List of cities by population

See historical urban community sizes for historical data.

This is a list of the largest cities of the world estimated for the year 2005. Definitions for each city and approximate surface area are also indicated. The populations listed are for the city proper and not for the entire metropolitan area. For a list of the most populous metropolitan areas, go to List of metropolitan areas by population. Please read the notes at the end, as there are many exceptions.

Rank	City	Population	Definition	Area (km²)	Population density (/km²)	Country
1	Mumbai	12,778,721	Municipal corporation	440	29,042	India
2	Karachi	11,507,254	City District	3,530	3,458	Pakistan
3	Delhi	11,055,365	Municipal corporation	1,400	7,896	India
4	São Paulo	11,016,703 ^[1]	City proper	1,520	7,247	Brazil
5	Shanghai	10,840,516	Core districts + inner suburbs	1,600	6,775	China
6	Moscow	10,375,688	City proper (excludes Zelenograd)	1,080	9,607	Russia
7	Seoul	10,297,004^[2]	Special City	605.41	17,008	South Korea
8	Istanbul	10,124,000^[3]	City proper	1,970	5,137	Turkey
9	Mexico City	8,720,916	Federal District	1,550	5,626	Mexico
10	Tokyo	8,483,140^[4]	23 special wards area	620	13,682	Japan
11	Jakarta	8,407,479	Special capital district	660	12,738	Indonesia
12	New York City	8,143,197^[5]	City Proper	780	10,439	United States
13	Beijing	7,741,274	Core districts + inner suburbs	1,370	5,650	China
14	Tehran	7,609,638	City proper	760	11,218	Iran
15	London	7,517,700	Greater London	1,580	4,697	United Kingdom
16	Cairo	7,438,376	Governorate	210	35,420	Egypt
17	Bogotá	7,321,831	Distrito Capital	1,590	4,523	Colombia
18	Lagos	7,181,111	City core (old city proper)	330	21,760	Nigeria
19	Lima	6,872,766	30 districts	804.3	8,545	Peru
20	Hong Kong	6,752,001	Special Administrative Region	1092	6,183	Hong Kong
21	Dhaka	6,724,976 ^[6]	Urban area	200	30,403	Bangladesh
22	Bangkok	6,542,751	Urban area	1,100	6,311	Thailand
23	Lahore	6,192,853	City District	1,010	6,329	Pakistan
24	Rio de Janeiro	6,136,652 ^[7]	City proper	1,180	5,200	Brazil
25	Baghdad	5,556,562				Iraq
26	Bengalooru	5,158,019	Municipal corporation	230	22,426	India
27	Wuhan	5,147,431	Urban area	400	12,868	China
28	Tianjin	5,083,657	Urban Area			China
29	Chongqing	4,865,499				China
30	Santiago	4,810,997				Chile
31	Saint Petersburg	4,661,219 (Census 2002)	City proper	1,439	3,330	Russia
32	Kolkata	4,651,322	Municipal corporation			India
33	Pune	4,485,000	Municipal Corporation	700	6,407	India
34	Singapore	4,408,220	Country	699	6,306	Singapore
35	Kinshasa	4,385,264				Democratic Republic of the Congo
36	Chennai	4,368,883	Municipal corporation			India
37	Shenyang	4,111,624				China
38	Guangzhou	4,056,025				China
39	Los Angeles	3,844,829^[8]	City proper	1,290	2,980	United States
40	Ahmedabad	3,796,043	Municipal corporation	190	19,979	India
41	Sydney	3,774,894	Urban area	1,690	2,234	Australia
42	Busan	3,657,840 ^[9]	223 dong	763.46	4,791	South Korea
43	Alexandria	3,693,412	Governorate	2,680	1,378	Egypt
44	Hyderabad	3,619,856	Municipal corporation	170	21,293	India
45	Yokohama	3,600,175 ^[10]	City proper	440	8,182	Japan
46	Ankara	3,561,187	City proper	2,500	1,424	Turkey
47	Casablanca	3,462,648				Morocco
48	Ho Chi Minh City	3,407,129	City core (old city proper)			Vietnam
49	Berlin	3,405,250	State	892	3,818	Germany
50	Madrid	3,155,359	Municipal Corporation	607	5,198	Spain