Largest cities in the world — 2026
Ranked by urban-area population from the UN World Urbanization Prospects 2025, which applies one definition everywhere: the continuous built-up urban centre, regardless of municipal borders. Jakarta leads with 41,913,860 people; 33 urban areas exceed 10 million and 511 exceed one million. Columns show 2025, 1975 and the UN projection for 2050.
Top 15
Top 100 urban areas
| Rank | Urban area | Country | 2025 | 1975 | 2050 (proj.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Jakarta | Indonesia | 41,913,860 | 11,696,369 | 51,784,216 |
| #2 | Dhaka | Bangladesh | 36,585,479 | 5,037,174 | 52,122,843 |
| #3 | Tokyo | Japan | 33,412,512 | 24,281,618 | 30,657,618 |
| #4 | New Delhi | India | 30,222,405 | 6,091,891 | 33,890,685 |
| #5 | Shanghai | China | 29,558,908 | 4,542,787 | 34,912,186 |
| #6 | Guangzhou | China | 27,563,372 | 1,644,240 | 29,243,076 |
| #7 | Cairo | Egypt | 25,566,102 | 7,440,914 | 32,365,955 |
| #8 | Manila | Philippines | 24,735,305 | 8,329,012 | 27,119,826 |
| #9 | Kolkata | India | 22,549,738 | 10,527,605 | 23,767,882 |
| #10 | Seoul | South Korea | 22,490,482 | 10,079,046 | 21,225,404 |
| #11 | Karachi | Pakistan | 21,422,590 | 4,626,701 | 32,592,965 |
| #12 | Mumbai | India | 20,203,056 | 8,338,773 | 23,059,150 |
| #13 | São Paulo | Brazil | 18,949,790 | 10,536,121 | 18,217,300 |
| #14 | Bangkok | Thailand | 18,180,280 | 3,650,772 | 20,462,207 |
| #15 | Mexico City | Mexico | 17,734,212 | 11,119,402 | 17,678,777 |
| #16 | Beijing | China | 17,013,303 | 5,154,971 | 18,004,156 |
| #17 | Lahore | Pakistan | 15,156,430 | 4,402,766 | 20,388,443 |
| #18 | Istanbul | Türkiye | 15,014,763 | 5,305,193 | 16,303,309 |
| #19 | Moscow | Russia | 14,524,753 | 8,520,842 | 15,521,567 |
| #20 | Ho Chi Minh City | Vietnam | 14,052,713 | 2,384,034 | 17,201,445 |
| #21 | Buenos Aires | Argentina | 14,017,736 | 8,560,900 | 14,235,648 |
| #22 | New York City | United States | 13,920,148 | 12,076,416 | 13,224,531 |
| #23 | Shenzhen | China | 13,878,396 | 487,944 | 14,660,570 |
| #24 | Bengaluru | India | 13,187,098 | 2,369,541 | 14,258,150 |
| #25 | Osaka | Japan | 12,964,145 | 14,448,054 | 10,449,439 |
| #26 | Lagos | Nigeria | 12,791,699 | 2,612,450 | 16,180,326 |
| #27 | Los Angeles | United States | 12,740,420 | 7,717,837 | 13,862,284 |
| #28 | Luanda | Angola | 11,370,127 | — | 20,286,119 |
| #29 | Chennai | India | 11,153,205 | 4,484,115 | 11,756,606 |
| #30 | Kinshasa | DR Congo | 10,943,641 | 1,035,622 | 13,210,577 |
| #31 | Bogotá | Colombia | 10,624,315 | 3,389,750 | 12,478,015 |
| #32 | Lima | Peru | 10,580,241 | 3,519,785 | 12,358,372 |
| #33 | London | United Kingdom | 10,416,420 | 7,369,842 | 11,868,905 |
| #34 | Hajipur | India | 9,941,510 | 745,962 | 13,694,623 |
| #35 | Rio de Janeiro | Brazil | 9,500,336 | 5,880,669 | 9,299,537 |
| #36 | Paris | France | 9,381,921 | 7,423,859 | 9,326,092 |
| #37 | Hyderabad | India | 9,190,795 | 2,810,479 | 9,546,498 |
| #38 | Tehran | Iran | 9,174,964 | 4,265,101 | 9,499,466 |
| #39 | Taipei | Taiwan | 9,136,792 | 3,691,099 | 8,176,644 |
| #40 | Bandung | Indonesia | 8,909,104 | 3,475,759 | 9,746,912 |
| #41 | Kuala Lumpur | Malaysia | 8,443,731 | 170,777 | 10,627,280 |
| #42 | Dar es Salaam | Tanzania | 7,795,114 | 299,151 | 13,159,908 |
| #43 | Suzhou | China | 7,731,101 | 930,446 | 7,639,262 |
| #44 | Ahmedabad | India | 7,632,408 | 2,569,410 | 8,235,676 |
| #45 | Hangzhou | China | 7,500,208 | 1,113,616 | 9,624,602 |
| #46 | Wuhan | China | 7,363,548 | 1,665,771 | 6,157,042 |
| #47 | Tianjin | China | 7,285,342 | 2,567,069 | 7,645,279 |
| #48 | Alexandria | Egypt | 7,266,957 | 2,647,675 | 9,022,625 |
| #49 | Nagoya | Japan | 7,146,160 | 5,365,962 | 6,292,819 |
| #50 | Johannesburg | South Africa | 7,077,175 | 1,180,560 | 8,916,021 |
| #51 | Chongqing | China | 7,071,073 | 1,527,374 | 6,080,495 |
| #52 | Riyadh | Saudi Arabia | 6,916,417 | — | 9,152,552 |
| #53 | Surat | India | 6,908,925 | 955,482 | 8,048,617 |
| #54 | Surabaya | Indonesia | 6,843,503 | 3,642,543 | 6,342,808 |
| #55 | Pune | India | 6,817,951 | 2,411,762 | 7,741,530 |
| #56 | Khartoum | Sudan | 6,809,355 | 870,553 | 9,444,354 |
| #57 | Nanjing | China | 6,800,676 | 1,609,060 | 6,316,820 |
| #58 | Santiago | Chile | 6,726,045 | 2,834,965 | 6,931,370 |
| #59 | Addis Ababa | Ethiopia | 6,705,705 | 868,901 | 10,782,580 |
| #60 | Abidjan | Ivory Coast | 6,621,711 | 1,024,745 | 9,775,147 |
| #61 | Chaozhou | China | 6,407,770 | 540,582 | 6,836,503 |
| #62 | Amman | Jordan | 6,403,666 | 831,541 | 8,393,062 |
| #63 | Baghdad | Iraq | 6,390,735 | 2,035,844 | 7,464,523 |
| #64 | Chengdu | China | 6,139,874 | 2,814,167 | 5,216,765 |
| #65 | Nairobi | Kenya | 6,134,334 | 538,321 | 8,514,575 |
| #66 | Kozhikode | India | 6,123,872 | 566,962 | 7,104,281 |
| #67 | Shenyang | China | 5,702,638 | 3,849,887 | 5,052,402 |
| #68 | Kabul | Afghanistan | 5,635,737 | 763,068 | 8,003,002 |
| #69 | Onitsha | Nigeria | 5,627,706 | 756,883 | 8,680,997 |
| #70 | Yangon | Myanmar | 5,618,303 | 2,163,479 | 6,050,414 |
| #71 | Accra | Ghana | 5,592,780 | 856,210 | 7,231,113 |
| #72 | Madrid | Spain | 5,583,601 | 2,951,852 | 5,588,668 |
| #73 | Faisalabad | Pakistan | 5,566,382 | 1,097,885 | 7,311,253 |
| #74 | Toronto | Canada | 5,494,431 | 1,976,141 | 6,168,899 |
| #75 | Mashhad | Iran | 5,398,248 | 1,322,467 | 5,669,798 |
| #76 | Dubai | United Arab Emirates | 5,283,789 | — | 6,851,740 |
| #77 | Xi'an | China | 5,231,053 | 1,540,149 | 4,744,642 |
| #78 | Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte - Colombo | Sri Lanka | 5,223,838 | 2,053,180 | 5,816,080 |
| #79 | Yaoundé | Cameroon | 5,106,087 | 455,219 | 8,661,147 |
| #80 | Kochi | India | 5,077,670 | 1,576,753 | 5,843,908 |
| #81 | Hanoi | Vietnam | 5,068,414 | 1,492,851 | 4,789,526 |
| #82 | Lucknow | India | 5,052,444 | 1,474,430 | 5,689,737 |
| #83 | Chattogram | Bangladesh | 4,983,553 | 1,415,858 | 5,938,088 |
| #84 | Singapore | Singapore | 4,963,998 | 2,004,259 | 5,125,633 |
| #85 | Kampala | Uganda | 4,880,943 | 604,015 | 7,893,623 |
| #86 | Zhengzhou | China | 4,878,035 | 976,638 | 4,438,815 |
| #87 | Hefei | China | 4,867,000 | 1,189,878 | 4,484,853 |
| #88 | Islāmābād | Pakistan | 4,860,084 | 809,580 | 6,678,472 |
| #89 | Kano | Nigeria | 4,840,280 | 773,600 | 6,361,602 |
| #90 | Hong Kong | Hong Kong | 4,749,543 | 2,877,514 | 3,929,305 |
| #91 | Saint Petersburg | Russia | 4,736,499 | 3,651,032 | 4,686,636 |
| #92 | Santo Domingo | Dominican Republic | 4,600,064 | 1,249,277 | 5,260,910 |
| #93 | Cape Town | South Africa | 4,508,921 | 983,713 | 6,127,476 |
| #94 | Casablanca | Morocco | 4,457,471 | 1,743,210 | 4,988,449 |
| #95 | Mogadishu | Somalia | 4,399,430 | 442,327 | 7,194,603 |
| #96 | Harbin | China | 4,376,259 | 1,720,659 | 4,140,927 |
| #97 | Kanpur | India | 4,329,973 | 2,052,684 | 4,637,879 |
| #98 | Kumasi | Ghana | 4,297,984 | 415,938 | 5,448,725 |
| #99 | Damascus | Syria | 4,287,746 | 1,202,544 | 6,336,460 |
| #100 | Jeddah | Saudi Arabia | 4,284,080 | 189,325 | 5,784,917 |
Urban centre = contiguous 1 km2 cells with 1,500+ people/km2 and 50,000+ inhabitants (Degree of Urbanisation). Some centres carry a constituent town's name (the source's choice). UN DESA, CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Other rankings
Fastest-growing cities, Largest countries by population, Smallest countries and territories by population, Fastest-growing countries, Fastest-shrinking countries, Highest birth rates, Lowest birth rates.
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The definition determines the ranking
This page is a structured reference entry. Its sources, geographic definition and reference dates determine what the figures mean; it is not independent reporting about the causes of change. Read the accompanying explanation before comparing different places or vintages.