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.

As of 2024, Mumbai had a gross domestic product of *** billion U.S. dollars, the highest among other major cities in India. It was followed by Delhi with a GDP of around *** 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.

Population in largest city in India was reported at 33807403 in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. India - Population in largest city - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on June of 2025.

As of September 2024, Mumbai had the highest cost of living among other cities in the country, with an index value of ****. Gurgaon, a satellite city of Delhi and part of the National Capital Region (NCR) followed it with an index value of ****.  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.

The datasets contains date- and state-wise historically compiled data on air quality (by pollution level) in rural and urban areas of India from the year 2015 , as measured by Central Pollution Board (CPCB) through its daily (24 hourly measurements, taken at 4 PM everyday) Air Quality Index (AQI) reports.

The CPCB measures air quality by continuous online monitoring of various pollutants such as Particulate Matter10 (PM10), Particulate Matter2.5 (PM2.5), Sulphur Dioxide (SO2), Nitrogen Oxide or Oxides of Nitrogen (NO2), Ozone (O3), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Ammonic (NH3) and Lead (Pb) and calculating their level of pollution in the ambient air. Based on the each pollutant load in the air and their associated health impacts, the CPCB calculates the overall Air Pollution in Air Quality Index (AQI) value and publishes the data. This AQI data is then used by CPCB to report the air quality status i.e good, satisfactory, moderate, poor, very poor and severe, etc. of a particular location and their related health impacts because of air pollution.

Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the Mumbai, India metro area from 1950 to 2025.

As of September 2024, Pune was the leading Indian city in local purchasing power among other Indian cities, with an index score of over ***. It was followed by Gurgaon and Hyderabad. The local purchasing power index depicts the relative purchasing power of goods and services in a city for the average net salary in that city.

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 **** out of 100. They were followed by Chennai (****), Ahmedabad (****), and Bengaluru (****). 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 ** to ** then “livability is substantially constrained”. Less than ** 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.

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.

India's capital city, Delhi had the highest registered two-wheeler count at the end of fiscal year 2020 amounting to approximately 7.9 million. There were over 298 million registered vehicles in the country that year. The transport sector across the south Asian country employed around 1.37 million people and ranked the third in terms of employment, after textiles and apparel, and food processing.

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 ** percent, totaling to nearly *** 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.

In 2024, the average monthly salary was **** thousand Indian rupees in Mumbai city of India. The average monthly salary in the capital city of Delhi was around **** thousand Indian rupees. In comparison, the average monthly salary was over ** thousand Indian rupees in Madurai during the same year.

According to a survey conducted in India between 2020 and 2021, ** 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.

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.

As per the results of a survey about the number of colleges across India in academic year 2022, the urban district of the southern city of Bengaluru had ***** colleges. Rajasthan's capital Jaipur followed with ***, while Hyderabad, the capital of Telangana ranked third during the survey period.

As of 2025, Tokyo-Yokohama in Japan was the largest world urban agglomeration, with 37 million people living there. Delhi ranked second with more than 34 million, with Shanghai in third with more than 30 million inhabitants.

In 2021, the south Indian city Chennai with average internet speed of 51.07 Mbps ranked the first among cities in India. It was followed by Bengaluru and Hyderabad, both with internet speed around 42 Mbps. Internet access speed has a crucial influence on the colocation of data center in the country.

In the first half of 2024, the existing stock for warehousing in the Mumbai in India accounted for around **** million square meters. It ranks the top among major Indian cities. The Indian warehousing stock was at **** million square meters during the same period.

In 2022, the union territory of Delhi had the highest urban population density of over 18 thousand persons per square kilometer. While the rural population density was highest in union territory of Puducherry, followed by the state of Bihar.

The market share of food service industry was estimated to be about ** percent in 2025 across metro cities in India. The market size of the Indian food service industry was estimated to be *** billion U.S. dollars that year.