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Market research · Urban population

World's largest cities

Rankings for the top 100 megacities from 1950 through 2100. Historical estimates through 2020; projections in five-year steps after that.

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2020

Historical estimate

Cities tracked
100
Top-100 definition in source
#1 in 2020
Jakarta
39.1M · Indonesia
Projected #1 in 2050
Dhaka
52.1M · Bangladesh
Fastest rise 2020→2050
Luanda
+108%

Cities

100 ranked

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Showing the first 50. The table below has the full list.

#1 megacity in 2020

Jakarta

Historical estimate figures for 2020: Jakarta (Indonesia) ranks #1 among the top 100 cities with 39.1M people. From 2020 to 2050 the source projects +33% growth.

Population

39.1M

Country / area

Indonesia

Data type

Historical

Population trajectory · Jakarta

Estimates through 2020; later years use projected values from the source series.

Top 15 megacities · 2020

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Compare trajectories

All cities, historical estimate 2020

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#CityCountry / areaPopulation
1JakartaIndonesia39,069,170
2TokyoJapan33,698,876
3DhakaBangladesh32,635,930
4New DelhiIndia29,101,252
5ShanghaiChina27,654,480
6GuangzhouChina26,508,282
7ManilaPhilippines24,013,676
8CairoEgypt24,002,054
9SeoulSouth Korea22,235,496
10KolkataIndia22,048,672
11KarachiPakistan19,340,628
12MumbaiIndia19,327,768
13Sao PauloBrazil18,801,950
14Mexico CityMexico17,610,488
15BangkokThailand17,250,108
16BeijingChina16,484,278
17IstanbulTurkey14,609,817
18MoscowRussia14,268,411
19New York CityUnited States14,048,071
20LahorePakistan14,024,855
21Buenos AiresArgentina13,941,208
22OsakaJapan13,456,617
23ShenzhenChina13,433,855
24Ho Chi Minh CityVietnam13,096,660
25BengaluruIndia12,905,733
26Los AngelesUnited States12,491,491
27LagosNigeria12,012,080
28ChennaiIndia10,919,927
29KinshasaDemocratic Republic of Congo10,453,545
30LimaPeru10,036,608
31LondonUnited Kingdom9,991,400
32BogotaColombia9,935,155
33LuandaAngola9,775,496
34Rio de JaneiroBrazil9,417,822
35ParisFrance9,346,461
36TaipeiTaiwan9,233,776
37HajipurIndia9,070,088
38HyderabadIndia9,013,199
39TehranIran8,889,152
40BandungIndonesia8,536,016
41Kuala LumpurMalaysia7,863,029
42SuzhouChina7,615,260
43WuhanChina7,558,701
44AhmedabadIndia7,466,781
45NagoyaJapan7,282,019
46ChongqingChina7,205,526
47TianjinChina7,042,295
48AlexandriaEgypt6,870,514
49HangzhouChina6,863,540
50SurabayaIndonesia6,860,695
51Dar es SalaamTanzania6,851,005
52NanjingChina6,794,097
53SuratIndia6,594,406
54SantiagoChile6,567,054
55PuneIndia6,557,992
56JohannesburgSouth Africa6,518,727
57KhartoumSudan6,426,647
58RiyadhSaudi Arabia6,293,552
59ChengduChina6,269,015
60ChaozhouChina6,167,908
61AmmanJordan6,156,049
62BaghdadIraq6,133,555
63AbidjanCôte d'Ivoire6,063,951
64Addis AbabaEthiopia5,908,519
65KozhikodeIndia5,869,528
66ShenyangChina5,782,759
67NairobiKenya5,592,421
68MadridSpain5,489,079
69YangonMyanmar5,423,225
70Xi'anChina5,275,230
71TorontoCanada5,243,724
72KabulAfghanistan5,228,980
73AccraGhana5,206,925
74FaisalabadPakistan5,206,086
75MashhadIran5,199,412
76HanoiVietnam5,057,731
77ColomboSri Lanka4,963,986
78OnitshaNigeria4,959,680
79ZhengzhouChina4,903,583
80HefeiChina4,857,617
81KochiIndia4,853,712
82Hong KongChina4,809,654
83LucknowIndia4,808,778
84SingaporeSingapore4,763,609
85Saint PetersburgRussia4,752,452
86ChattogramBangladesh4,734,028
87KanoNigeria4,546,350
88IslamabadPakistan4,521,717
89YaoundeCameroon4,439,505
90DubaiUnited Arab Emirates4,423,206
91Santo DomingoDominican Republic4,410,906
92HarbinChina4,383,126
93CasablancaMorocco4,277,518
94KanpurIndia4,235,166
95KampalaUganda4,233,072
96MedanIndonesia4,231,148
97Belo HorizonteBrazil4,140,381
98WenzhouChina4,117,994
99Cape TownSouth Africa4,076,992
100SydneyAustralia4,067,000

How to read this

  • UN World Urbanization Prospects (top 100 cities series). Historical estimates through 2020; projections from 2025 onward in five-year steps. Populations reflect the top 100 most populous cities definition in the source file.
  • Populations use the source file's "top 100 most populous cities" definition—not national census totals for entire countries.
  • Through 2020, rankings use historical estimate columns; after that, projected columns drive the leaderboard.
  • Data is served from PocketBase (world_largest_cities_population) for this tool. Use for market storytelling and demand planning context, not statutory planning.

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