United Nations projection from the 2020 estimate
The 10 most populated cities in 2026
Jakarta42,459,070
Dhaka37,429,156
Tokyo33,338,852
New Delhi30,446,254
Shanghai29,906,570- Guangzhou27,739,195
Cairo25,889,876
Manila24,893,838- Kolkata22,646,412
Seoul22,517,764
The most populated cities in the world in 2026
| Rank | City | Population (millions) | Country | Annual change | Density (per km²) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jakarta | 42.5 | Indonesia | +1.3% | 8,610 |
| 2 | Dhaka | 37.4 | Bangladesh | +2.3% | 5,356 |
| 3 | Tokyo | 33.3 | Japan | −0.2% | 6,476 |
| 4 | New Delhi | 30.4 | India | +0.7% | 14,430 |
| 5 | Shanghai | 29.9 | China | +1.2% | 9,474 |
| 6 | Guangzhou | 27.7 | China | +0.6% | 6,070 |
| 7 | Cairo | 25.9 | Egypt | +1.3% | 15,496 |
| 8 | Manila | 24.9 | Philippines | +0.6% | 10,140 |
| 9 | Kolkata | 22.6 | India | +0.4% | 9,646 |
| 10 | Seoul | 22.5 | South Korea | +0.1% | 9,980 |
| 11 |  Karachi | 21.9 | Pakistan | +2.0% | 25,015 |
| 12 | Mumbai | 20.4 | India | +0.9% | 27,239 |
| 13 |  São Paulo | 19.0 | Brazil | 0.0% | 9,251 |
| 14 |  Bangkok | 18.3 | Thailand | +0.9% | 6,866 |
| 15 |  Mexico City | 17.8 | Mexico | +0.1% | 8,463 |
| 16 | Beijing | 17.1 | China | +0.7% | 9,840 |
| 17 | Lahore | 15.4 | Pakistan | +1.5% | 15,738 |
| 18 |  Istanbul | 15.1 | Turkey | +0.5% | 11,863 |
| 19 |  Moscow | 14.6 | Russia | +0.3% | 9,312 |
| 20 |  Ho Chi Minh City | 14.2 | Vietnam | +1.1% | 9,116 |
| 21 |  Buenos Aires | 14.0 | Argentina | +0.1% | 6,483 |
| 22 | Shenzhen | 14.0 | China | +0.6% | 9,492 |
| 23 |  New York City | 13.9 | United States | −0.1% | 5,167 |
| 24 | Bengaluru | 13.3 | India | +0.6% | 20,314 |
| 25 |  Lagos | 13.0 | Nigeria | +1.3% | 10,466 |
| 26 | Osaka | 12.9 | Japan | −0.9% | 5,778 |
| 27 | Los Angeles | 12.8 | United States | +0.5% | 3,449 |
| 28 |  Luanda | 11.7 | Angola | +3.1% | 11,158 |
| 29 | Chennai | 11.2 | India | +0.4% | 10,547 |
| 30 |  Kinshasa | 11.1 | DR Congo | +1.2% | 21,520 |
| 31 |  Bogotá | 10.7 | Colombia | +1.1% | 19,769 |
| 32 |  Lima | 10.7 | Peru | +1.1% | 10,304 |
| 33 |  London | 10.5 | United Kingdom | +0.7% | 6,362 |
| 34 | Hajipur | 10.2 | India | +2.3% | 3,225 |
| 35 | Rio de Janeiro | 9.5 | Brazil | +0.1% | 7,538 |
| 36 |  Paris | 9.4 | France | 0.0% | 6,793 |
| 37 | Hyderabad | 9.2 | India | +0.3% | 10,362 |
| 38 |  Tehran | 9.2 | Iran | +0.3% | 11,628 |
| 39 |  Taipei | 9.1 | Taiwan | −0.2% | 9,733 |
| 40 | Bandung | 9.0 | Indonesia | +0.6% | 8,808 |
| 41 |  Kuala Lumpur | 8.6 | Malaysia | +1.4% | 6,298 |
| 42 |  Dar es Salaam | 8.0 | Tanzania | +2.7% | 8,672 |
| 43 | Suzhou | 7.7 | China | +0.1% | 6,621 |
| 44 | Ahmedabad | 7.7 | India | +0.5% | 20,914 |
| 45 | Hangzhou | 7.6 | China | +1.7% | 4,665 |
| 46 | Alexandria | 7.3 | Egypt | +1.1% | 12,296 |
| 47 | Tianjin | 7.3 | China | +0.5% | 13,483 |
| 48 | Wuhan | 7.3 | China | −0.6% | 10,306 |
| 49 |  Johannesburg | 7.2 | South Africa | +1.4% | 4,917 |
| 50 | Nagoya | 7.1 | Japan | −0.4% | 3,603 |
| 51 | Chongqing | 7.0 | China | −0.6% | 12,827 |
| 52 |  Riyadh | 7.0 | Saudi Arabia | +1.6% | 6,363 |
| 53 | Surat | 7.0 | India | +0.9% | 24,272 |
| 54 |  Khartoum | 6.9 | Sudan | +1.9% | 7,069 |
| 55 |  Addis Ababa | 6.9 | Ethiopia | +2.7% | 13,733 |
| 56 | Pune | 6.9 | India | +0.8% | 11,691 |
| 57 | Surabaya | 6.8 | Indonesia | −0.1% | 5,247 |
| 58 | Nanjing | 6.8 | China | −0.1% | 9,397 |
| 59 |  Santiago | 6.8 | Chile | +0.4% | 8,374 |
| 60 |  Abidjan | 6.7 | Côte d'Ivoire | +1.9% | 12,698 |
| 61 |  Amman | 6.5 | Jordan | +1.2% | 12,167 |
| 62 | Chaozhou | 6.4 | China | +0.6% | 5,248 |
| 63 |  Baghdad | 6.4 | Iraq | +0.9% | 9,112 |
| 64 |  Nairobi | 6.2 | Kenya | +1.8% | 9,628 |
| 65 | Kozhikode | 6.2 | India | +1.0% | 5,675 |
| 66 | Chengdu | 6.1 | China | −0.5% | 7,058 |
| 67 | Onitsha | 5.8 | Nigeria | +2.4% | 5,223 |
| 68 |  Kabul | 5.8 | Afghanistan | +2.2% | 14,559 |
| 69 | Shenyang | 5.7 | China | −0.4% | 11,831 |
| 70 |  Accra | 5.7 | Ghana | +1.3% | 5,042 |
| 71 |  Yangon | 5.7 | Myanmar | +0.6% | 10,991 |
| 72 | Faisalabad | 5.6 | Pakistan | +1.3% | 16,407 |
| 73 |  Madrid | 5.6 | Spain | +0.1% | 8,659 |
| 74 |  Toronto | 5.5 | Canada | +0.8% | 4,046 |
| 75 | Mashhad | 5.4 | Iran | +0.4% | 11,221 |
| 76 |  Dubai | 5.4 | United Arab Emirates | +1.4% | 5,864 |
| 77 |  Colombo | 5.3 | Sri Lanka | +0.8% | 3,894 |
| 78 |  Yaoundé | 5.2 | Cameroon | +2.7% | 15,526 |
| 79 | Xi'an | 5.2 | China | −0.3% | 8,386 |
| 80 | Kochi | 5.2 | India | +1.5% | 3,999 |
| 81 | Lucknow | 5.1 | India | +0.7% | 9,983 |
| 82 | Hanoi | 5.1 | Vietnam | −0.1% | 5,821 |
| 83 | Chattogram | 5.0 | Bangladesh | +1.2% | 9,450 |
| 84 |  Kampala | 5.0 | Uganda | +2.7% | 6,056 |
| 85 |  Singapore | 5.0 | Singapore | +0.5% | 13,559 |
| 86 | Islāmābād | 4.9 | Pakistan | +1.8% | 8,732 |
| 87 | Kano | 4.9 | Nigeria | +1.4% | 11,285 |
| 88 | Zhengzhou | 4.9 | China | −0.2% | 8,363 |
| 89 | Hefei | 4.9 | China | −0.1% | 9,713 |
| 90 | Saint Petersburg | 4.7 | Russia | 0.0% | 9,301 |
| 91 |  Hong Kong | 4.7 | Hong Kong | −0.4% | 21,644 |
| 92 |  Santo Domingo | 4.6 | Dominican Republic | +0.8% | 8,899 |
| 93 | Cape Town | 4.6 | South Africa | +1.7% | 6,344 |
| 94 |  Mogadishu | 4.5 | Somalia | +2.7% | 21,641 |
| 95 |  Casablanca | 4.5 | Morocco | +0.7% | 10,876 |
| 96 |  Damascus | 4.4 | Syria | +3.2% | 11,468 |
| 97 |  Bamako | 4.4 | Mali | +3.2% | 8,493 |
| 98 | Harbin | 4.4 | China | −0.1% | 10,471 |
| 99 | Kumasi | 4.4 | Ghana | +1.4% | 9,770 |
| 100 | Jeddah | 4.4 | Saudi Arabia | +1.6% | 6,187 |
Population (millions) · United Nations · World Urbanization Prospects 2025 ↗
Annual change: 2026 compared with 2025. All 2026 values are United Nations projections.
Questions and answers
What is the largest city in the world?
Jakarta, in Indonesia, with about 42.5 million people in 2026 according to United Nations projections, ahead of Dhaka (37.4 million) and Tokyo (33.3 million).
What are the 10 largest cities in the world?
Population in 2026, according to United Nations projections:
- Jakarta, Indonesia: 42.5 million
- Dhaka, Bangladesh: 37.4 million
- Tokyo, Japan: 33.3 million
- New Delhi, India: 30.4 million
- Shanghai, China: 29.9 million
- Guangzhou, China: 27.7 million
- Cairo, Egypt: 25.9 million
- Manila, Philippines: 24.9 million
- Kolkata, India: 22.6 million
- Seoul, South Korea: 22.5 million
When did Jakarta overtake Tokyo?
In 2010. Tokyo was the largest city in the world every year from 1975 to 2009. Its population is now slowly falling (−0.2% in 2026), while Jakarta still grows by about 1.3% a year.
How many megacities are there?
34 cities have 10 million inhabitants or more in 2026, according to United Nations projections, against 20 in 2000 and 8 in 1975.
What is the largest city in Europe?
Istanbul, with 15.1 million, if it is counted in Europe: the city spans the Bosporus between Europe and Asia. Moscow (14.6 million) is the largest city entirely in Europe, ahead of London (10.5 million) and Paris (9.4 million).
What is the largest city in Africa?
Cairo, with 25.9 million, the 7th largest city in the world. Lagos (13.0 million), Luanda (11.7 million) and Kinshasa (11.1 million) follow.
What is the largest city in the United States?
New York City, with 13.9 million in its densely built-up area, 23rd in the world; it was 3rd in 1975. Los Angeles is next with 12.8 million.
Which city has grown the most since 1975?
Dhaka: from 5.0 million in 1975 to 37.4 million in 2026, and from 22nd to 2nd place. Jakarta gained 30.8 million and Guangzhou 26.1 million, rising from 1.6 million to 27.7 million.
About the data
Cities as defined by the United Nations Degree of Urbanization: the continuous area of 1 km² cells with at least 1,500 inhabitants per km², home to at least 50,000 people, drawn the same way in every country. A city can be larger than its official limits and smaller than its metropolitan area as defined by national statistics.
Earlier United Nations editions used each country's own definition of a city and put Tokyo first; the two rankings cannot be compared.
Population on July 1. The United Nations estimates it from satellite images and census data every five years from 1975 to 2020 and in between; 2021 to 2026 are projections from the 2020 estimate.
Sources: United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects 2025 ↗ · UN DESA, latest urbanization data ↗
Photos from Wikimedia Commons: Buenos Aires by ProtoplasmaKid, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Cairo by Gary Denham from Edinburgh, Scotland, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Dhaka by MD SAIFUL AMIN, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Guangzhou by Tim Wu, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jakarta, Copyrighted free use · Kolkata by Ketanmehta4u, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Manila by Mike Gonzalez (TheCoffee), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Mexico City by Gobierno CDMX, CC0 · Moscow by U.S. Department of State, Public domain · Mumbai by iMahesh, CC BY-SA 4.0 · New Delhi by Navonildutta4, CC BY-SA 4.0 · New York City by Fred Hsu on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Osaka by 663highland, CC BY 2.5 · Seoul by 라성민, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Shanghai by kallerna, CC BY-SA 4.0 · São Paulo by Thomas Hobbs, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Tokyo by Morio, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Source validation: 2026-10-13.