All cities with a population > 1000 or seats of adm div (ca 80.000)Sources and ContributionsSources : GeoNames is aggregating over hundred different data sources. Ambassadors : GeoNames Ambassadors help in many countries. Wiki : A wiki allows to view the data and quickly fix error and add missing places. Donations and Sponsoring : Costs for running GeoNames are covered by donations and sponsoring.Enrichment:add country name

The graph shows the proportion of population in cities worldwide from 1985 to 2050. 53.9 percent of the world's population lived in cities in the year of 2015. This percentage is forecasted to grow to 62.5 percent in the year 2050.

As of 2023, Tokyo-Yokohama in Japan was the largest world urban agglomeration, with 37,8 million people living there. Jakarta ranked second with 34 million, with Delhi in third with 32 million inhabitants.

In 2024, approximately 22.81 million people lived in the São Paulo metropolitan area, making it the biggest in Latin America and the Caribbean and the fifth most populated in the world. The homonymous state of São Paulo was also the most populous federal entity in the country. The second place for the region was Mexico City with 22.51 million inhabitants.

Brazil's cities

Brazil is home to two large metropolises, only counting the population within the city limits, São Paulo had approximately 12.4 million inhabitants, and Rio de Janeiro around 6.8 million inhabitants. It also contains a number of smaller, but well known cities such as Brasília, Salvador, Belo Horizonte and many others, which report between 2 and 3 million inhabitants each. As a result, the country's population is primarily urban, with nearly 85 percent of inhabitants living in cities.

Mexico City

Mexico City's metropolitan area ranks fifth in the ranking of most populated cities in the world. Founded over the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan in 1521 after the Spanish conquest as the capital of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, the city still stands as one of the most important in Latin America. Nevertheless, the preeminent economic, political, and cultural position of Mexico City has not prevented the metropolis from suffering the problems affecting the rest of the country, namely, inequality and violence. Only in 2021, the city registered a crime incidence of 45,336 reported cases for every 100,000 inhabitants and around 32 percent of the population lived under the poverty line.

This world cities layer presents the locations of many cities of the world, both major cities and many provincial capitals.Population estimates are provided for those cities listed in open source data from the United Nations and US Census.

A range of indicators for a selection of cities from the New York City Global City database.

Dataset includes the following:

Geography

City Area (km2)

Metro Area (km2)

People

City Population (millions)

Metro Population (millions)

Foreign Born

Annual Population Growth

Economy

GDP Per Capita (thousands $, PPP rates, per resident)

Primary Industry

Secondary Industry

Share of Global 500 Companies (%)

Unemployment Rate

Poverty Rate

Transportation

Public Transportation

Mass Transit Commuters

Major Airports

Major Ports

Education

Students Enrolled in Higher Education

Percent of Population with Higher Education (%)

Higher Education Institutions

Tourism

Total Tourists Annually (millions)

Foreign Tourists Annually (millions)

Domestic Tourists Annually (millions)

Annual Tourism Revenue ($US billions)

Hotel Rooms (thousands)

Health

Infant Mortality (Deaths per 1,000 Births)

Life Expectancy in Years (Male)

Life Expectancy in Years (Female)

Physicians per 100,000 People

Number of Hospitals

Anti-Smoking Legislation

Culture

Number of Museums

Number of Cultural and Arts Organizations

Environment

Green Spaces (km2)

Air Quality

Laws or Regulations to Improve Energy Efficiency

Retrofitted City Vehicle Fleet

Bike Share Program

Mexico MX: Population in Largest City data was reported at 21,500,251.000 Person in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 21,419,976.000 Person for 2016. Mexico MX: Population in Largest City data is updated yearly, averaging 15,225,498.500 Person from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 21,500,251.000 Person in 2017 and a record low of 5,479,184.000 Person in 1960. Mexico MX: Population in Largest City data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Mexico – Table MX.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population in largest city is the urban population living in the country's largest metropolitan area.; ; United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects.; ;

Hong Kong HK: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data was reported at 99.637 % in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 99.540 % for 2016. Hong Kong HK: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data is updated yearly, averaging 99.382 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 100.000 % in 2010 and a record low of 94.548 % in 1974. Hong Kong HK: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Hong Kong – Table HK.World Bank: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population in largest city is the percentage of a country's urban population living in that country's largest metropolitan area.; ; United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects.; Weighted average;

Central African Republic CF: Population in Largest City data was reported at 958,335.000 Person in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 933,176.000 Person for 2022. Central African Republic CF: Population in Largest City data is updated yearly, averaging 482,169.500 Person from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2023, with 64 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 958,335.000 Person in 2023 and a record low of 94,350.000 Person in 1960. Central African Republic CF: Population in Largest City data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Central African Republic – Table CF.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population in largest city is the urban population living in the country's largest metropolitan area.;United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects.;;

Sweden SE: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data was reported at 17.703 % in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 17.683 % for 2016. Sweden SE: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data is updated yearly, averaging 15.683 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 17.703 % in 2017 and a record low of 14.346 % in 1981. Sweden SE: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Sweden – Table SE.World Bank: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population in largest city is the percentage of a country's urban population living in that country's largest metropolitan area.; ; United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects.; Weighted average;

Mogadishu in Somalia led the ranking of cities with the highest population density in 2023, with 33,244 residents per square kilometer. When it comes to countries, Monaco is the most populated state worldwide.

Large cities in different countries, ranked by population.

This statistic shows the top 25 cities in the United States with the highest resident population as of July 1, 2022. There were about 8.34 million people living in New York City as of July 2022.

Syria SY: Population in Largest City data was reported at 2,286,820.000 Person in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 2,254,557.000 Person for 2016. Syria SY: Population in Largest City data is updated yearly, averaging 1,646,222.500 Person from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 3,078,498.000 Person in 2010 and a record low of 580,464.000 Person in 1960. Syria SY: Population in Largest City data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Syrian Arab Republic – Table SY.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population in largest city is the urban population living in the country's largest metropolitan area.; ; United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects.; ;

Georgia GE: Population in Largest City data was reported at 1,077,597.000 Person in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 1,077,861.000 Person for 2016. Georgia GE: Population in Largest City data is updated yearly, averaging 1,079,842.000 Person from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1,236,979.000 Person in 1989 and a record low of 717,766.000 Person in 1960. Georgia GE: Population in Largest City data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Georgia – Table GE.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population in largest city is the urban population living in the country's largest metropolitan area.; ; United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects.; ;

The "Major Cities" layer is derived from the "World Cities" dataset provided by ArcGIS Data and Maps group as part of the global data layers made available for public use.

"Major cities" layer specifically contains National and Provincial capitals that have the highest population within their respective country. Cities were filtered based on the STATUS (“National capital”, “National and provincial capital”, “Provincial capital”, “National capital and provincial capital enclave”, and “Other”). Majority of these cities within larger countries have been filtered at the highest levels of POP_CLASS (“5,000,000 and greater” and “1,000,000 to 4,999,999”). However, China for example, was filtered with cities over 11 million people due to many highly populated cities. Population approximations are sourced from US Census and UN Data.

Disclaimer: The designations employed and the presentation of material at this site do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

Data publication: 2021-03-12

Citation:

Credits: ESRI, CIA World Factbook, GMI, NIMA, UN Data, UN Habitat, US Census Bureau

Contact points:

Resource Contact: ESRI - ArcGIS Data and Maps

Metadata Contact: Justeen De Ocampo

Resource constraints:

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO (CC BY-NC- SA 3.0 IGO)

Online resources:

World Cities layer from ArcGIS Data & Maps

ArcGIS Data and Maps group background and available datasets.

Thailand TH: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data was reported at 29.142 % in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 28.917 % for 2016. Thailand TH: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data is updated yearly, averaging 35.514 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 40.429 % in 1969 and a record low of 28.054 % in 2010. Thailand TH: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Thailand – Table TH.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population in largest city is the percentage of a country's urban population living in that country's largest metropolitan area.; ; United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects.; Weighted average;

Between 1500 and 1800, London grew to be the largest city in Western Europe, with its population growing almost 22 times larger in this period. London would eventually overtake Constantinople as Europe's largest in the 1700s, before becoming the largest city in the world (ahead of Beijing) in the early-1800s.

The most populous cities in this period were the capitals of European empires, with Paris, Amsterdam, and Vienna growing to become the largest cities, alongside the likes of Lisbon and Madrid in Iberia, and Naples or Venice in Italy. Many of northwestern Europe's largest cities in 1500 would eventually be overtaken by others not shown here, such as the port cities of Hamburg, Marseilles or Rotterdam, or more industrial cities such as Berlin, Birmingham, and Munich.

The Historical Urban Population, 3700 BC - AD 2000, originally developed by the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, is the first spatially explicit global data set containing location and size of urban populations over the last 6,000 years. The data set was created by digitizing, transcribing, and geocoding historical, archaeological, and census-based urban population data. Each data point consists of a city name, latitude, longitude, year, population, and a reliability ranking to assess the geographic uncertainty of each data point. Despite spatial and temporal gaps, no other geocoded data set at this resolution exists. It can therefore be used to investigate long-term historical urbanization trends and patterns, evaluate the current era of urbanization, and build a richer record of urban population through history.

Census data reveals that population density varies noticeably from area to area. Small area census data do a better job depicting where the crowded neighborhoods are. In this map, the yellow areas of highest density range from 30,000 to 150,000 persons per square kilometer. In those areas, if the people were spread out evenly across the area, there would be just 4 to 9 meters between them. Very high density areas exceed 7,000 persons per square kilometer. High density areas exceed 5,200 persons per square kilometer. The last categories break at 3,330 persons per square kilometer, and 1,500 persons per square kilometer.This dataset is comprised of multiple sources. All of the demographic data are from Michael Bauer Research with the exception of the following countries:Australia: Esri Australia and MapData ServicesCanada: Esri Canada and EnvironicsFrance: Esri FranceGermany: Esri Germany and NexigaIndia: Esri India and IndicusJapan: Esri JapanSouth Korea: Esri Korea and OPENmateSpain: Esri España and AISUnited States: Esri Demographics