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List of metropolitan areas by population
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This SourceThe question of which are the world's largest cities is a complex one to which there is no single correct answer as there are many different ways of defining a city, and it is not easy to apply theoretical definitions to complex facts on the ground. One concept is the metropolitan area, which is based on the concept of a labor market area and is typically defined as an employment core (an area with a high density of available jobs) and the surrounding areas that have strong commuting ties to the core. See the metropolitan area article for comments on the difficulties and inconsistencies of that concept.
The following is a list of the top twenty largest metropolitan areas in 2003 as defined by one source. It should be seen as an interpretation, not as hard fact. All of the numbers are debatable, and it is in the nature of a metropolitan area that this should be so.
| Rank | Metropolitan area | Country | Population | Area (km²) | Population Density (People/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tokyo | 32,450,000 | 8,014 | 4,049 | |
| 2 | Seoul | 20,550,000 | 5,076 | 4,048 | |
| 3 | Mexico City | 20,450,000 | 7,346 | 2,784 | |
| 4 | New York City | 19,750,000 | 17,884 | 1,104 | |
| 5 | Mumbai | 19,200,000 | 2,350 | 8,170 | |
| 6 | Jakarta | 18,900,000 | 5,100 | 3,706 | |
| 7 | Sao Paulo | 18,850,000 | 8,479 | 2,223 | |
| 8 | Delhi | 18,600,000 | 3,182 | 5,845 | |
| 9 | Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto | 17,375,000 | 6,930 | 2,507 | |
| 10 | Shanghai | 16,650,000 | 5,177 | 3,216 | |
| 11 | Metro Manila | 16,300,000 | 2,521 | 6,466 | |
| 12 | Hong Kong-Shenzhen | 15,800,000 | 3,051 | 5,179 | |
| 13 | Los Angeles | 15,250,000 | 10,780 | 1,415 | |
| 14 | Kolkata | 15,100,000 | 1,785 | 8,459 | |
| 15 | Moscow | 15,000,000 | 14,925 | 1,005 | |
| 16 | Cairo | 14,450,000 | 1,600 | 9,031 | |
| 17 | Buenos Aires | 13,170,000 | 10,888 | 1,210 | |
| 18 | London | 12,875,000 | 11,391 | 1,130 | |
| 19 | Beijing | 12,500,000 | 6,562 | 1,905 | |
| 20 | Karachi | 11,800,000 | 1,100 | 10,727 |
References and notes
See also
- World's largest urban agglomerations
- List of urban areas by population
- List of cities by population
- Larger Urban Zone - for an attempt at a harmonized definition for certain EU cities
Lists of metropolitan areas by region
Lists of metropolitan areas by country
External links
- demographia.com
- citypopulation.de
- World Gazetteer
- PopulationData.net: all 1M+ inhabitants Metropolitan Areas
- OECD Territorial Reviews - Competitive Cities in the Global Economy - has some definitions for OECD countries
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Last updated on Saturday March 08, 2008 at 20:20:17 PST (GMT -0800)
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