Top 10 Most Populated Cities in the World Please enter your email address to receive this data in your inbox. World Cities: Population and Significance It is perhaps unsurprising that the majority of the most populous cities in the world are in the two most populated countries in the world, China and India . Among these are Shanghai and Beijing in China, with populations of 24.7M and 21.6M million respectively, along with Delhi ( 23.4M ), and Mumbai ( 21.8M ) in India. However, Tokyo is the largest city in the world if the entire Tokyo metro area is included, with a total of 10.3M residents. Another Japanese city, Osaka , also has a very large population of 2.8M . Other non-Asian cities with high populations include: Cairo ( 10.1M ) Sao Paulo ( 12M ) Mexico City ( 9M ) Of the European cities , Istanbul is the most populous, with 15.8M residents. This is followed by: Moscow ( 13.4M ) London ( 9.2M )

These cities are of course also culturally significant and between them they welcome millions of tourists each year. There are quite a number of popular and culturally rich cities that have smaller populations, often making for higher living standards for their residents. Barcelona , Sydney , Berlin and Vancouver all have fewer than five million residents, but are very popular choices for city living. There are also some comparatively very small cities with big cultural, historical or political reputations, such as Aleppo ( 4.1M ) Prague ( 1.4M ) Jerusalem ( 1.2M ) World Urbanization Prospects 2025 - United Nations population estimates and projections of major Urban Agglomerations Cleanest Cities in the World Cleanest Cities in the World Hottest City in the World Hottest City in the World Most Densely Populated Cities in the World Most Densely Populated Cities in the World