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List of metropolitan areas by population

One concept which measures the world's largest cities is that of the metropolitan area, which is based on the concept of a labor market area and is typically defined as an employment core (an area with a high density of available jobs) and the surrounding areas that have strong commuting ties to the core. There is currently no generally accepted, globally consistent definition of exactly what constitutes a metropolitan area, thus making comparisons between cities in different countries especially difficult. However, for consistency, the sources on this article include official figures from governments only.
As an alternative to the metropolitan area, Eurostat introduced the concept of the Larger Urban Zone in 2004.[1] Similarly, OECD defines Functional Urban Areas for cities in OECD countries.[2] Both Larger Urban Zone and Functional Urban Area define a city as an urban core surrounded by a commuting zone, and so are similar to the general concept of the "metropolitan area". Eurostat only computes Larger Urban Zone populations for European Union member states, candidate members, and European Free Trade Area members. OECD computes Functional Urban Area populations for OECD member states. These two statistics are therefore not available for most developing countries.
Population tables
of world cities
Tokyo skyline

List

Note: Due to a lack of accurate governmental data, this list is incomplete.
RankMetropolitanCountryOfficial populationYear
1Tokyo Japan37,832,892[3]2016
2Shanghai China34,000,000[4]2010
3Jakarta Indonesia31,689,592[5]2015
4Seoul South Korea25,514,000[6]2016
5Guangzhou China25,000,000[4]2010
6Beijing China24,900,000[4]2010
7Karachi Pakistan27,500,000[7]2016
8New York City United States23,723,696[8]2015
9Shenzhen China23,300,000[4]2010
10New Delhi India26,454,000[9]2016
11Mexico City Mexico21,339,781[10]2015
12São Paulo Brazil21,242,939[11]2016
13Lagos Nigeria21,000,000[12]2014
14Mumbai India20,748,395[9]2011
15Osaka Japan19,342,000[3]2010
16Moscow Russia19,000,0002016
16Wuhan China19,000,000[4]2010
18Chengdu China18,100,000[4]2010
19Dhaka Bangladesh17,151,925[13]2011
20Chongqing China17,000,000[4]2010
21Tianjin China15,400,000[4]2010
22Istanbul Turkey14,804,116[14]2016
23Kolkata India14,617,882[9]2011
24Tehran Iran14,595,904[15]2011
25Los Angeles United States14,237,873[8]2015
26London United Kingdom13,879,757[16]2015
27Hangzhou China13,400,000[4]2010
28Buenos Aires Argentina13,074,000[17]2010
29Xi'an China12,900,000[4]2010
30Manila Philippines12,877,253[18]2015
31Paris France12,405,426[19]2013
32Changzhou China12,400,000[4]2010
33Rio de Janeiro Brazil12,330,186[11]2016
34Shantou China12,000,000[4]2010
35Nanjing China11,700,000[4]2010
36Rhine-Ruhr Germany11,470,000[20]2012
37Jinan China11,000,000[4]2010
38Chennai India10,576,167[21]2011
39Harbin China10,500,000[4]2010
40Lahore Pakistan10,052,000[22]2010
41Lima Peru9,886,647[23]2015
42Zhengzhou China9,700,000[4]2010
43Qingdao China9,600,000[4]2010
44Chicago United States9,554,598[8]2014
45Bogotá Colombia9,286,225[24]2015
46Nagoya Japan9,107,000[3]2010
47Bengaluru India8,917,749[9]2011
48Bangkok Thailand8,305,218[25]2010
49Busan South Korea8,202,2392014
50Hyderabad India7,749,334[9]2011
51Riyadh Saudi Arabia7,739,570[26]2016
52Shenyang China7,700,000[4]2010
53Wenzhou China7,600,000[4]2010
54Nanchang China7,400,000[4]2010
55Yangon Myanmar7,360,703[27]2014
56Hong Kong Hong Kong, China7,298,600[28]2015
57Amsterdam Netherlands7,100,000[citation needed]2016
58Taipei Taiwan7,045,488[29]2013
59Dallas–Fort Worth United States6,954,330[8]2014
60Santiago Chile6,683,852[30]2012
61Luanda Angola6,542,944[31]2014
62Houston United States6,490,180[8]2014
63Toronto Canada6,417,516[32]2016
64Madrid Spain6,378,297[16]2014
65Ahmedabad India6,352,254[9]2011
66Washington, D.C. United States6,097,684[8]2015
67Philadelphia United States6,069,875[8]2015
68Berlin Germany6,004,857[16]2015
69Miami United States5,929,819[8]2014
70Belo Horizonte Brazil5,873,841[11]2016
71Atlanta United States5,614,323[8]2014
72Singapore Singapore5,535,000[33]2015
73Barcelona Spain5,445,616[16]2014
74Ankara Turkey5,346,518[14]2016
75Caracas Venezuela5,322,310[34][35]2015
76Dubai United Arab Emirates5,300,000[36]2015
77Munich Germany5,203,738[37]2014
78Stuttgart Germany5,200,000[38]2013
79Hamburg Germany5,100,000[39]2012
80Pune India5,049,968[9]2011
81Sydney Australia5,000,500[40]2016
82Guadalajara Mexico4,796,050[10]2015
83Boston United States4,732,161[8]2014
84Melbourne Australia4,650,000[40]2016
85San Francisco United States4,594,060[8]2014
86Surat India4,585,367[9]2011
87Phoenix United States4,489,109[8]2014
88Monterrey Mexico4,477,614[10]2015
89Inland Empire[Note 1] United States4,441,890[8]2014
90Milan Italy4,321,244[16]2014
91Detroit United States4,296,611[8]2014
92Rome Italy4,267,946[16]2014

Notes

  1. Jump up^ Los Angeles is sometimes combined with the Inland Empire in what is known as the Greater Los Angeles Area, with a combined population of 18 million inhabitants.

See also

Lists of metropolitan areas by region

Lists of metropolitan areas by country or region

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