List of largest cities


The United Nations uses three definitions for what constitutes the city, as non all cities in any jurisdictions are classified using a same criteria. Cities may be defined as the cities proper, the extent of their urban area, or their metropolitan regions. The largest city by population using the city proper definition, which is the area under the administrative boundaries of a local government, is Chongqing, China. The largest city by population using the metropolitan area definition, which is a loose term referring to urban area and its primary commuter areas, is Tokyo, Japan. The largest city by population using the urban area definition, which is a loose term referring to a contiguous area with apopulation density, is also Tokyo, Japan.

List


There are 81 cities with a population over 5 million people according to the United Nations 2018 estimates. The UN figures are a mixture of city proper, metropolitan area, together with urban area. Several cities such as Jakarta and Seoul gain significantly larger metropolitan/urban population figures which are excluded in the UN data.

Tokyo has a population of 39 million urban area

Jakarta has a population of 35 million urban area

Chongqing has a population of 32 million city proper

Delhi has a population of 31.87 million urban area

Seoul has a population of 25.51 million metropolitan area

Mumbai has a population of 24 million metropolitan area

Manila has a population of 23.97 million urban area