This page lists the 101 largest metropolitan areas of the world by population. This is a controversial issue rather difficult to quantify. These figures include suburban areas immediately surrounding a major city and sometimes multiple major cities which may be close enough together to function essentially as one area (e.g. Washington-Baltimore).

Figures are all rounded to the nearest 10,000, as these can only be rough estimates based on population changes and rates.

Rank	Metropolitan area name	Country	Population estimate
1	Tokyo-Yokohama-Kawasaki-Chiba (Greater Tokyo Area)	Japan	33,750,000
2	São Paulo-Guarulhos-Santo André-Osasco	Brazil	22,700,000
3	Mexico City-Nezahualcóyotl-Ecatepec-Naucalpan	Mexico	22,150,000
4	Seoul-Incheon-Bucheon-Goyang-Seongnam-Suweon (Capital Metropolitan Area)	South Korea	22,000,000
5	New York City, New York-Newark, New Jersey-Paterson, New Jersey (New York Metropolitan Area)	United States	21,750,000
6	Mumbai-Navi Mumbai-Kalyan-Thane-Ulhasnagar, Maharashtra (Brihanmumbai/Greater Mumbai )	India	18,800,000
7	Delhi, National Capital Territory-Faridabad, Haryana, Gurgaon, Haryana-Ghaziabad , Uttar Pradesh-Noida, Uttar Pradesh	India	18,100,000
8	Los Angeles-Riverside-Anaheim (Southern California)	California, United States	16,710,000
9	Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto (Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto or Keihanshin)	Japan	16,570,000
10	Jakarta-Bekasi -Bogor-Depok-Tangerang (Daerah Jabotabek/Jabotabek Area)	Indonesia	16,400,000
11	Moscow	Russia	15,350,000
12	Tehran-Karaj	Iran	15,300,000
13	Greater Cairo, Al Qahirah-Al Jizah-Al Qalyubiyah Governorates	the Arab Republic of Egypt	15,200,000
14	Kolkata-Howrah, West Bengal	India	14,950,000
15	Manila-Caloocan City-Quezon City	Philippines (Metro Manila)	14,000,000
16	London (London commuter belt)	United Kingdom	13,900,000
17	Buenos Aires-San Justo -La Plata	Argentina	13,900,000
18	Karachi, Sindh	Pakistan	13,100,000
19	Shanghai Municipality	People's Republic of China	12,500,000
20	Busan-Ulsan-Changwon-Koje-Pohang-Gimhae (Southeastern Maritime Industrial Region)	South Korea	12,250,000
21	Rio De Janeiro-Nova Iguaçu-São Gonçalo -Niterói	Brazil	12,150,000
22	Dhaka	Bangladesh	12,050,000
23	Paris, Ile-de-France	France	11,200,000
24	Istanbul	Turkey	10,900,000
25	Beijing Municipality	People's Republic of China	9,800,000
26	Chicago, Illinois-Gary, Indiana-Kenosha, Wisconsin (Chicagoland)	United States	9,800,000
27	Lagos	Nigeria	9,600,000
28	Hong Kong Special Administrative Region-Shenzhen, Guangdong	People's Republic of China	8,600,000
29	Lima-Callao (Lima and Callao Metropolitan Area)	Peru	8,535,000
30	Bogotá	Colombia	8,000,000
31	Johannesburg-Soweto-East Rand-West Rand (Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Area)	South Africa	7,900,000
32	Washington, DC-Baltimore, Maryland (Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area)	United States	7,700,000
33	Bangkok-Samut Prakarn-Nonthaburi-Pathum Thani	Thailand	7,650,000
34	Chongqing Municipality	People's Republic of China	7,650,000
35	Chennai-Tambaram-Avadi-Manali, Tamil Nadu	India	7,300,000
36	San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, California (San Francisco Bay Area)	United States	7,150,000
37	Kinshasa	Democratic Republic of the Congo	6,950,000
38	Lahore, Punjab	Pakistan	6,950,000
39	Hyderabad-Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh	India	6,833,000
40	Taipei-Keelung (Taipei-Keelung metropolitan area)	Taiwan, Republic of China	6,800,000
41	Toronto-Hamilton, Ontario (Golden Horseshoe)	Canada	6,700,000
42	Bangalore, Karnataka	India	6,650,000
43	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Delaware Valley)	United States	5,950,000
44	Saint Petersburg	Russia	5,850,000
45	Tianjin Municipality	People's Republic of China	5,580,000
46	Detroit, Michigan-Windsor, Ontario (Metro Detroit)	United States,Canada	5,800,000
47	Boston, Massachusetts, (Greater Boston)	United States	5,700,000
48	Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, (Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex)	United States	5,700,000
49	Madrid	Spain	5,600,000
50	Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Florida (South Florida)	United States	5,400,000
51	Khartoum	Sudan	5,350,000
52	Belo Horizonte	Brazil	5,300,000
53	Ahmedabad, Gujarat	India	5,250,000
54	Santiago	Chile	5,250,000
55	Essen-Duisburg- Bochum-Dortmund (Ruhr area)	Germany	5,200,000
56	Baghdad	Iraq	5,200,000
57	Houston-Conroe-Galveston, Texas (Houston Metropolitan Area)	United States	5,150,000
58	Riyadh	Saudi Arabia	5,150,000
59	Nagoya	Japan	5,130,000
60	Alexandria, Al Iskandariyah Governorate	Arab Republic of Egypt	5,050,000
61	Atlanta, Georgia (Atlanta Metropolitan Area)	United States	4,850,000
62	Yangon	Myanmar	4,850,000
63	Guangzhou, Guangdong	People's Republic of China	4,800,000
64	Wuhan, Hubei	People's Republic of China	4,800,000
65	Harbin, Heilongjiang	People's Republic of China	4,550,000
66	Caracas	Venezuela	4,500,000
67	Shenyang, Liaoning	People's Republic of China	4,450,000
68	Singapore City	Singapore	4,400,000
69	Ho Chi Minh City	Vietnam	4,450,000
70	Pune-Pimpri-Chinchwad, Maharashtra	India	4,250,000
71	Algiers	Algeria	4,200,000
72	Guadalajara-Zapopan	Mexico	4,200,000
73	Sydney, New South Wales	Australia	4,200,000
74	Berlin	Germany	4,150,000
75	Abidjan	Côte d'Ivoire	4,050,000
76	Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	4,050,000
77	Porto Alegre	Brazil	3,950,000
78	Chittacong	Bangladesh	3,900,000
79	Casablanca	Morocco	3,850,000
80	Barcelona	Spain	3,800,000
81	Milan	Italy	3,800,000
82	Monterrey	Mexico	3,800,000
83	Chengdu, Sichuan	People's Republic of China	3,750,000
84	Kyiv	Ukraine	3,750,000
85	Recife	Brazil	3,750,000
86	Jeddah	Saudi Arabia	3,650,000
87	Phoenix, Arizona (Valley of the Sun)	United States	3,650,000
88	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Washington (Greater Puget Sound)	United States	3,650,000
89	Ankara	Turkey	3,600,000
90	Montreal-Laval, Quebec	Canada	3,600,000
91	Pyongyang	North Korea	3,600,000
92	Medellín	Colombia	3,550,000
93	Melbourne, Victoria	Australia	3,550,000
94	Athens	Greece	3,500,000
95	Salvador	Brazil	3,400,000
96	Brasília	Brazil	3,500,000
97	Surat, Gujarat	India	3,500,000
98	Izmir	Turkey	3,370,000
99	Fortaleza	Brazil	3,300,000
100	Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota (Twin Cities area)	United States	3,300,000
101	Rome	Italy	3,300,000

See also

• Largest European metropolitan areas by population
• List of the largest urban areas of the European Union by population
• Largest Cities of the European Union by population
• United States metropolitan area
• Megacity
• list of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in Canada
• List of the 20 largest metropolitan areas of Italy
• List of the 15 largest metropolitan areas of France
• List of the 20 largest metropolitan areas of Spain
• List of the 100 largest Brazilian cities and 14 metropolitan areas by population
• Largest metropolitan areas in the Americas

Sources

• Citypopulation.de Largest Agglomerations
• US Census Bureau: Population Estimates for Metropolitan Areas and Components
• WorldAtlas.com: Top 100 Cities of the World - ranked by population

Other lists of metropolitan areas

• PopulationData.net: all 1M+ unhabitants Metropolitan areas
• Demographia.com: 50 Largest World Metropolitan Areas
• Citypopulation.de: The Principal Agglomerations of the World

Further reading

• Largest Cities Through History