Delhi was the largest city in terms of number of inhabitants in India in 2023.The capital city was estimated to house nearly 33 million people, with Mumbai ranking second that year. India's population estimate was 1.4 billion, ahead of China that same year.

In 2021, Delhi had the highest metro coverage among major metropolitan cities in India with 12 operational kilometers per one million people. At the same time, Mumbai had the lowest coverage with only 0.5 operational kilometers per one million people. Poor public transportation in many Indian cities was responsible for traffic congestion and air pollution.

As of 2024, Mumbai had a gross domestic product of 368 billion U.S. dollars, the highest among other major cities in India. It was followed by Delhi with a GDP of around 167 billion U.S. dollars. India’s megacities also boast the highest GDP among other cities in the country. What drives the GDP of India’s megacities? Mumbai is the financial capital of the country, and its GDP growth is primarily fueled by the financial services sector, port-based trade, and the Hindi film industry or Bollywood. Delhi in addition to being the political hub hosts a significant services sector. The satellite cities of Noida and Gurugram amplify the city's economic status. The southern cities of Bengaluru and Chennai have emerged as IT and manufacturing hubs respectively. Hyderabad is a significant player in the pharma and IT industries. Lastly, the western city of Ahmedabad, in addition to its strategic location and ports, is powered by the textile, chemicals, and machinery sectors. Does GDP equal to quality of life? Cities propelling economic growth and generating a major share of GDP is a global phenomenon, as in the case of Tokyo, Shanghai, New York, and others. However, the GDP, which measures the market value of all final goods and services produced in a region, does not always translate to a rise in quality of life. Five of India’s megacities featured in the Global Livability Index, with low ranks among global peers. The Index was based on indicators such as healthcare, political stability, environment and culture, infrastructure, and others.

The demand for commercial real estate space in top seven cities in India stood at 38 million square feet as of 2023. It was the same as previous year.

The population in New Delhi was approximately 28.5 million, the most among the leading Indian cities in 2019. Mumbai and Kolkata rounded up the three most populated cities across the country that year.

As of September 2024, Mumbai had the highest cost of living among other cities in the country, with an index value of 26.5. Gurgaon, a satellite city of Delhi and part of the National Capital Region (NCR) followed it with an index value of 25.1.  What is cost of living? The cost of living varies depending on geographical regions and factors that affect the cost of living in an area include housing, food, utilities, clothing, childcare, and fuel among others. The cost of living is calculated based on different measures such as the consumer price index (CPI), living cost indexes, and wage price index. CPI refers to the change in the value of consumer goods and services. The wage price index, on the other hand, measures the change in labor services prices due to market pressures. Lastly, the living cost indexes calculate the impact of changing costs on different households. The relationship between wages and costs determines affordability and shifts in the cost of living. Mumbai tops the list Mumbai usually tops the list of most expensive cities in India. As the financial and entertainment hub of the country, Mumbai offers wide opportunities and attracts talent from all over the country. It is the second-largest city in India and has one of the most expensive real estates in the world.

Byrnihat was the most polluted city in India in 2024, with an average PM2.5 concentration of nearly 130 micrograms per cubic meter of air (μg/m³). This high level of pollution made the small industrial town on the Assam Meghalaya border the most polluted cities worldwide in 2024. Poor air quality across India India was the fifth-most polluted country in the world in 2024, with an average PM2.5 concentration of 50.6 μg/m³. That same year, the country's capital New Delhi was also the most polluted capital city in the world. Vehicle exhaust and wood burning are some of the main sources of particulate air pollution in India, together with soil, road and construction dust . Impacts of air pollution in India The severe air pollution in India can have detrimental health impacts on the country's population. Fine particle pollutants penetrate deeply in the lungs, causing respiratory problems and can even result in premature death. More than two million deaths are attibuted to air pollution in India every year.

This statistic illustrates the consumption expenditure per capita across the largest cities in India in 2015. The nation capital region, Delhi, had a per capita consumer expenditure of approximately 138,000 Indian rupees. Bangalore had the highest per capita consumption expenditure during the measured time period.

The global per capita expenditure on apparel in 2015 and 2025, broken down by region, can be found here.

According to a survey conducted in India between 2020 and 2021, 27 percent of the urban online shoppers were from metro regions of the south Asian country in 2021. However, lower-tier cities such as tier two, three, and four were estimated to form the major share of urban online shoppers by 2030.

As per the Global Liveability Index of 2024, five Indian cities figured on the list comprising 173 across the world. Indian megacities Delhi and Mumbai tied for 141st place with a score of 60.2 out of 100. They were followed by Chennai (59.9), Ahmedabad (58.9), and Bengaluru (58.7). What are indicators for livability The list was topped by Vienna for yet another year. The index measures cities on five broad indicators such as stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure. As per the Economic Intelligence Unit’s suggestions, if a city’s livability score is between 50 to 60 then “livability is substantially constrained”. Less than 50 means most aspects of living are severely restricted. Least Liveable cities on the index The least liveable cities were in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa regions. Damascus and Tripoli ranked the lowest. Tel Aviv also witnessed significant drop due to war with Hamas.

This statistic displays the total consumption expenditure across the largest cities in India in 2015. Bengaluru had the lowest consumer expenditure in this list during that time period with approximately 3,500 billion Indian rupees.

The household final consumption expenditure in 2014, by country in the Asia Pacific region can be found here.

In 2022, the Indian capital city of Delhi had the highest length of roads amongst metropolitan cities, at over 33 thousand kilometers. It was followed distantly by Kolkata with just over four thousand kilometers. The total number of vehicles registered in Delhi at the end of that year was over eight million.

In 2023, approximately a third of the total population in India lived in cities. The trend shows an increase of urbanization by more than 4 percent in the last decade, meaning people have moved away from rural areas to find work and make a living in the cities. Leaving the fieldOver the last decade, urbanization in India has increased by almost 4 percent, as more and more people leave the agricultural sector to find work in services. Agriculture plays a significant role in the Indian economy and it employs almost half of India’s workforce today, however, its contribution to India’s GDP has been decreasing while the services sector gained in importance. No rural exodus in sightWhile urbanization is increasing as more jobs in telecommunications and IT are created and the private sector gains in importance, India is not facing a shortage of agricultural workers or a mass exodus to the cities yet. India is a very densely populated country with vast areas of arable land – over 155 million hectares of land was cultivated land in India as of 2015, for example, and textiles, especially cotton, are still one of the major exports. So while a shift of the workforce focus is obviously taking place, India is not struggling to fulfill trade demands yet.

In financial year 2023, the south-western state of Goa had the most expensive average daily rate (ADR) for hotel rooms at over 10 thousand Indian rupees. On the other hand, Pune had the lowest average daily rate of about 5500 Indian rupees.

As per the Census data dated 2011, the slum dwellers population in Mumbai was the highest among all other major metropolitan cities of India, at around five million. Hyderabad and Delhi followed it. A total of about 65 million people were estimated to be living in slums across the country.

Japan’s largest city, greater Tokyo, had a staggering 37.27 million inhabitants in 2022, making it the most populous city across the Asia-Pacific region. India had the second largest city after Japan with a population consisting of approximately 32 million inhabitants. Contrastingly, approximately 400 thousand inhabitants populated Papua New Guinea's largest city in 2022.

A megacity region Not only did Japan and India have the largest cities throughout the Asia-Pacific region but they were among the three most populated cities worldwide in 2023. Interestingly, over half on the world’s megacities were situated in the Asia-Pacific region. However, being home to more than half of the world’s population, it does not seem surprising that by 2025 it is expected that more than two thirds of the megacities across the globe will be located in the Asia Pacific region. Other megacities are also expected to emerge within the Asia-Pacific region throughout the next decade. There have even been suggestions that Indonesia’s Jakarta and its conurbation will overtake Greater Tokyo in terms of population size by 2030.

Increasing populations Increased populations in megacities can be down to increased economic activity. As more countries across the Asia-Pacific region have made the transition from agriculture to industry, the population has adjusted accordingly. Thus, more regions have experienced higher shares of urban populations. However, as many cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Seoul have an aging population, this may have an impact on their future population sizes, with these Asian regions estimated to have significant shares of the population being over 65 years old by 2035.

This statistic represents the share of radio listeners in the metropolitan cities in India in 2015, with a breakdown by gender of listeners. The city of Delhi had 44 percent male listeners and 56 percent female listeners that year.

Organized retail occupied a total space of 23.7 million square feet in India's capital Delhi in 2019. Delhi was therewith far ahead of other major cities such as Kolkata. Organized retail occupies a comparable small space as the majority of India's retail trade takes place in unorganized, so called kirana stores.

According to a survey conducted on social media usage across India in October and November 2020, tier 1cities had the highest share of active Facebook users, while tier 3 reported the lowest share. The average across tier 1, 2 and 3 cities was 78 percent during the survey period. According to the source, active users referred to respondents who spent at least half an hour daily on the social media platform.

Mumbai and Delhi-NCR had the highest retail consumption across India as of July 2020. Both cities together accounted for a consumption share of about 12 percent, totaling to nearly 200 billion U.S. dollars. Most of the retail stores were affected during the various phases of the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown across the country in 2020.