I’ve been fascinated with the major population centers of the world since childhood, tracking their populations for decades and watching the list change dramatically over the past 40+ years. In fact, one of my 350 travel goals is to visit the 50 most populated metropolitan areas in the world. At one point, I only had four remaining. But with changes in population, I’m now lacking eight. Allow me to detail five facts about these massive, sprawling urban areas that I personally find interesting.
Disclaimer: Because the word ‘cities’ is used in the question, I’ll need to answer this accurately. I’ll have to restrict my discussion to populations within city boundaries without considering metropolitan populations, a statistic that would be far more indicative of the functional and economic strength of the central city. But I always attempt to answer precisely what I’ve been asked on Quora.
Fact 1 of 5: The largest of them all
Most people haven’t heard of the world’s most populated city, despite containing 32,054,159 people as I write this in 2026! It was settled in 316 BC and has a higher population than any other city proper, exceeding second place Shanghai by more than seven million!
It’s not Tokyo, well-known as the world’s most populated metropolitan area with 37.3 million people (their city population is less than 14 million). It’s not Jakarta, with their record-setting continuous population of 42 million spilling far beyond the city and metropolitan boundaries (their city population is barely more than 10 million).
According to the United Nations and their definition of city boundaries, Chongqing, China, pictured above has more people within their city boundaries than any other city. This massive municipality is the size of nearly the size of Austria and meets the definition of a city proper. It contains an urban population of 12.1 million, nearly as many people as the entire metropolitan area of Los Angeles, encompassing an additional 20 million residents in rural farming areas!
Fact 2 of 5: The projected leader in population
Kinshasa, DR Congo, is the seventh most populated city in the world with over 18.5 million people in 2026. That’s more than double the city population of New York City and more than quadruple the city population of Los Angeles (although New York and L.A. have greater metropolitan populations). Kinshasa is the only city in the top 12 that doesn’t lie in Asia, followed by Moscow at 13th. It’s the most populated city outside of China, a country that hosts the world’s top six cities.
Their tallest building is only 338 feet tall (103 m). Compare that to New York with more than 300 buildings that exceed 500 feet (152 m). The average household income is only US$449 (378€). In Los Angeles, the average is somewhere around US$87,000 (73.288,80€) and 84% of American households earn more than US$20,000 annually (16.848€).
Kinshasa is the largest French-speaking city in the world, the largest city without a subway/metro train system, and the most populated African capital by more than 8 million (over Cairo). As one of the world’s fastest growing cities, Kinshasa’s population grew from 201,905 people in 1950 to 2.1 million (1980) to 6.4 million (2001), and was estimated to have 14.3 million in 2020! It’s projected to become the world’s most populous city by 2075.
Fact 3 of 5: Official languages
Of the 43 world cities exceeding 7 million in population by the most recent estimates, only eight feature English as their official language.
•8th Delhi, India
•9th Karachi, Pakistan
•14th Lahore, Pakistan
•16th Mumbai, India
•34th London, UK
•35th New York, U.S.
•36th Bengaluru, India
•43rd Hong Kong
Additionally, with population figures for India being several years old, Hyderabad, India, has likely surpassed 7 million by now, the ninth English-speaking city to do so.
For French-speaking nations, only 7th-place Kinshasa and 70th-place Paris exceed a city population of 2 million. The most populated cities in Portuguese-speaking countries include three Brazilian cities of 18th São Paulo, 47th Rio de Janeiro, and 66th Belo Horizonte as well as 69th Luanda, Angola.
(Luanda)
The leaders with any variation of Arabic as an official language are 26th Cairo (Egypt), 39th Baghdad (Iraq), 46th Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), and 51st Alexandria (Egypt). Spanish-speaking leaders include 30th Mexico City (Mexico), 33rd Lima (Peru), 40th Bogotá (Colombia), and 58th Madrid (Spain).
Fact 4 of 5: Rapid transit
I have a fascination with rapid transit systems. Unsurprisingly, one of my 350 travel goals involves riding over half of the world’s 229 subway (metro) systems including the 25 oldest, as well as visiting the northernmost, southernmost, easternmost, and westernmost metro stations in the world.
I’ve completed the latter portion of that, i.e., the four geographic extreme stations, as well as the 25 oldest. And I’m getting very close to completing the primary goal of riding half the world’s subway systems, having worked on this particular challenge for many decades (starting with my first two subway experiences of Moscow in 1977 and New York in 1978).
While London, Chicago, Budapest, and Glasgow have operated rapid transit lines since the 1800s, the city of Beijing, China, didn’t even have a subway line in 1970 despite a population that already exceeding 7 million. They finally opened their first rapid transit line on January 15, 1971. And they’ve made up for lost time. Their system now features 554 miles of subway (metro) lines (891 km) within the city boundaries of Beijing, the longest in the world. But that only exceeds second-place Shanghai by 3,696 feet (1,127 m) as of 2026.
(Beijing subway line)
The New York subway system was the second to open in the United States on October 27, 1904. Including sidetracks and trainyards, there are 850 miles of track (1,368 km).
Fact 5 of 5: Smaller than you think
The U.S. city of Miami, Florida, is well known throughout the world. But the actual city of Miami only contains 442,241 people as of the 2020 U.S. census. That only makes it the 42nd most populated city in the United States. I once featured Miami in a Quora answer about the smallest “big city” in the United Staes.
Of course, the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metropolitan area has a much larger population of 6,457,988, the sixth most populated metropolitan in the United States and one of the largest in the world. Its famous beaches, unique architecture, and enough people to support many professional sports teams all contribute to its fame.
But the city of Miami only accounts for 6.8% of the metro area’s population, the smallest among major U.S. cities. Compare that to New York City or Los Angeles or Chicago that respectively account for 44.2%, 30.2%, and 29.2% of the metropolitan areas they anchor. Even consider a few random examples of semi-major U.S. cities, like Milwaukee, Wisconsin, known as the world’s leading hub for water technology, or Omaha, Nebraska, the notable home of one of the 10 richest people in the world (Warren Buffett). Those respectively host 36.7% and 48.6% of their metropolitan populations.
Atlanta, Georgia, is also a well-known American city with an equally surprising smaller population. Atlanta only has 498,715 residents, the 36th largest U.S. city. And that’s only 7.8% of its metropolitan area with 6,411,149, the eighth most populated metro in the United States.