Two ways to rank cities. The world rankings measure every city the same way, by its continuous built-up area and the people living in it. The city-limits rankings use official boundaries, which some cities draw around farmland and others around their historic core. Our guide on comparing city sizes honestly explains the difference.
The largest urban area in the world is Guangzhou–Shenzhen, followed by Jakarta and Dhaka. 34 urban areas have more than 10 million people; the 100th largest, Dubai–Sharjah, has 4.57 million.
| # | City | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guangzhou–Shenzhen | 43.0 million |
| 2 | Jakarta | 40.5 million |
| 3 | Dhaka | 37.3 million |
| 4 | Tokyo | 33.2 million |
| 5 | Delhi | 31.4 million |
| 6 | Shanghai | 30.7 million |
| 7 | Manila | 25.9 million |
| 8 | Cairo | 25.2 million |
| 9 | Kolkata | 23.3 million |
| 10 | Seoul | 22.3 million |
Dhaka covers the most ground, 6,611 km² of contiguous built-up land, ahead of Guangzhou–Shenzhen (6,454 km²) and Tokyo (5,165 km²).
| # | City | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dhaka | 37.3 million |
| 2 | Guangzhou–Shenzhen | 43.0 million |
| 3 | Tokyo | 33.2 million |
| 4 | Jakarta | 40.5 million |
| 5 | Los Angeles | 13.5 million |
| 6 | Hajipur–Muzaffarpur region | 9.76 million |
| 7 | Shanghai | 30.7 million |
| 8 | New York | 14.2 million |
| 9 | Miami | 5.73 million |
| 10 | Bangkok | 19.0 million |
Among urban areas with at least 1 million people, Mumbai is the most densely populated at 27,714 people per km², ahead of Mbuji-Mayi and Beni region.
| # | City | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mumbai | 20.5 million |
| 2 | Mbuji-Mayi | 3.60 million |
| 3 | Beni region | 1.87 million |
| 4 | Kinshasa | 12.9 million |
| 5 | Mogadishu | 4.80 million |
| 6 | Karachi | 21.0 million |
| 7 | Surat | 7.10 million |
| 8 | Hong Kong | 4.81 million |
| 9 | Ahmedabad | 7.90 million |
| 10 | Tshikapa | 1.07 million |
Urban area = contiguous built-up land and the people living in it in 2025, drawn the same way for every city regardless of administrative boundaries. Source: GHSL Urban Centre Database R2024A, European Commission, Joint Research Centre (CC BY 4.0); some names adjusted to the city names people use, and country attribution follows the dataset.
“Region” marks urban areas that join many towns and dense rural settlement into one built-up area; they are named after their main town.
97 major cities ranked by the area inside their official boundaries and the population counted there.
Hangzhou has the largest administrative area of the 97 cities, 16,854 km², about 23 times the median city (730 km²).
| # | City | Area |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hangzhou | 16,854 km² |
| 2 | Beijing | 16,411 km² |
| 3 | Brisbane | 15,826 km² |
| 4 | Chengdu | 14,378 km² |
| 5 | Sydney | 12,368 km² |
| 6 | Xi'an | 10,097 km² |
| 7 | Melbourne | 9,993 km² |
| 8 | Wuhan | 8,569 km² |
| 9 | Guangzhou | 7,434 km² |
| 10 | Perth | 6,417 km² |
| 11 | Shanghai | 6,341 km² |
| 12 | Istanbul | 5,461 km² |
| 13 | Dubai | 4,114 km² |
| 14 | Karachi | 3,527 km² |
| 15 | Hanoi | 3,359 km² |
| 16 | Cairo | 3,085 km² |
| 17 | Lima | 2,672 km² |
| 18 | Moscow | 2,511 km² |
| 19 | Cape Town | 2,455 km² |
| 20 | Tokyo | 2,194 km² |
Shanghai has the largest city-proper population of the 97 cities, 24.9 million, followed by Beijing and Chengdu.
| # | City | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shanghai | 24.9 million |
| 2 | Beijing | 21.5 million |
| 3 | Chengdu | 20.9 million |
| 4 | Guangzhou | 18.7 million |
| 5 | Shenzhen | 17.6 million |
| 6 | Dhaka | 16.8 million |
| 7 | Delhi | 16.8 million |
| 8 | Istanbul | 15.5 million |
| 9 | Lagos | 15.4 million |
| 10 | Karachi | 14.9 million |
| 11 | Tokyo | 14.0 million |
| 12 | Xi'an | 12.9 million |
| 13 | Moscow | 12.5 million |
| 14 | Mumbai | 12.4 million |
| 15 | São Paulo | 12.3 million |
| 16 | Bangalore | 12.3 million |
| 17 | Wuhan | 12.3 million |
| 18 | Hangzhou | 11.9 million |
| 19 | Jakarta | 10.6 million |
| 20 | Bangkok | 10.5 million |
Dhaka packs 45,652 people into each km² of its 368 km²; the median city has 4,324 /km² and Brisbane, the least dense, 171 /km².
| # | City | Density |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dhaka | 45,652 /km² |
| 2 | Manila | 43,023 /km² |
| 3 | Mumbai | 20,630 /km² |
| 4 | Paris | 20,571 /km² |
| 5 | Bangalore | 16,640 /km² |
| 6 | Barcelona | 16,436 /km² |
| 7 | Athens | 16,410 /km² |
| 8 | Seoul | 16,149 /km² |
| 9 | Jakarta | 15,952 /km² |
| 10 | Chennai | 15,457 /km² |
| 11 | Buenos Aires | 15,074 /km² |
| 12 | Hyderabad | 14,323 /km² |
| 13 | Lagos | 13,131 /km² |
| 14 | Tehran | 12,507 /km² |
| 15 | Osaka | 12,222 /km² |
| 16 | Delhi | 11,314 /km² |
| 17 | New York | 10,651 /km² |
| 18 | Taipei | 9,743 /km² |
| 19 | Tel Aviv | 9,038 /km² |
| 20 | Doha | 9,015 /km² |
For the full area ranking with maps, read All 97 World Cities Ranked by Area, or see how some cities outsize whole countries.
Showing 97 of 97
Shanghai
China
6,341 km²
24.9M people
Beijing
China
16,411 km²
21.5M people
Guangzhou
China
7,434 km²
18.7M people
Shenzhen
China
1,997 km²
17.6M people
Delhi
India
1,484 km²
16.8M people
Tokyo
Japan
2,194 km²
14.0M people
Mumbai
India
603 km²
12.4M people
Jakarta
Indonesia
662 km²
10.6M people
Bangkok
Thailand
1,569 km²
10.5M people
Seoul
South Korea
605 km²
9.8M people
Tehran
Iran
730 km²
9.1M people
Ho Chi Minh City
Vietnam
2,061 km²
9.0M people
Hanoi
Vietnam
3,359 km²
8.1M people
Hong Kong
China
1,114 km²
7.4M people
Singapore
Singapore
733 km²
5.5M people
Dubai
United Arab Emirates
4,114 km²
3.3M people
Osaka
Japan
225 km²
2.8M people
Taipei
Taiwan
272 km²
2.6M people
Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
243 km²
2.0M people
Manila
Philippines
43 km²
1.9M people
Istanbul
Turkey
5,461 km²
15.5M people
Moscow
Russia
2,511 km²
12.5M people
London
United Kingdom
1,572 km²
9.0M people
Berlin
Germany
892 km²
3.6M people
Madrid
Spain
604 km²
3.3M people
Rome
Italy
1,285 km²
2.9M people
Paris
France
105 km²
2.2M people
Vienna
Austria
415 km²
2.0M people
Barcelona
Spain
101 km²
1.7M people
Stockholm
Sweden
188 km²
1.0M people
Amsterdam
Netherlands
219 km²
0.9M people
Lisbon
Portugal
100 km²
0.6M people
Zurich
Switzerland
88 km²
0.4M people
Mexico City
Mexico
1,485 km²
9.2M people
New York
United States
783 km²
8.3M people
Los Angeles
United States
1,302 km²
4.0M people
Toronto
Canada
630 km²
2.9M people
Chicago
United States
606 km²
2.7M people
San Francisco
United States
121 km²
0.9M people
Washington D.C.
United States
177 km²
0.7M people
Boston
United States
232 km²
0.7M people
Miami
United States
143 km²
0.4M people