Largest city redirects here; see historical urban community sizes for historical data.

This page lists the 100 largest metropolitan areas of the world, listed by population. This is a controversial issue rather difficult to quantify, as unlike national subdivisions, there are no defined borders for such an area. Many of the figures for individual cities are highly controversial, and in some cases numbers which differ by millions are given by different sources. In some countries there are official definitions, but they are not consistent on a global basis, nor even necessarily within countries. (For example the United States metropolitan areas are based mainly on county boundaries, but counties are generally smaller and more evenly sized in the eastern half of the United States than in the western half). In addition, the underlying structure of different metropolitan areas varies: comparing a highly centralised city with an agglomeration of smaller settlements may not be very meaningful. Commuting patterns and other aspects of urban behaviour which underlie the metro area concept differ greatly around the world. Thus all population figures for specific metros should be treated as interpretations rather than hard facts, and rankings and comparisons of metros should be treated with great caution.

The data for this list was compiled from the 2005 urban population figures from the United Nations 2005 World Urbanization Prospects Report ^*. 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. Figures are based on rough estimates for the year 2005 and rounded to the nearest 1,000. Despite the standing of the organisation behind the figures the appropriateness and consistency of the boundaries used is controversial and the aforementioned warnings apply.

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Notes

1. Eurostat defines a "Larger Urban Zone" or LUZ for London (based on commuting and employment) composed of Greater London and 42 surrounding districts with a total population of 11,624,807 (2001).
2. San Francisco is more often considered to be part of a combined metropolitan area with the city of San Jose. This metropolitan area is called the "San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland Combined Statistical Area", or the "San Francisco Bay Area". The total population of the combined statistical area is 7,159,693 (2004 estimate), with a combined urban area population of 5,016,000.
3. The statistical metropolitan area (aire urbaine) of Paris has an official population of 11,174,743 (as of 1999).
4. The Korean National Statistics Office does not tabulate metropolitan areas. Unofficial definitions of the metropolitan area (see Other Lists section) put the population at around 22 million. The metropolitan area includes Incheon and most of Gyeonggi-do. See Seoul National Capital Area for more information.
5. The metropolitan area of Taipei (not in the above list) is commonly taken to consist of Taipei City, Keelung City, and Taipei County with a total population of 6,733,843 (as of 2000).
6. The metropolitan area of Kuala Lumpur (not in the above list) is sometimes defined as the federal district of Kuala Lumpur plus the districts of Gombak, Klang, Petaling and Sepang in state of Selangor. The total population of this area (as of 2000) is 3,860,568.

References

• United Nations World Urbanization Prospects: 2005 Revision

See also

• List of cities by population (but not metropolitan areas)
• List of the 100 largest cities of the United States
• Megacity
• List of metropolitan areas that overlap multiple countries

Lists of metropolitan areas by region

• 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
• 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
• List of Statistical Divisions/Districts in Australia by population (equivalent to metropolitan areas)
• Largest metropolitan areas in the Americas
• List of most populous cities in Africa

External links

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
• World Gazetteer: Metropolitan Areas

Further reading

• Largest Cities Through History
• Canada Metropolitan Areas Census 2001
• United States Metropolitan Areas County Based Metropolitan Area Estimates Based on Census Bureau Data 2004

Lists of cities | Urban studies and planning | Metropolitan areas

قائمة بأكبر مدن العالم كثافة سكانية | Llista d'áries metropolitanes por población | Liste der größten Städte der Welt | Lista de áreas metropolitanas por población | Plej grandaj urboj laŭ enloĝantaro | Liste des mégapoles | Daftar wilayah metropolitan berdasarkan populasi | ערי מיליונים | მსოფლიოს უდიდესი აგლომერაციები | A Föld legnépesebb várostömörülései | Lijst van grootste metropolen | 世界の都市圏人口の順位 | Zoznam najväčších miest | Luettelo suurimmista kaupunkialueista väkiluvun mukaan