As of 2026, Tokyo-Yokohama takes the crown with about 38.2 million people, making it Earth’s biggest metro area.
What city has the largest metropolitan area in the world?
Tokyo-Yokohama in Japan is the world’s largest metro, packing more than 38 million residents according to the UN’s 2025 World Urbanization Prospects.
Think Tokyo, Yokohama, Kawasaki, and Saitama all stitched together by commuter flows—urban planners love how Tokyo’s density and rail network keep this sprawling region humming as one unit.
Which city has the largest metropolitan area in India?
Delhi is India’s biggest metro, topping 30 million people in the UN’s 2026 urban-agglomeration update.
Delhi’s metro stretches into New Delhi plus districts in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Rajasthan. It only recently overtook Mumbai thanks to breakneck growth fueled by migration and jobs.
Which is the largest metropolitan in the world?
Tokyo’s Major Metropolitan Area is the globe’s largest metro region, with over 38 million people spread across multiple prefectures and cities.
You’re looking at Tokyo’s 23 special wards plus neighbors like Yokohama and Kawasaki—all wired into one giant economic zone. Tokyo’s governance, spanning the metropolis and nearby prefectures, lets the whole region plan infrastructure like a single machine.
What are the five largest metropolitan areas in the world?
In 2026 the top five are Tokyo (38.2M), Delhi (32.9M), Jakarta (31.2M), Shanghai (28.5M), and Manila (25.3M), per UN projections and city-population databases.
Four out of five sit in Asia, where urbanization is sprinting ahead. Jakarta and Manila are still growing at breakneck speed thanks to rural-to-city moves and expanding economies.
What is world’s smallest city?
Vatican City is both the planet’s smallest country and smallest city, at just 0.49 km² and roughly 800 residents.
Tiny as it is, Vatican City is a fully sovereign state that houses the Holy See and St. Peter’s Basilica. You can pop in as a tourist most days, though big papal events or security alerts can shut the gates.
Is London bigger than Chicago?
No—Chicago is the larger city by land area, stretching about 606 km² versus London’s 1,572 km².
Flip the script to city-proper population, though, and London (8.8M) blows past Chicago (2.7M). It all depends on whether you’re counting square kilometers or bodies per square kilometer—London packs more people into its core while Chicago spreads wider across its metro.
Which is the poorest city in India?
Mumbai hosts Asia’s largest slum, Dharavi, often held up as a symbol of India’s urban poverty with anywhere from 800,000 to 1 million people living in dense, informal housing.
Mumbai may be India’s financial engine, but over 40% of its residents live in slums thanks to waves of rural-to-urban migration. NGOs and government programs keep trying to tackle housing, sanitation, and jobs in places like Dharavi.
Which is the cleanest city in India?
Indore, Madhya Pradesh, has been India’s cleanest city six years running, most recently in the 2025 Swachh Survekshan survey by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
Indore earned “Water Plus” status by treating every drop of wastewater before it’s released, and its door-to-door trash collection runs like clockwork. Credit goes to citizens pitching in and a municipal government that actually delivers.
Which is smallest city in India?
Gangotri, a Himalayan town in Uttarakhand, is one of India’s tiniest cities, with around 110 residents on the 2026 municipal rolls.
Perched near the Ganges headwaters, Gangotri mostly serves pilgrims. Its population swells seasonally during the Char Dham Yatra, then shrinks back down the rest of the year.
What is the most populous city on earth?
Tokyo is the planet’s most populous city, with 14 million in the city proper and more than 38 million across its metro.
Packing over 6,000 people per square kilometer in central wards, Tokyo makes incredible use of vertical space and public transit. It still rules as a global economic and cultural powerhouse even as Japan’s overall population ages.
What is the busiest city in the world?
New York City is the busiest urban hub on Earth, moving the highest daily totals of commuters, tourists, and economic deals, according to 2025 transit and mobility reports.
Its subway never sleeps—over 5 million riders pile on during weekdays. Add in JFK, Newark, and LaGuardia churning 130 million passengers a year, plus Wall Street, Broadway, and the media machine, and you’ve got nonstop motion.
What are the 10 largest city in the world?
By 2026 the 10 biggest cities by metro population are Tokyo, Delhi, Shanghai, São Paulo, Mexico City, Cairo, Mumbai, Beijing, Osaka, and New York, per Demographia’s World Urban Areas report and UN projections.
This list counts metro areas, not city limits, and mixes coastal giants with inland behemoths. Tokyo sits at the top, and New York is the only North American representative in the top ten.
Which is the largest city in the world 2020?
In 2020 Tokyo was still the planet’s largest city, with 37,393,128 people in its metro area.
Those numbers come straight from the UN’s 2022 revision of World Urbanization Prospects, which keeps historical records. Fast-forward to 2026 and Tokyo’s lead has barely budged, even with Japan’s shrinking population.
Is LA a mega city?
Yep, Los Angeles is a megacity—UN-Habitat and urban-studies research define it as any metro with over 10 million residents.
The Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim metro crams in 12.5 million people and acts as a global hub for entertainment, trade, and tech. It’s one of only two U.S. megacities, sharing the list with New York.
Where is the biggest city in America?
New York City in New York State is America’s biggest city by population, with 8.8 million inside the five boroughs and over 20 million across the metro.
Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island together form the most populous urban area in the U.S. It also tops the charts for economic output, cultural clout, and transit use across the Western Hemisphere.
