List of most populous cities in the world

Source	UN (World Population Prospects 2018)
Date	08 Mar 2025

Top Statistics

IPL 2025

List of continents by gdp per capita

Top 10 largest economies by GDP

Tokyo is the most populous city in the world, with a population of 37.04 million people. Tokyo is followed by Delhi, which has a population of 34.7 million. Shanghai is the third city to have a population above 30 million. The top four positions are occupied by Asian cities, as Dhaka is in 4th position.

Among the top ten most populous cities, Japan, India, and China have two entrants. Out of them, six are situated in Asia, two in North America, and one each in South America and Africa.

As of 2025, 37 cities have a population above 10 million. Out of them, China has 7 cities, followed by India with six cities. Japan, Brazil, the United States of America, and Pakistan have two cities each in the list. There are 22 countries having cities with populations over 10 million. Asia is home to 23 cities with populations over ten million, followed by South America (5), Africa (4), North America (3), and Europe (2).

Among the top 100, Dar es Salaam (United Republic of Tanzania) has the highest population growth rate of 4.90% in 2025. Four cities have negative population growth rates, and all four belong to Japan.

Most Populous Cities in the World (UN)
City	Population				Share (%)	Change			Country or Area	Continent
City	2024	Rank	2025	Rank	Share (%)	Population	(%)	Rank	Country or Area	Continent
Tokyo	37,115,035	1	37,036,204	1	0.451	-78,831	-0.21	0	Japan	Asia
Delhi	33,807,403	2	34,665,569	2	0.411	858,166	2.54	0	India	Asia
Shanghai	29,867,918	3	30,482,140	3	0.363	614,222	2.06	0	China	Asia
Dhaka	23,935,652	4	24,652,864	4	0.291	717,212	3.00	0	Bangladesh	Asia
Al-Qahirah (Cairo)	22,623,874	6	23,074,225	5	0.275	450,351	1.99	+1	Egypt	Africa
São Paulo	22,806,704	5	22,990,007	6	0.277	183,303	0.80	-1	Brazil	South America
Ciudad de México (Mexico City)	22,505,315	7	22,752,414	7	0.273	247,099	1.10	0	Mexico	North America
Beijing	22,189,082	8	22,596,455	8	0.270	407,373	1.84	0	China	Asia
Mumbai (Bombay)	21,673,149	9	22,088,953	9	0.263	415,804	1.92	0	India	Asia
New York-Newark	19,034,018	10	19,154,024	10	0.231	120,006	0.63	0	United States of America	North America
Kinki M.M.A. (Osaka)	18,967,459	11	18,921,632	11	0.230	-45,827	-0.24	0	Japan	Asia
Chongqing	17,773,923	12	18,171,198	12	0.216	397,275	2.24	0	China	Asia
Karachi	17,648,555	13	18,076,794	13	0.214	428,239	2.43	0	Pakistan	Asia
Kinshasa	17,032,322	14	17,778,474	14	0.207	746,152	4.38	0	Democratic Republic of the Congo	Africa
Lagos	16,536,018	15	17,156,393	15	0.201	620,375	3.75	0	Nigeria	Africa
Istanbul	16,047,350	16	16,236,703	16	0.195	189,353	1.18	0	Turkey	Asia
Kolkata (Calcutta)	15,570,786	18	15,845,219	17	0.189	274,433	1.76	+1	India	Asia
Buenos Aires	15,618,288	17	15,752,275	18	0.190	133,987	0.86	-1	Argentina	South America
Manila	14,941,953	19	15,230,559	19	0.182	288,606	1.93	0	Philippines	Asia
Guangzhou, Guangdong	14,590,096	20	14,878,691	20	0.177	288,595	1.98	0	China	Asia
Lahore	14,407,074	22	14,825,828	21	0.175	418,754	2.91	+1	Pakistan	Asia
Tianjin	14,470,873	21	14,704,080	22	0.176	233,207	1.61	-1	China	Asia
Bangalore	14,008,262	23	14,395,443	23	0.170	387,181	2.76	0	India	Asia
Rio de Janeiro	13,824,347	24	13,923,245	24	0.168	98,898	0.72	0	Brazil	South America
Shenzhen	13,311,855	25	13,545,445	25	0.162	233,590	1.75	0	China	Asia
Moskva (Moscow)	12,712,305	26	12,737,356	26	0.154	25,051	0.20	0	Russian Federation	Europe
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana	12,598,241	27	12,677,559	27	0.153	79,318	0.63	0	United States of America	North America
Chennai (Madras)	12,053,697	28	12,336,047	28	0.146	282,350	2.34	0	India	Asia
Bogotá	11,658,211	29	11,795,829	29	0.142	137,618	1.18	0	Colombia	South America
Jakarta	11,436,004	30	11,634,078	30	0.139	198,074	1.73	0	Indonesia	Asia
Lima	11,361,938	31	11,517,333	31	0.138	155,395	1.37	0	Peru	South America
Krung Thep (Bangkok)	11,233,869	33	11,391,704	32	0.136	157,835	1.40	+1	Thailand	Asia
Paris	11,276,701	32	11,346,802	33	0.137	70,101	0.62	-1	France	Europe
Hyderabad	11,068,877	34	11,337,852	34	0.134	268,975	2.43	0	India	Asia
Nanjing, Jiangsu	9,947,548	36	10,174,892	35	0.121	227,344	2.29	+1	China	Asia
Luanda	9,651,032	39	10,027,897	36	0.117	376,865	3.90	+3	Angola	Africa
Seoul	10,004,840	35	10,025,770	37	0.122	20,930	0.21	-2	Republic of Korea	Asia
Chengdu	9,828,110	37	9,998,869	38	0.119	170,759	1.74	-1	China	Asia
London	9,748,033	38	9,840,742	39	0.118	92,709	0.95	-1	United Kingdom	Europe
Thành Pho Ho Chí Minh (Ho Chi Minh City)	9,567,656	41	9,816,318	40	0.116	248,662	2.60	+1	Viet Nam	Asia
Tehran	9,616,007	40	9,729,742	41	0.117	113,735	1.18	-1	Iran (Islamic Republic of)	Asia
Chukyo M.M.A. (Nagoya)	9,556,879	42	9,534,788	42	0.116	-22,091	-0.23	0	Japan	Asia
Xi'an, Shaanxi	9,013,837	43	9,222,077	43	0.110	208,240	2.31	0	China	Asia
Ahmadabad	8,854,444	45	9,061,819	44	0.108	207,375	2.34	+1	India	Asia
Chicago	8,984,226	44	9,042,164	45	0.109	57,938	0.64	-1	United States of America	North America
Kuala Lumpur	8,815,630	47	9,000,280	46	0.107	184,650	2.09	+1	Malaysia	Asia
Wuhan	8,850,850	46	8,986,475	47	0.108	135,625	1.53	-1	China	Asia
Suzhou, Jiangsu	8,350,625	49	8,592,823	48	0.101	242,198	2.90	+1	China	Asia
Hangzhou	8,419,842	48	8,591,036	49	0.102	171,194	2.03	-1	China	Asia
Surat	8,330,528	50	8,581,733	50	0.101	251,205	3.02	0	India	Asia
Dar es Salaam	8,161,231	51	8,561,525	51	0.0991	400,294	4.90	0	United Republic of Tanzania	Africa
Baghdad	7,921,134	52	8,141,119	52	0.0962	219,985	2.78	0	Iraq	Asia
Shenyang	7,830,377	53	7,974,272	53	0.0951	143,895	1.84	0	China	Asia
Ar-Riyadh (Riyadh)	7,820,551	54	7,952,861	54	0.0950	132,310	1.69	0	Saudi Arabia	Asia
Foshan	7,704,935	56	7,817,155	55	0.0936	112,220	1.46	+1	China	Asia
Dongguan	7,675,146	57	7,772,861	56	0.0932	97,715	1.27	+1	China	Asia
Hong Kong	7,725,859	55	7,768,510	57	0.0939	42,651	0.55	-2	China, Hong Kong SAR	Asia
Pune (Poona)	7,345,848	58	7,525,717	58	0.0892	179,869	2.45	0	India	Asia
Haerbin	6,938,008	60	7,066,861	59	0.0843	128,853	1.86	+1	China	Asia
Santiago	6,950,952	59	6,999,457	60	0.0844	48,505	0.70	-1	Chile	South America
Houston	6,802,326	61	6,889,803	61	0.0826	87,477	1.29	0	United States of America	North America
Madrid	6,783,241	62	6,810,530	62	0.0824	27,289	0.40	0	Spain	Europe
Al-Khartum (Khartoum)	6,542,070	64	6,754,180	63	0.0795	212,110	3.24	+1	Sudan	Africa
Dallas-Fort Worth	6,655,311	63	6,732,052	64	0.0809	76,741	1.15	-1	United States of America	North America
Toronto	6,431,430	65	6,491,286	65	0.0781	59,856	0.93	0	Canada	North America
Johannesburg	6,324,351	66	6,444,575	66	0.0768	120,224	1.90	0	South Africa	Africa
Miami	6,317,249	67	6,371,936	67	0.0767	54,687	0.87	0	United States of America	North America
Belo Horizonte	6,300,409	68	6,351,683	68	0.0765	51,274	0.81	0	Brazil	South America
Dalian	6,217,487	69	6,347,379	69	0.0755	129,892	2.09	0	China	Asia
Atlanta	6,192,507	70	6,271,683	70	0.0752	79,176	1.28	0	United States of America	North America
Qingdao	6,104,597	72	6,217,968	71	0.0742	113,371	1.86	+1	China	Asia
Singapore	6,119,203	71	6,157,267	72	0.0743	38,064	0.62	-1	Singapore	Asia
Zhengzhou	6,014,887	73	6,156,135	73	0.0731	141,248	2.35	0	China	Asia
Ji'nan, Shandong	5,940,698	74	6,065,849	74	0.0722	125,151	2.11	0	China	Asia
Abidjan	5,866,704	75	6,056,877	75	0.0713	190,173	3.24	0	Côte d'Ivoire	Africa
Addis Ababa	5,703,628	79	5,956,679	76	0.0693	253,051	4.44	+3	Ethiopia	Africa
Philadelphia	5,820,617	76	5,861,465	77	0.0707	40,848	0.70	-1	United States of America	North America
Yangon	5,709,678	78	5,813,186	78	0.0694	103,508	1.81	0	Myanmar	Asia
Al-Iskandariyah (Alexandria)	5,696,131	80	5,807,051	79	0.0692	110,920	1.95	+1	Egypt	Africa
Nairobi	5,541,172	83	5,766,989	80	0.0673	225,817	4.08	+3	Kenya	Africa
Barcelona	5,711,917	77	5,733,247	81	0.0694	21,330	0.37	-4	Spain	Europe
Chittagong	5,513,609	84	5,653,493	82	0.0670	139,884	2.54	+2	Bangladesh	Asia
Hà Noi	5,431,801	88	5,602,202	83	0.0660	170,401	3.14	+5	Viet Nam	Asia
Washington, D.C.	5,545,186	82	5,599,833	84	0.0674	54,647	0.99	-2	United States of America	North America
Sankt Peterburg (Saint Petersburg)	5,581,707	81	5,597,339	85	0.0678	15,632	0.28	-4	Russian Federation	Europe
Guadalajara	5,499,678	85	5,578,582	86	0.0668	78,904	1.43	-1	Mexico	North America
Ankara	5,477,087	87	5,550,488	87	0.0665	73,401	1.34	0	Turkey	Asia
Kitakyushu-Fukuoka M.M.A.	5,478,076	86	5,465,918	88	0.0665	-12,158	-0.22	-2	Japan	Asia
Melbourne	5,315,600	89	5,391,886	89	0.0646	76,286	1.44	0	Australia	Oceania
Monterrey	5,195,355	90	5,272,358	90	0.0631	77,003	1.48	0	Mexico	North America
Sydney	5,184,896	91	5,248,788	91	0.0630	63,892	1.23	0	Australia	Oceania
Ürümqi (Wulumqi)	5,005,964	93	5,132,172	92	0.0608	126,208	2.52	+1	China	Asia
Changsha	5,027,975	92	5,128,273	93	0.0611	100,298	1.99	-1	China	Asia
Cape Town	4,977,833	94	5,063,583	94	0.0605	85,750	1.72	0	South Africa	Africa
Jiddah	4,943,210	95	5,021,605	95	0.0601	78,395	1.59	0	Saudi Arabia	Asia
Brasília	4,935,274	96	4,990,929	96	0.0600	55,655	1.13	0	Brazil	South America
Kunming	4,861,079	97	4,955,680	97	0.0591	94,601	1.95	0	China	Asia
Changchun	4,802,447	98	4,891,022	98	0.0583	88,575	1.84	0	China	Asia
Kabul	4,728,384	100	4,877,024	99	0.0574	148,640	3.14	+1	Afghanistan	Asia
Yaoundé	4,681,768	102	4,854,255	100	0.0569	172,487	3.68	+2	Cameroon	Africa