include multiple cities and towns.Show moreShow less

Tokyo

33,338,852

Urban area

9,953,160

23 wards

Essen

2,709,375

Urban area

573,618

City of Essen

Ankara

3,630,865

Urban area

5,186,002

Metropolitan municipality

What counts as an urban area? The UN uses satellite imagery to map built-up land, and treats each continuous stretch of built-up land as an urban area. This means that urban areas can extend beyond official city boundaries, and may include multiple cities and towns within a single urban area.

Can an urban area be smaller than its city? Yes. While most cities have urban areas larger than their administrative boundaries, some cities have extensive administrative limits that include sparsely populated areas.

Where can I find figures for city limits? Each country page lists official city figures next to the UN urban areas, e.g.Largest cities in Japan

Rank	Urban Area	Country	Population Estimate (2026)	Yearly Change	Land Area (km²)	Density (P/km²)	Projections (2030)	Projections (2050)
1	Jakarta	Indonesia	42,459,070	+1.28%	4,931	8,610	44,639,909	51,784,216
2	Dhaka	Bangladesh	37,429,156	+2.25%	6,989	5,356	40,803,862	52,122,843
3	Tōkyō (Tokyo)	Japan	33,338,852	−0.22%	5,148	6,476	33,044,211	30,657,618
4	New Delhi	India	30,446,254	+0.74%	2,110	14,430	31,341,648	33,890,685
5	Shanghai	China	29,906,570	+1.16%	3,157	9,474	31,297,216	34,912,186
6	Guangzhou	China	27,739,195	+0.63%	4,570	6,070	28,442,486	29,243,076
7	Al-Qahirah (Cairo)	Egypt	25,889,876	+1.25%	1,671	15,496	27,184,973	32,365,955
8	Manila	Philippines	24,893,838	+0.64%	2,455	10,140	25,527,969	27,119,826
9	Kolkata	India	22,646,412	+0.43%	2,348	9,646	23,033,107	23,767,882
10	Seoul	South Korea	22,517,764	+0.12%	2,256	9,980	22,626,893	21,225,404
11	Karachi	Pakistan	21,857,801	+1.99%	874	25,015	23,598,646	32,592,965
12	Mumbai	India	20,385,414	+0.89%	748	27,239	21,114,847	23,059,150
13	São Paulo	Brazil	18,957,600	+0.04%	2,049	9,251	18,988,842	18,217,300
14	Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (Bangkok)	Thailand	18,338,825	+0.86%	2,671	6,866	18,973,005	20,462,207
15	Ciudad de México (Mexico City)	Mexico	17,753,192	+0.11%	2,098	8,463	17,829,110	17,678,777
16	Beijing	China	17,127,344	+0.67%	1,741	9,840	17,583,507	18,004,156
17	Lahore	Pakistan	15,382,388	+1.47%	977	15,738	16,286,222	20,388,443
18	Istanbul	Turkey (Türkiye)	15,089,414	+0.49%	1,272	11,863	15,388,017	16,303,309
19	Moskva (Moscow)	Russia	14,571,370	+0.32%	1,565	9,312	14,757,838	15,521,567
20	Ho Chi Minh City	Vietnam	14,213,778	+1.13%	1,559	9,116	14,858,040	17,201,445
21	Buenos Aires	Argentina	14,038,483	+0.15%	2,165	6,483	14,121,470	14,235,648
22	Shenzhen	China	13,957,317	+0.57%	1,470	9,492	14,273,003	14,660,570
23	New York City	United States	13,902,818	−0.12%	2,691	5,167	13,833,498	13,224,531
24	Bengaluru	India	13,261,056	+0.56%	653	20,314	13,556,889	14,258,150
25	Lagos	Nigeria	12,956,639	+1.27%	1,238	10,466	13,616,401	16,180,326
26	Osaka	Japan	12,853,431	−0.86%	2,225	5,778	12,410,577	10,449,439
27	Los Angeles	United States	12,806,288	+0.51%	3,713	3,449	13,069,762	13,862,284
28	Luanda	Angola	11,723,099	+3.01%	1,051	11,158	13,134,985	20,286,119
29	Chennai	India	11,192,733	+0.35%	1,061	10,547	11,350,843	11,756,606
30	Kinshasa	Democratic Republic of the Congo	11,078,527	+1.22%	515	21,520	11,618,069	13,210,577
31	Bogotá	Colombia	10,738,472	+1.06%	543	19,769	11,195,101	12,478,015
32	Lima	Peru	10,693,197	+1.06%	1,038	10,304	11,145,021	12,358,372
33	London	United Kingdom	10,486,502	+0.67%	1,648	6,362	10,766,831	11,868,905
34	Hajipur	India	10,165,216	+2.20%	3,152	3,225	11,060,041	13,694,623
35	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	9,508,383	+0.08%	1,261	7,538	9,540,571	9,299,537
36	Paris	France	9,380,592	−0.01%	1,381	6,793	9,375,275	9,326,092
37	Hyderabad	India	9,216,127	+0.27%	889	10,362	9,317,456	9,546,498
38	Tehrān (Tehran)	Iran	9,206,970	+0.35%	792	11,628	9,334,993	9,499,466
39	Taipei	Taiwan	9,120,152	−0.18%	937	9,733	9,053,593	8,176,644
40	Bandung	Indonesia	8,965,166	+0.63%	1,018	8,808	9,189,416	9,746,912
41	Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	8,565,445	+1.42%	1,360	6,298	9,052,302	10,627,280
42	Dar es Salaam	Tanzania	8,009,189	+2.67%	924	8,672	8,865,491	13,159,908
43	Suzhou	China	7,741,751	+0.14%	1,169	6,621	7,784,349	7,639,262
44	Ahmedabad	India	7,667,167	+0.45%	367	20,914	7,806,201	8,235,676
45	Hangzhou	China	7,627,713	+1.67%	1,635	4,665	8,137,733	9,624,602
46	Alexandria	Egypt	7,348,119	+1.10%	598	12,296	7,672,767	9,022,625
47	Tianjin	China	7,318,511	+0.45%	543	13,483	7,451,187	7,645,279
48	Wuhan	China	7,317,134	−0.63%	710	10,306	7,131,478	6,157,042
49	Johannesburg	South Africa	7,173,199	+1.34%	1,459	4,917	7,557,294	8,916,021
50	Nagoya	Japan	7,116,860	−0.41%	1,975	3,603	6,999,662	6,292,819
51	Chongqing	China	7,029,204	−0.60%	548	12,827	6,861,728	6,080,495
52	Ar-Riyāḑ (Riyadh)	Saudi Arabia	7,024,249	+1.54%	1,104	6,363	7,455,576	9,152,552
53	Surat	India	6,970,910	+0.89%	287	24,272	7,218,848	8,048,617
54	Al-Kharṭūm (Khartoum)	Sudan	6,941,762	+1.91%	982	7,069	7,471,392	9,444,354
55	Ādīs Ᾱbeba (Addis Ababa)	Ethiopia	6,888,446	+2.65%	502	13,733	7,619,412	10,782,580
56	Pune	India	6,871,873	+0.78%	588	11,691	7,087,562	7,741,530
57	Surabaya	Indonesia	6,836,214	−0.11%	1,303	5,247	6,807,059	6,342,808
58	Nanjing	China	6,793,988	−0.10%	723	9,397	6,767,236	6,316,820
59	Santiago	Chile	6,751,278	+0.37%	806	8,374	6,852,210	6,931,370
60	Abidjan	Côte d'Ivoire	6,745,225	+1.83%	531	12,698	7,239,280	9,775,147
61	Ammān (Amman)	Jordan	6,482,673	+1.22%	533	12,167	6,798,702	8,393,062
62	Chaozhou	China	6,446,205	+0.60%	1,228	5,249	6,599,946	6,836,503
63	Baghdād (Baghdad)	Iraq	6,445,878	+0.86%	707	9,112	6,666,450	7,464,523
64	Nairobi	Kenya	6,244,748	+1.77%	649	9,628	6,686,404	8,514,575
65	Kozhikode	India	6,185,294	+0.99%	1,090	5,675	6,430,980	7,104,281
66	Chengdu	China	6,107,666	−0.53%	865	7,058	5,978,833	5,216,765
67	Onitsha	Nigeria	5,761,718	+2.33%	1,103	5,223	6,297,766	8,680,997
68	Kābul (Kabul)	Afghanistan	5,759,569	+2.15%	396	14,559	6,254,899	8,003,002
69	Shenyang	China	5,679,026	−0.42%	480	11,831	5,584,576	5,052,402
70	Accra	Ghana	5,667,516	+1.32%	1,124	5,042	5,966,461	7,231,113
71	Yangon	Myanmar	5,651,389	+0.59%	514	10,991	5,783,733	6,050,414
72	Faisalabad	Pakistan	5,640,667	+1.32%	344	16,407	5,937,806	7,311,253
73	Madrid	Spain	5,591,755	+0.15%	646	8,659	5,624,369	5,588,668
74	Toronto	Canada	5,539,951	+0.82%	1,369	4,046	5,722,033	6,168,899
75	Mashhad	Iran	5,417,340	+0.35%	483	11,221	5,493,709	5,669,798
76	Dubai	United Arab Emirates	5,356,637	+1.36%	913	5,865	5,648,030	6,851,740
77	Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte - Colombo	Sri Lanka	5,264,063	+0.76%	1,352	3,894	5,424,963	5,816,080
78	Yaoundé	Cameroon	5,244,714	+2.64%	338	15,526	5,799,222	8,661,147
79	Xi'an	China	5,216,357	−0.28%	622	8,386	5,157,574	4,744,642
80	Kochi	India	5,152,610	+1.45%	1,288	3,999	5,452,371	5,843,908
81	Lucknow	India	5,087,496	+0.69%	510	9,983	5,227,702	5,689,737
82	Hà Nội (Hanoi)	Vietnam	5,064,339	−0.08%	870	5,821	5,048,037	4,789,526
83	Chattogram	Bangladesh	5,044,182	+1.20%	534	9,450	5,286,699	5,938,088
84	Kampala	Uganda	5,012,188	+2.62%	828	6,056	5,537,167	7,893,623
85	Singapore	Singapore	4,989,549	+0.51%	368	13,559	5,091,752	5,125,633
86	Islāmābād	Pakistan	4,945,537	+1.73%	566	8,732	5,287,349	6,678,472
87	Kano	Nigeria	4,906,917	+1.36%	435	11,285	5,173,463	6,361,602
88	Zhengzhou	China	4,867,461	−0.22%	582	8,363	4,825,163	4,438,815
89	Hefei	China	4,864,171	−0.06%	501	9,713	4,852,856	4,484,853
90	Saint Petersburg	Russia	4,734,157	−0.05%	509	9,301	4,724,790	4,686,636
91	Tamar (Hong Kong)	Hong Kong	4,731,419	−0.38%	219	21,644	4,658,922	3,929,305
92	Santo Domingo	Dominican Republic	4,638,389	+0.83%	521	8,899	4,791,688	5,260,910
93	Cape Town	South Africa	4,585,729	+1.68%	723	6,344	4,892,959	6,127,476
94	Muqdisho (Mogadishu)	Somalia	4,518,627	+2.64%	209	21,641	4,995,417	7,194,603
95	Casablanca	Morocco	4,487,289	+0.66%	413	10,876	4,606,563	4,988,449
96	Dimashq (Damascus)	Syria	4,426,767	+3.14%	386	11,468	4,982,849	6,336,460
97	Bamako	Mali	4,378,826	+3.06%	516	8,493	4,914,608	7,639,829
98	Harbin	China	4,370,578	−0.13%	417	10,471	4,347,853	4,140,927
99	Kumasi	Ghana	4,357,357	+1.36%	446	9,770	4,594,850	5,448,725
100	Jeddah	Saudi Arabia	4,351,700	+1.55%	703	6,187	4,622,180	5,784,917
101	Kanpur	India	4,348,917	+0.44%	309	14,083	4,424,695	4,637,879
102	Al Kuwayt (Kuwait City)	Kuwait	4,315,600	+1.17%	530	8,146	4,517,470	5,325,605
103	Luxor	Egypt	4,305,523	+2.73%	346	12,437	4,775,521	7,569,654
104	Medan	Indonesia	4,248,659	+0.07%	607	7,004	4,259,713	4,102,926
105	Douala	Cameroon	4,202,309	+2.33%	289	14,521	4,593,481	6,448,516
106	Sydney	Australia	4,175,163	+0.58%	1,321	3,160	4,272,146	4,554,766
107	Wenzhou	China	4,168,028	+0.24%	536	7,773	4,207,361	4,094,852
108	Belo Horizonte	Brazil	4,164,500	+0.04%	590	7,063	4,171,243	4,082,857
109	Guadalajara	Mexico	4,148,305	+0.31%	593	7,000	4,199,763	4,325,736
110	Jaipur	India	4,096,212	+0.60%	453	9,050	4,194,043	4,490,178
111	Şan'ā' (Sana'a)	Yemen	4,096,109	+1.89%	243	16,884	4,405,120	5,664,924
112	Houston	United States	4,020,455	+1.63%	1,595	2,521	4,282,090	5,479,773
113	Puning	China	4,015,257	+0.65%	696	5,771	4,118,998	4,268,586
114	Taiyuan	China	4,012,695	+0.17%	345	11,618	4,040,211	3,979,034
115	Toshkent (Tashkent)	Uzbekistan	3,998,612	+1.57%	612	6,536	4,249,888	5,093,106
116	Barcelona	Spain	3,996,022	+0.33%	456	8,771	4,049,293	4,117,282
117	Antananarivo	Madagascar	3,992,888	+1.92%	465	8,579	4,299,564	6,009,295
118	Monterrey	Mexico	3,957,801	+0.50%	644	6,148	4,036,945	4,253,471
119	Owerri	Nigeria	3,948,567	+2.92%	1,216	3,247	4,409,461	6,804,817
120	Dakar	Senegal	3,921,430	+1.76%	286	13,731	4,197,252	5,361,571
121	Varanasi	India	3,906,379	+1.22%	370	10,563	4,096,442	4,764,588
122	Ürümqi	China	3,775,368	+0.54%	306	12,330	3,856,262	4,001,407
123	Ibadan	Nigeria	3,763,675	+1.14%	549	6,861	3,935,489	4,663,010
124	Brazzaville	Republic of the Congo	3,737,458	+2.17%	279	13,406	4,062,002	5,730,423
125	Recife	Brazil	3,698,932	+0.21%	494	7,488	3,729,876	3,702,361
126	Chicago	United States	3,680,163	−0.09%	932	3,950	3,667,276	3,585,359
127	Kasaï-Oriental	Democratic Republic of the Congo	3,675,760	+1.91%	149	24,603	3,955,850	5,119,555
128	Savar	Bangladesh	3,673,512	+3.16%	625	5,880	4,138,036	5,987,261
129	Melbourne	Australia	3,662,000	+0.60%	1,361	2,691	3,750,427	4,237,996
130	Ankara	Turkey (Türkiye)	3,630,865	+0.51%	361	10,047	3,705,319	3,975,184
131	Lusaka	Zambia	3,629,896	+3.28%	405	8,972	4,106,587	6,550,068
132	Karaj	Iran	3,624,426	+0.71%	330	10,990	3,727,488	4,064,578
133	Peshawar	Pakistan	3,624,334	+1.93%	510	7,107	3,903,978	5,329,187
134	Qingdao	China	3,609,963	−0.19%	518	6,974	3,583,187	3,300,156
135	Berlin	Germany	3,549,560	−0.32%	686	5,177	3,504,166	3,353,525
136	Indore	India	3,500,688	+0.69%	279	12,547	3,597,750	3,952,816
137	Jinan	China	3,463,399	−0.28%	444	7,807	3,425,077	3,132,168
138	Changsha	China	3,459,346	+0.05%	403	8,584	3,466,697	3,365,214
139	Medellín	Colombia	3,359,504	+0.27%	234	14,345	3,395,983	3,332,865
140	Changchun	China	3,336,074	−0.42%	263	12,704	3,280,635	2,994,525
141	Patna	India	3,335,351	+0.78%	258	12,938	3,439,222	3,875,583
142	Washington, D.C.	United States	3,294,317	+0.74%	1,192	2,764	3,391,514	3,725,730
143	Nanchang	China	3,293,851	−0.18%	398	8,276	3,270,165	3,044,933
144	Nanning	China	3,285,445	−0.10%	238	13,804	3,272,681	3,176,261
145	Quanzhou	China	3,279,664	−0.20%	677	4,844	3,253,806	2,964,415
146	El Djazaïr (Algiers)	Algeria	3,274,363	+0.85%	478	6,847	3,386,216	3,688,995
147	Kathmandu	Nepal	3,271,272	+1.22%	332	9,847	3,430,297	4,115,021
148	Nagpur	India	3,268,831	+0.34%	282	11,592	3,312,792	3,353,550
149	Ouagadougou	Burkina Faso	3,262,758	+1.73%	502	6,494	3,488,901	4,401,534
150	Fortaleza	Brazil	3,255,151	+0.33%	409	7,955	3,298,715	3,352,472
151	Busan	South Korea	3,248,254	−0.46%	361	8,998	3,188,387	2,742,944
152	Maputo	Mozambique	3,233,347	+2.07%	493	6,556	3,501,423	4,323,235
153	Kunming	China	3,223,956	−0.13%	354	9,112	3,207,313	3,079,539
154	Kalyan-Dombivli	India	3,192,019	+0.90%	175	18,240	3,306,398	3,659,170
155	Guayaquil	Ecuador	3,187,080	+0.92%	314	10,143	3,304,098	3,641,317
156	Durban	South Africa	3,179,346	+0.04%	724	4,391	3,185,024	3,157,978
157	San Francisco	United States	3,174,725	+0.35%	917	3,461	3,219,679	3,290,101
158	Gujranwala	Pakistan	3,162,872	+1.32%	233	13,563	3,329,275	4,160,579
159	Salvador	Brazil	3,134,366	−0.03%	319	9,826	3,131,204	3,036,993
160	Ningbo	China	3,133,522	+1.23%	530	5,910	3,288,278	3,847,804
161	Kollam	India	3,115,931	+1.33%	709	4,392	3,281,408	3,612,611
162	Athína (Athens)	Greece	3,103,680	+0.05%	404	7,682	3,110,484	2,946,874
163	Cebu City	Philippines	3,074,027	+0.96%	421	7,305	3,191,880	3,651,959
164	Brahmanbaria	Bangladesh	3,020,951	+3.52%	943	3,204	3,445,846	5,044,807
165	Aleppo	Syria	3,010,846	+2.94%	270	11,151	3,365,120	4,318,836
166	Multan	Pakistan	2,992,874	+1.21%	283	10,583	3,137,801	4,053,628
167	Shijiazhuang	China	2,982,794	−0.25%	394	7,578	2,952,382	2,700,481
168	Thiruvananthapuram	India	2,963,014	+0.57%	374	7,914	3,030,596	3,215,448
169	Asansol	India	2,944,381	+0.67%	245	12,028	3,022,941	3,168,038
170	Miami	United States	2,931,554	+0.65%	1,021	2,870	3,007,825	3,329,947
171	Lubumbashi	Democratic Republic of the Congo	2,930,306	+3.33%	375	7,822	3,320,116	5,257,654
172	Tamluk	India	2,913,549	+0.65%	1,060	2,749	2,989,809	3,222,647
173	Fuzhou	China	2,905,610	−0.19%	255	11,395	2,884,109	2,685,412
174	P'yŏngyang (Pyongyang)	North Korea	2,903,840	+0.08%	225	12,929	2,912,848	2,838,238
175	Hyderabad	Pakistan	2,888,938	+0.88%	145	19,896	2,990,157	3,573,349
176	Ciudad de Guatemala (Guatemala City)	Guatemala	2,861,001	+0.81%	462	6,193	2,954,173	3,316,118
177	Tasikmalaya	Indonesia	2,859,824	+1.14%	532	5,378	2,990,101	3,351,772
178	Agra	India	2,803,663	+0.60%	210	13,364	2,871,268	3,073,941
179	Dalian	China	2,796,584	+0.01%	258	10,839	2,797,929	2,672,217
180	Yogyakarta	Indonesia	2,778,802	−0.54%	650	4,275	2,719,024	2,432,351
181	Coyah (Conacry)	Guinea	2,764,344	+1.33%	312	8,871	2,910,984	3,397,410
182	Naples	Italy	2,754,762	−0.48%	539	5,115	2,702,116	2,403,811
183	Cali	Colombia	2,710,754	+0.39%	188	14,388	2,752,842	2,762,910
184	Essen	Germany	2,709,375	−0.28%	877	3,089	2,678,526	2,546,415
185	Montreal	Canada	2,676,158	+0.28%	710	3,770	2,705,897	2,773,659
186	Tel Aviv	Israel	2,676,126	+1.24%	338	7,913	2,809,140	3,483,084
187	Guiyang	China	2,675,567	−0.43%	297	9,021	2,630,039	2,416,522
188	Semarang	Indonesia	2,675,043	−0.16%	416	6,433	2,657,819	2,425,847
189	Izmir	Turkey (Türkiye)	2,653,715	+0.13%	309	8,577	2,667,626	2,680,170
190	Changzhou	China	2,647,135	−0.10%	521	5,083	2,636,329	2,457,229
191	Birmingham	United Kingdom	2,643,320	+0.44%	672	3,936	2,689,574	2,810,468
192	Kyiv (Kiev)	Ukraine	2,630,590	+0.61%	406	6,476	2,694,625	2,490,995
193	Wuxi	China	2,610,425	−0.10%	447	5,840	2,599,724	2,428,528
194	Milan	Italy	2,595,301	−0.14%	492	5,275	2,580,417	2,453,272
195	Caracas	Venezuela	2,578,410	+0.07%	308	8,371	2,585,384	2,566,670
196	Quito	Ecuador	2,557,064	+0.87%	387	6,601	2,645,662	2,907,330
197	Cotonou	Benin	2,549,482	+1.69%	502	5,075	2,721,456	3,444,190
198	Manchester	United Kingdom	2,541,887	+0.25%	742	3,428	2,567,727	2,638,194
199	Dighwara	India	2,515,580	+1.83%	978	2,573	2,700,127	3,631,651
200	Bhopal	India	2,507,664	+0.82%	238	10,528	2,589,500	2,858,310

Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2025). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2025 Revision, Online Edition.

Data topics

Reference

Tools

Largest Cities and Urban Areas in the World (2026)