![ISS-67_City_lights_of_São_Paulo,_Brazil](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/ISS-67_City_lights_of_S%C3%A3o_Paulo%2C_Brazil.jpg)
An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a
human settlement
In geography, statistics and archaeology, a settlement, locality or populated place is a community in which people live. The complexity of a settlement can range from a minuscule number of dwellings grouped together to the largest of ci ...
with a high population density and
infrastructure
Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...
of
built environment
The term built environment refers to human-made conditions and is often used in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, public health, sociology, and anthropology, among others. These curated spaces provide the setting for human ac ...
. Urban areas are created through
urbanization
Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly t ...
and are categorized by
urban morphology
Urban morphology is the study of the formation of human settlements and the process of their formation and transformation. The study seeks to understand the spatial structure and character of a metropolitan area, city, town or village by examining ...
as
cities
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
,
town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
s,
conurbation
A conurbation is a region comprising a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most ca ...
s or
suburbs
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...
. In
urbanism
Urbanism is the study of how inhabitants of urban areas, such as towns and cities, interact with the built environment. It is a direct component of disciplines such as urban planning, which is the profession focusing on the physical design and m ...
, the term contrasts to
rural area
In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are descri ...
s such as
village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...
s and
hamlets
A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...
; in
urban sociology
Urban sociology is the sociological study of life and human interaction in metropolitan areas. It is a normative discipline of sociology seeking to study the structures, environmental processes, changes and problems of an urban area and by doing ...
or
urban anthropology
Urban anthropology is a subset of anthropology concerned with issues of urbanization, poverty, urban space, social relations, and neoliberalism. The field has become consolidated in the 1960s and 1970s.
Ulf Hannerz quotes a 1960s remark that trad ...
it contrasts with
natural environment
The natural environment or natural world encompasses all life, living and non-living things occurring nature, naturally, meaning in this case not Artificiality, artificial. The term is most often applied to the Earth or some parts of Earth. Th ...
. The creation of earlier predecessors of urban areas during the
urban revolution led to the creation of human
civilization
A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of a state, social stratification, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyond natural spoken language (namely, a writing system).
Ci ...
with modern
urban planning
Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...
, which along with other human activities such as
exploitation of natural resources
The exploitation of natural resources is the use of natural resources for economic growth, sometimes with a negative connotation of accompanying environmental degradation. It started to emerge on an industrial scale in the 19th century as the ex ...
led to a
human impact on the environment
Human impact on the environment (or anthropogenic impact) refers to changes to biophysical environments and to ecosystems, biodiversity, and natural resources caused directly or indirectly by humans. Modifying the environment to fit the need ...
. "Agglomeration effects" are in the list of the main consequences of increased rates of firm creation since. This is due to conditions created by a greater level of industrial activity in a given region. However, a favorable environment for human capital development would also be generated simultaneously.
In 1950, around the world, 764 million people lived in urban areas. By 2014, it was 3.9 billion. The change was driven by a combination of increased total population and increased percent of population living in urban areas.
In 2009, the number of people living in urban areas (3.42 billion) surpassed the number living in rural areas (3.41 billion), and since then the world has become more urban than rural. This was the first time that the majority of the world's population lived in a city. In 2014 there were 7.3 billion people living on the planet,
of which the global urban population comprised 3.9 billion. The Population Division of the
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs
The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) is part of the United Nations Secretariat and is responsible for the follow-up to major United Nations Summits and Conferences, as well as services to the United Nations Econ ...
at that time predicted the urban population would occupy 68% of the world population by 2050, with 90% of that growth coming from Africa and Asia.
Urban areas are created and further developed by the process of urbanization. They are measured for various purposes, including analyzing
population density
Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...
and
urban sprawl
Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...
. Urban areas are also mostly found in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
,
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
and
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
and many other countries where the urbanization rate is over 80%.
Unlike an urban area, a
metropolitan area
A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...
includes not only the urban area, but also
satellite cities
Satellite cities or satellite towns are smaller municipalities that are adjacent to a principal city which is the core of a metropolitan area. They differ from mere suburbs, subdivisions and especially bedroom communities in that they have muni ...
plus intervening rural land that is socio-economically connected to the
urban core
A city centre is the commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely equivalent terms exist in other languages, such as "" in Fren ...
city, typically by
employment
Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any othe ...
ties through
commuting
Commuting is periodically recurring travel between one's place of residence and place of work or study, where the traveler, referred to as a commuter, leaves the boundary of their home community. By extension, it can sometimes be any regul ...
, with the urban core city being the primary labor market.
The concept of an "urban area" as used in economic statistics should not be confused with the concept of the "urban area" used in road safety statistics. This term was first created by Geographer Brian Manning. The last concept is also known as "
built-up area in road safety". According to the definition by the
Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament.
Overview
The ONS is responsible for th ...
, "Built-up areas are defined as land which is 'irreversibly urban in character', meaning that they are characteristic of a town or city. They include areas of built-up land with a minimum of . Any areas
eparated byless than 200 metres
f non-urban space
F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''.
Hist ...
are linked to become a single built-up area.
![2006megacities](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/2006megacities.svg)
Argentina and Japan are countries where the urbanization rate is over 90% while Australia, Brazil, Canada,
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
and the United States are countries where the urbanization rate is between 80% and 90%.
Largest urban areas in the world
#
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
(Japan) - 37,274,000
#
New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...
(India) - 32,066,000
#
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
(China) - 28,517,000
#
Manila
Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
(Philippines) - 28,250,517
#
Dhaka
Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...
(Bangladesh) - 22,478,000
#
Sao Paulo
SAO or Sao may refer to:
Places
* Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD
* Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso
* Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S ...
(Brazil) - 22,430,000
#
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
(Mexico) - 22,085,000
#
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
(Egypt) - 21,750,000
#
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
(China) - 21,333,000
#
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
(India) - 20,961,000
Largest urban areas, by continent
Africa
#
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
(Egypt) - 21,750,000
#
Kinshasa
Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...
(DR Congo) - 15,628,000
#
Lagos
Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...
(Nigeria) - 15,388,000
#
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...
(South Africa) - 10,110,000
#
Luanda
Luanda () is the capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Angola's administrative centre, its chief seaport ...
(Angola) - 8,952,000
#
Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam (; from ar, دَار السَّلَام, Dâr es-Selâm, lit=Abode of Peace) or commonly known as Dar, is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over s ...
(Tanzania) - 7,405,000
#
Khartoum
Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...
(Sudan) - 6,160,000
#
Abidjan
Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, ...
(Ivory Coast) - 5,516,000
#
Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...
(Egypt) - 5,484,000
#
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...
(Ethiopia) - 5,228,000
Asia
#
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
(Japan) - 37,274,000
#
New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...
(India) - 32,066,000
#
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
(China) - 28,517,000
#
Manila
Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
(Philippines) - 28,250,517
#
Dhaka
Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...
(Bangladesh) - 22,478,000
#
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
(China) - 21,333,000
#
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
(India) - 20,961,000
#
Osaka
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...
(Japan) - 19,060,000
#
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...
(Pakistan) - 16,840,000
#
Chongqing
Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...
(China) - 16,875,000
Europe
#
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
(Turkiye) - 15,636,000
#
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
(Russia) - 12,641,000
#
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
(France) - 11,142,000
#
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
(United Kingdom) - 9,426,000
#
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
(Spain) - 6,714,000
#
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
(Germany) -6,144,600
#
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
(Spain) - 5,658,000
#
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
(Russia) - 5,536,000
#
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
(Italy) - 4,298,000
#
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
(Greece) - 3,154,000
North America
#
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
(Mexico) - 22,085,000
#
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
-
Newark
Newark most commonly refers to:
* Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States
* Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area
Newark may also refer to:
Places Canada
* Niagara-on-the ...
(United States) - 18,867,000
#
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
-
Long Beach
Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California.
Incorporate ...
-
Santa Ana (United States) - 12,488,000
#
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
(United States) - 8,901,000
#
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
(United States) - 6,603,000
#
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
-
Fort Worth
Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...
(United States) - 6,488,400
#
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
(Canada) - 6,313,000
#
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
(United States) - 6,079,000
#
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
(United States) - 5,705,000
#
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
-
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
(United States) - 5,434,000
Oceania
#
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
(Australia) - 4,870,000
#
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
(Australia) - 4,859,000
#
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
(Australia) - 2,568,927
#
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
(Australia) - 2,016,000
#
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
(New Zealand) - 1,582,000
#
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
(Australia) - 1,328,000
#
Gold Coast
Gold Coast may refer to:
Places Africa
* Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana:
** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642)
** Dutch G ...
(Australia) - 687,000
#
Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
(Australia) - 452,000
#
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
(Australia) - 447,000
#
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
(New Zealand) - 413,000
South America
#
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
(Brazil) - 22,430,000
#
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
(Argentina) - 15,370,000
#
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
(Brazil) - 13,634,000
#
Bogotá
Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...
(Colombia) - 11,344,000
#
Lima
Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...
-
Callao
Callao () is a Peruvian seaside city and Regions of Peru, region on the Pacific Ocean in the Lima metropolitan area. Callao is Peru's chief seaport and home to its main airport, Jorge Chávez International Airport. Callao municipality consists o ...
(Peru) - 11,176,000
#
Santiago
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...
(Chile) - 6,857,000
#
Belo Horizonte
Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...
(Brazil) - 6,194,000
#
Brasília
Brasília (; ) is the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District. The city is located at the top of the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West region. It was founded by President Juscelino Kubitsche ...
(Brazil) - 4,804,000
#
Recife
That it may shine on all ( Matthew 5:15)
, image_map = Brazil Pernambuco Recife location map.svg
, mapsize = 250px
, map_caption = Location in the state of Pernambuco
, pushpin_map = Brazil#South A ...
(Brazil) - 4,220,000
#
Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, twelfth most populous city in the country ...
(Brazil) - 4,185,000
Largest urban areas, by country
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
4.458 million KABUL (capital) (2022)
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
512,000 TIRANA (capital) (2022)
Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
2.854 million ALGIERS (capital) ; 922,000 Oran (2022)
American Samoa
American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the International ...
49,000 PAGO PAGO (capital) (2018)
Andorra
, image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg
, symbol_type = Coat of arms
, national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...
23,000 ANDORRA LA VELLA (capital) (2018)
Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
, religion_ref =
, coordina ...
8.952 million LUANDA (capital) ; 914,000 Lubango ; 862,000 Cabinda ; Benguela 777,000 (2022)
Anguilla
Anguilla ( ) is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin. The territo ...
1,000 THE VALLEY (capital) (2018)
Antigua and Barbuda
Antigua and Barbuda (, ) is a sovereign country in the West Indies. It lies at the juncture of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in the Leeward Islands part of the Lesser Antilles, at 17°N latitude. The country consists of two maj ...
21,000 SAINT JOHN'S (capital) (2018)
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
15.370 million BUENOS AIRES (capital) ; 1.598 million Cordoba ; 1.574 million Rosario ; 1.209 million Mendoza ; 1.014 million San Miguel de Tucuman ; 904,000 La Plata (2022)
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
1.092 million
YEREVAN
Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...
(capital) (2022)
Aruba
Aruba ( , , ), officially the Country of Aruba ( nl, Land Aruba; pap, Pais Aruba) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands physically located in the mid-south of the Caribbean Sea, about north of the Venezuela peninsula of ...
30,000 ORANJESTAD (capital) (2018)
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
5.259 million Sydney ; 4,976 million Melbourne ; 2.568 million Brisbane ; 2.093 million Perth ; 1.356 million Adelaide ; 467,000 CANBERRA (capital) (2022)
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
1.960 million VIENNA (capital) (2022)
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
2.401 million BAKU (capital) (2022)
Bahamas, The
280,000 NASSAU (capital) (2018)
Bahrain
Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...
689,000 MANAMA (capital) (2022)
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
22.478 million DHAKA (capital) ; 5.253 million Chittagong ; 950,000 Khulna ; 942,000 Rajshahi ; 928,000 Sylhet ; Bogra 864,000 (2022); Narayanganj:294,8000
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...
89,000 BRIDGETOWN (capital) (2018)
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...
2.049 million MINSK (capital) (2022)
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
2.110 million BRUSSELS (capital); 1.053 million Antwerp (2022)
Belize
Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...
23,000 BELMOPAN (capital) (2018)
Benin
Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...
285,000 PORTO-NOVO (capital) (2018) ; 1.189 million Abomey-Calavi ; 709,000 COTONOU (seat of government) (2022)
Bermuda
)
, anthem = "God Save the King"
, song_type = National song
, song = " Hail to Bermuda"
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, mapsize2 =
, map_caption2 =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name =
, e ...
10,000 HAMILTON (capital) (2018)
Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
203,000 THIMPHU (capital) (2018)
Bolivia
, image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg
, flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center
, flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
1.908 million LA PAZ (capital) ; 1.784 million Santa Cruz ; 1.369 million Cochabamba ; 278,000 Sucre (constitutional capital) (2022)
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...
344,000 SARAJEVO (capital) (2022)
Botswana
269,000 GABORONE (capital) (2018)
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
22.430 million Sao Paulo ; 13.634 million Rio de Janeiro ; 6.194 million Belo Horizonte ; 4.804 million BRASILIA (capital) ; 4.220 million Recife ; 4.185 million Porto Alegre (2022)
British Virgin Islands
15,000 ROAD TOWN (capital) (2018)
Brunei
241,000 BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (capital) (2011)
Bulgaria
1.287 million SOFIA (capital) (2022)
Burkina Faso
3.056 million OUAGADOUGOU (capital) ; 1.074 million Bobo-Dioulasso (2022)
Burundi
1.139 million BUJUMBURA (capital) (2022)
Cabo Verde
168,000 PRAIA (capital) (2018)
Cambodia
2.211 million PHNOM PENH (capital) (2022)
Cameroon
4.164 million YAOUNDE (capital) ; 3.927 million Douala (2022)
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
6.313 million Toronto ; 4.277 million Montreal ; 2.632 million Vancouver ; 1.611 million Calgary ; 1.519 million Edmonton ; 1.423 million OTTAWA (capital) (2022)
Cayman Islands
35,000 GEORGE TOWN (capital) (2018)
Central African Republic
933,000 BANGUI (capital) (2022)
Chad
1.533 million N'DJAMENA (capital) (2022)
Chile
6.857 million SANTIAGO (capital) ; 1.000 million Valparaiso ; 902,000 Concepcion (2022)
China
28.517 million Shanghai ; 20.133 million BEIJING (capital) ; 16.875 million Chongqing ; 14.012 million Tianjin ; 13.965 million Guangzhou ; 12.831 million Shenzhen (2022)
Colombia
11.344 million BOGOTA (capital) ; 4.068 million Medellin ; 2.837 million Cali ; 2.325 million Barranquilla ; 1.366 million Bucaramanga ; 1.079 million Cartagena (2022)
Comoros
62,000 MORONI (capital) (2018)
Congo, Democratic Republic of the
15.628 million KINSHASA (capital) ; 2.765 million Mbuji-Mayi ; 2.695 million Lubumbashi ; 1.593 million Kananga ; 1.366 million Kisangani ; 1.190 million Bukavu (2022)
Congo, Republic of the
2.553 million BRAZZAVILLE (capital) ; 1.295 million Pointe-Noire (2022)
Costa Rica
1.441 million SAN JOSE (capital) (2022)
Cote d'Ivoire
231,000 YAMOUSSOUKRO (capital) (2018) ; 5.516 million ABIDJAN (seat of government) (2022)
Croatia
684,000 ZAGREB (capital) (2022)
Cuba
2.146 million Havana, HAVANA (capital) (2022)
Curacao
144,000 WILLEMSTAD (capital) (2018)
Cyprus
269,000 NICOSIA (capital) (2018)
Czech Republic
1.318 million PRAGUE (capital) (2022)
Denmark
1.370 million COPENHAGEN (capital) (2022)
Djibouti
591,000 DJIBOUTI (capital) (2022)
Dominica
15,000 ROSEAU (capital) (2018)
Dominican Republic
3.458 million SANTO DOMINGO (capital) (2022)
Ecuador
3.092 million Guayaquil, 1.928 million QUITO (capital) (2022)
Egypt
21.750 million CAIRO (capital) ; 5.484 million Alexandria ; 764,000 Bur Sa'id (2022)
El Salvador
1.111 million SAN SALVADOR (capital) (2022)
Equatorial Guinea
297,000 MALABO (capital) (2018)
Eritrea
1.035 million ASMARA (capital) (2022)
Estonia
452,000 TALLINN (capital) (2022)
Eswatini
68,000 MBABANE (capital) (2018)
Ethiopia
5.228 million ADDIS ABABA (capital) (2022)
Falkland Islands
2,000 STANLEY (capital) (2018)
Faroe Islands
21,000 TÓRSHAVN (capital) (2018)
Fiji
178,000 SUVA (capital) (2018)
Finland
1.328 million HELSINKI (capital) (2022)
France
11.142 million PARIS (capital) ; 1.748 million Lyon ; 1.620 million Marseille-Aix-en-Provence ; 1.073 million Lille ; 1.049 million Toulouse ; 991,000 Bordeaux (2022)
French Polynesia
136,000 PAPEETE (capital) (2018)
Gabon
857,000 LIBREVILLE (capital) (2022)
Gambia, The
470,000 BANJUL (capital) (2022)
Georgia (country), Georgia
1.080 million TBILISI (capital) (2022)
Germany
3.571 million BERLIN (capital) ; 1.788 million Hamburg ; 1.566 million Munich ; 1.137 million Cologne ; 800,376 Nuremberg; 791,000 Frankfurt (2022)
Ghana
3.630 million Kumasi ; 2.605 million ACCRA (capital) ; 1.035 million Sekondi Takoradi (2022)
Gibraltar
35,000 GIBRALTAR (capital) (2018)
Greece
3.154 million ATHENS (capital) ; 814,000 Thessaloniki (2022)
Greenland
18,000 NUUK (capital) (2018)
Grenada
39,000 SAINT GEORGE'S (capital) (2018)
Guam
147,000 HAGATNA (capital) (2018)
Guatemala
3.036 million GUATEMALA CITY (capital) (2022)
Guernsey
16,000 SAINT PETER PORT (capital) (2018)
Guinea
2.049 million CONAKRY (capital) (2022)
Guinea-Bissau
643,000 BISSAU (capital) (2022)
Guyana
110,000 GEORGETOWN (capital) (2018)
Haiti
2.915 million PORT-AU-PRINCE (capital) (2022)
Holy See
1,000 VATICAN CITY (capital) (2018)
Honduras
1.527 million TEGUCIGALPA (capital) ; 956,000 San Pedro Sula (2022)
Hong Kong
7.643 million Hong Kong (2022)
Hungary
1.775 million Budapest, BUDAPEST (capital) (2022)
Iceland
216,000 REYKJAVÍK (capital) (2018)
India
32.066 million NEW DELHI (capital) ; 20.961 million Mumbai ; 15.134 million Kolkata ; 13.193 million Bangalore ; 11.503 million Chennai ; 10.534 million Hyderabad (2022)
Indonesia
11.075 million JAKARTA (capital) ; 3.622 million Bekasi ; 3.005 million Surabaya ; 2.942 million Depok ; 2.638 million Bandung ; 2.456 million Tangerang (2022)
Iran
9.382 million Tehran, TEHRAN (capital) ; 3.318 million Mashhad ; 2.219 million Esfahan ; 1.699 million Shiraz ; 1.644 million Tabriz ; 1.587 million Karaj (2022)
Iraq
7.512 million Baghdad, BAGHDAD (capital) ; 1.737 million Mosul ; 1.414 million Basra ; 1.052 million Kirkuk ; 930,000 Najaf ; 878,000 Erbil (2022)
Ireland
1.256 million DUBLIN (capital) (2022)
Isle of Man
27,000 DOUGLAS (capital) (2018)
Israel
4.344 million Tel Aviv-Yafo ; 1.254 million JERUSALEM (capital) ; 1.164 million Haifa (2022)
Italy
4.298 million ROME (capital) ; 3.149 million Milan ; 2.180 million Naples ; 1.798 million Turin ; 907,000 Bergamo ; 850,000 Palermo (2022)
Jamaica
595,000 KINGSTON (capital) (2022)
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
37.274 million TOKYO (capital) ; 19.060 million Osaka ; 9.572 million Nagoya ; 5.503 million Kitakyushu-Fukuoka ; 2.935 million Shizuoka-Hamamatsu ; 2.669 million Sapporo (2022)
Jersey
34,000 SAINT HELIER (capital) (2018)
Jordan
2.210 million AMMAN (capital) (2022)
Kazakhstan
1.958 million Almaty ; 1.254 million Astana, ASTANA (capital) ; 1.126 million Shimkent (2022)
Kenya
5.119 million NAIROBI (capital), 1.389 million Mombasa (2022)
Kiribati
64,000 TARAWA (capital) (2018)
Korea, North
3.133 million PYONGYANG (capital) (2022)
Korea, South
9.976 million SEOUL (capital) ; 3.468 million Busan ; 2.834 million Incheon ; 2.185 million Daegu (Taegu) ; 1.573 million Daejon (Taejon) ; 1.526 million Gwangju (Kwangju) (2022)
Kosovo
216,870 PRISTINA (capital) (2019)
Kuwait
3.239 million KUWAIT (capital) (2022)
Kyrgyzstan
1.082 million BISHKEK (capital) (2022)
Laos
706,000 VIENTIANE (capital) (2022)
Latvia
625,000 RIGA (capital) (2022)
Lebanon
2.433 million BEIRUT (capital) (2022)
Lesotho
202,000 MASERU (capital) (2018)
Liberia
1.623 million MONROVIA (capital) (2022)
Libya
1.176 million Tripoli, Libya, TRIPOLI (capital) ; 953,000 Misratah ; 848,000 Benghazi (2022)
Liechtenstein
5,000 VADUZ (capital) (2018)
Lithuania
541,000 VILNIUS (capital) (2022)
Luxembourg
120,000 LUXEMBOURG (capital) (2018)
Madagascar
3.700 million ANTANANARIVO (capital) (2022)
Malawi
1.222 million LILONGWE (capital) ; 995,000 Blantyre-Limbe (2022)
Malaysia
7.860 million Kuala Lumpur, KUALA LUMPUR (capital) ; 1.815 million Johor Bahru ; 1.470 million Penang ; 785,000 Ipoh ; 755,000 Kuching ; 605,000 Seremban (2019)
Maldives
177,000 MALE (capital) (2018)
Mali
2.817 million BAMAKO (capital) (2022)
Malta
213,000 VALLETTA (capital) (2018)
Marshall Islands
31,000 MAJURO (capital) (2018)
Mauritania
1.432 million NOUAKCHOTT (capital) (2022)
Mauritius
149,000 PORT LOUIS (capital) (2018)
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
22.085 million MEXICO CITY (capital) ; 5.340 million Guadalajara ; 5.037 million Monterrey ; 3.295 million Puebla ; 2.576 million Toluca de Lerdo ; 2.221 million Tijuana (2022)
Federated States of Micronesia
7,000 PALIKIR (capital) (2018)
Moldova
491,000 CHISINAU (capital) (2022)
Monaco
39,000 MONACO (capital) (2018)
Mongolia
1.645 million ULAANBAATAR (capital) (2022)
Montenegro
177,000 PODGORICA (capital) (2018)
Morocco
3.840 million Casablanca ; 1.932 million RABAT (capital) ; 1.267 million Fes ; 1.238 million Tangier ; 1.277 million Marrakech, 960,000 Agadir (2022)
Mozambique
1.797 million Matola ; 1.139 million MAPUTO (capital) ; 927,000 Nampula (2022)
Myanmar (Burma)
5.514 million Rangoon (Yangon) ; 1.501 million Mandalay ; 925,000 NAYPYIDAW (capital) (2022)
Namibia
461,000 WINDHOEK (capital) (2022)
Nepal
1.521 million KATHMANDU (capital) (2022)
Netherlands
2.48 million AMSTERDAM (capital), 2.40 million Rotterdam - The Hague (2022)
New Caledonia
198,000 NOUMEA (capital) (2018)
New Zealand
1.652 million Auckland, 419,000 WELLINGTON (capital) (2022)
Nicaragua
1.083 million Managua, MANAGUA (capital) (2022)
Niger
1.384 million NIAMEY (capital) (2022)
Nigeria
15.388 million Lagos ; 4.219 million Kano ; 3.756 million Ibadan ; 3.652 million ABUJA (capital) ; 3.325 million Port Harcourt ; 1.841 million Benin City (2022)
Niue
1,000 ALOFI (capital) (2018)
North Macedonia
606,000 SKOPJE (capital) (2022)
Northern Mariana Islands
51,000 SAIPAN (capital) (2018)
Norway
1.071 million OSLO (capital) (2022)
Oman
1.623 million Muscat, MUSCAT (capital) (2022)
Pakistan
16.840 million Karachi ; 13.542 million Lahore ; 3.625 million Faisalabad ; 2.353 million Gujranwala ; 2.343 million Peshawar ; 1.198 million ISLAMABAD (capital) (2022)
Palau
277 NGERULMUD (capital) (2018)
State of Palestine, Palestine
756,000 Gaza ; 153,237 RAMALLAH (Capital) (2022)
Panama
1.938 million PANAMA CITY (capital) (2022)
Papua New Guinea
400,000 PORT MORESBY (capital) (2022)
Paraguay
3.452 million ASUNCION (capital) (2022)
Peru
10.004 million LIMA (capital) ; 1.226 million Arequipa ; Callao 1.172 million ; 1.163 million Trujillo ; 929,055 Piura ; 605,300 Chiclayo (2022)
Philippines
13.484 million Manila, MANILA (capital) ; 3.339 million Metro Davao ; 3.165 million Metro Cebu ; 1.687 Metro Cagayan de Oro
Poland
1.795 million WARSAW (capital) ; 770,000 Krakow (2022)
Portugal
3.035 million LISBON (capital) ; 1.737 million Porto (2022)
Puerto Rico
2.443 million SAN JUAN (capital) (2022)
Qatar
779,000 Ar-Rayyan ; 652,000 DOHA (capital) (2022)
Romania
1.785 million BUCHAREST (capital) (2022)
Russia
12.641 million Moscow, MOSCOW (capital) ; 5.536 million
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
; 1.686 million Novosibirsk ; 1.521 million Yekaterinburg ; 1.286 million Kazan ; 1.253 million Nizhniy Novgorod (2022)
Rwanda
1.208 million KIGALI (capital) (2022)
Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha
1,000 JAMESTOWN (capital) (2018)
Saint Kitts and Nevis
14,000 BASSETERRE (capital) (2018)
Saint Lucia
22,000 CASTRIES (capital) (2018)
Saint Pierre and Miquelon
6,000 SAINT - PIERRE (capital) (2018)
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
27,000 KINGSTOWN (capital) (2018)
Samoa
36,000 APIA (capital) (2018)
San Marino
4,000 SAN MARINO (2018)
São Tomé and Príncipe
80,000 SÃO TOMÉ (capital) (2018)
Saudi Arabia
7.538 million RIYADH (capital) ; 4.781 million Jeddah ; 2.115 million Mecca ; 1.545 million Medina ; 1.305 million Ad Dammam ; 860,000 million Hufuf-Mubarraz (2022)
Senegal
3.326 million DAKAR (capital) (2022)
Serbia
1.405 million Belgrade, BELGRADE (capital) (2022)
Seychelles
28,000 VICTORIA (capital) (2018)
Sierra Leone
1.272 million FREETOWN (capital) (2022)
Singapore
5.670 million SINGAPORE (whole of Singapore) (2019)
Sint Maarten
1,327 PHILIPSBURG (capital) (2011)
Slovakia
439,000 BRATISLAVA (capital) (2022)
Slovenia
286,000 LJUBLJANA (capital) (2018)
Solomon Islands
82,000 HONIARA (capital) (2018)
Somalia
2.497 million MOGADISHU (capital) ; 1.079 million Hargeysa (2022)
South Africa
10.110 million Johannesburg (includes Ekurhuleni) ; 4.801 million Cape Town (legislative capital) ; 3.199 million Durban ; 2.74 million PRETORIA (administrative capital) ; 1.281 million Port Elizabeth ; 909,000 West Rand (2022)
South Sudan
440,000 JUBA (capital) (2022)
Spain
6.714 million MADRID (capital) ; 5.658 million Barcelona ; 837,000 Valencia (2022)
Sri Lanka
626,000 COLOMBO (capital) ; 103,000 Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte (legislative capital) (2022)
Sudan
6.160 million KHARTOUM (capital) ; 1.012 million Nyala (2022)
Suriname
239,000 PARAMARIBO (capital) (2018)
Sweden
1.659 million STOCKHOLM (capital) (2022)
Switzerland
1.420 million Zurich, 437,000 BERN (capital) (2022)
Syria
2.503 million Damascus, DAMASCUS (capital) ; 2.098 million Aleppo ; 1.398 million Homs ; 964,000 Hamah (2022)
Taiwan
4.471 million New Taipei City ; 2.821 million Taichung ; 2.770 million Kaohsiung ; 2.742 million TAIPEI (capital) ; 2.296 million Taoyuan ; 863,000 Tainan (2022)
Tajikistan
962,000 DUSHANBE (capital) (2022)
Tanzania
7.405 million DAR ES SALAAM (administrative capital) ; 1.245 million Mwanza ; 766,000 Zanzibar ; 262,000 Dodoma (legislative capital) (2022)
Thailand
10.700 million BANGKOK (capital) ; 1.198 million Chiang Mai ; 500,000 Nakhon Ratchasima ; 420,000 Khon Kaen ; 410,000 Udon Thani (2022)
Timor-Leste
281,000 DILI (capital) (2018)
Togo
1.926 million LOME (capital) (2022)
Tonga
23,000 NUKU'ALOFA (2018)
Trinidad and Tobago
545,000 PORT OF SPAIN (capital) (2022)
Tunisia
2.439 million Tunis, TUNIS (capital) (2022)
Turkey (Türkiye)
15.636 million
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
; 5.310 million Ankara, ANKARA (capital) ; 3.056 million Izmir ; 2.055 million Bursa ; 1.814 million Adana ; 1.773 million Gaziantep (2022)
Turkmenistan
883,000 Ashgabat, ASHGABAT (capital) (2022)
Turks and Caicos Islands
5,000 GRAND TURK (capital) (2018)
Tuvalu
7,000 FUNAFUTI (capital) (2018)
Uganda
3.652 million KAMPALA (capital) (2022)
Ukraine
3.010 million KYIV (capital) ; 1.423 million Kharkiv ; 1.008 million Odesa ; 952,000 Dnipro ; 893,000 Donetsk (2022)
United Arab Emirates
2.964 million Dubai ; 1.786 million Sharjah ; 1.540 million ABU DHABI (capital) (2022)
United Kingdom
9.426 million LONDON (capital) ; 2.750 million Manchester ; 2.626 million Birmingham ; 1.902 million West Yorkshire ; 1.681 million Glasgow ; 944,000 Southampton/Portsmouth (2022)
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
18.867 million New York - Newark ; 12.488 million Los Angeles - Long Beach - Santa Ana ; 8.901 million Chicago ; 6.603 million Houston ; 6.488 million Dallas - Fort Worth ; 5.434 million WASHINGTON, D.C. (capital) (2022)
Uruguay
1.767 million MONTEVIDEO (capital) (2022)
Uzbekistan
2.574 million TASHKENT (capital) (2022)
Vanuatu
53,000 PORT - VILA (capital) (2018)
Venezuela
2.957 million Caracas, CARACAS (capital) ; 2.333 million Maracaibo ; 1.959 million Valencia ; 1.241 million Barquisimeto ; 1.230 million Maracay ; 950,000 Ciudad Guayana (2022)
Vietnam
9.077 million Ho Chi Minh City ; 5.067 million HANOI (capital) ; 1.786 million Can Tho ; 1.382 million Hai Phong ; 1.188 million Da Nang ; 1.078 million Bien Hoa (2022)
Virgin Islands
52,000 CHARLOTTE AMALIE (capital) (2018)
Wallis and Futuna
1,000 MATA - UTU (capital) (2018)
Yemen
3.182 million SANAA (capital), 1.045 million Aden (2022)
Zambia
3.042 million LUSAKA (capital) (2022)
Zimbabwe
1.558 million HARARE (capital) (2022)
Very highly urbanized countries
This is the list of countries where the urbanization rate is at least 80%. Japan, the United States, Australia and Canada are included in the list and are among other very highly urbanized countries.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Definitions
European countries define urbanized areas on the basis of urban-type land use, not allowing any gaps of typically more than , and use satellite imagery instead of census blocks to determine the boundaries of the urban area. In less-developed countries, in addition to land use and density requirements, a requirement that a large majority of the population, typically 75%, is not engaged in agriculture and/or fishing is sometimes used.
East Asia
China
Since 2000, China's cities have expanded at an average rate of 10% annually. It is estimated that China's urban population will increase by 292 million people by 2050,
when its cities will house a combined population of over one billion.
The country's urbanization rate increased from 17.4% to 46.6% between 1978 and 2009.
Between 150 and 200 million migrant workers work part-time in the major cities, returning home to the countryside periodically with their earnings.
Today, China has more cities with one million or more long-term residents than any other country, including the three global city, global cities of
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
, Hong Kong, and
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
; by 2025, the country will be home to 221 cities with over a million inhabitants.
[ The figures in the table below are from the 2008 census, and are only estimates of the urban populations within administrative city limits; a different ranking exists when considering the total municipal populations (which includes suburban and rural populations). The large "floating populations" of migrant workers make conducting censuses in urban areas difficult;][Francesco Sisci. "China's floating population a headache for census". ''The Straits Times''. 22 September 2000.] the figures below include only long-term residents.
Japan
In Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, urbanized areas are defined as Geographic contiguity, contiguous areas of densely inhabited districts (DIDs) using census enumeration districts as units with a density requirement of .
South Korea
Seoul is the largest urban area in South Korea.
South Asia
India
For the Census of India 2011, the definition of urban area is a place having a minimum population of 5,000 of density or higher, and 75% plus of the male working population employed in non-agricultural activities. Places administered by a municipal corporation, cantonment board or notified town area committee are automatically considered urban areas.
The Census of India 2011 also defined the term "urban agglomeration" as an integrated urban area consisting of a core town together with its "outgrowths" (contiguous suburbs).
Pakistan
In Pakistan, an area is a major city and municipality if it has more than 100,000 inhabitants according to census results.
Cities include adjacent Cantonments (Pakistan), cantonments.
Urbanisation in Pakistan has increased since the time of independence and has several different causes. The majority of southern Pakistan's population lives along the Indus River. Karachi is its most populous city. In the northern half of the country, most of the population lives in an arc formed by the cities of Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Gujrat city, Gujrat, Jhelum, Sargodha, Sheikhupura, Nowshera, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Nowshera, Mardan and Peshawar. During 1990–2008, city dwellers made up 36% of Pakistan's population, making it the most urbanised nation in South Asia. Furthermore, 50% of Pakistanis live in towns of 5,000 people or more.
Karachi is the most populated city in Pakistan closely followed by Lahore according to the 2017 Census of Pakistan, 2017 Census.
Bangladesh
In Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
, there are total 532 urban areas, which are divided into three categories. Those are List of City Corporations of Bangladesh, City Corporation, List of Municipal Corporations of Bangladesh, Municipal Corporation (Pourasova) and Upazila, Upazila town. Among those urban areas, Dhaka
Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...
is the largest city by population and area, with a population of 19.10 million. In Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
, there are total 11 City Corporations in Bangladesh, City Corporations and 329 Municipal Corporations in Bangladesh, Municipal Corporations and 203 Small towns, which serves as the center for Upazilas. According to 2011 population census, Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
has an urban population of 28%, with a growth rate of 2.8%. At this growth rate, it is estimated that the urban population of Bangladesh will reach 79 million or 42% of total population by 2035.
Southeast Asia
Philippines
With an estimated population of 16.3 million, Metro Manila is the most populous metropolitan area in the Philippines#Metropolitan areas, Philippines and the List of metropolitan areas by population, 11th in the world. However, the greater urban area is the List of urban areas by population, 5th largest in the world with a population of 20,654,307 people (2010 estimate).
Singapore
As an island city-state, about 5.6 million people live and work within . With 64 List of islands of Singapore, islands and islets, Singapore Island makes up the largest urban area in the country. According to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the country has the highest urbanised population in Southeast Asia, with 100 percent of its population living in an urban area. The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is responsible for the urban land-use planning, which designates land use and urban density of the country. The country is divided into 5 Regions of Singapore, regions for planning purposes by the URA, even though as a city state Singapore is defined as a single continuous urban area. It is further subdivided into 55 Planning Areas of Singapore, urban planning areas, which acts as the boundaries of New towns of Singapore, planned towns within the country.
Vietnam
In Vietnam, there are 6 types of urban areas:
* Special urban area (2 municipalities): Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
* Type I urban area (18 provincial cities and 3 municipalities): Long Xuyên, Pleiku, Mỹ Tho, Thủ Dầu Một, Bắc Ninh, Biên Hòa, Hải Dương, Thanh Hóa, Hạ Long, Việt Trì, Thái Nguyên, Nam Định, Vũng Tàu, Buôn Ma Thuột, Đà Lạt, Quy Nhơn, Nha Trang, Huế, Vinh, Cần Thơ, Đà Nẵng and Hải Phòng.
* Type II urban area (21 provincial cities and 1 district):Châu Đốc, Đồng Hới, Uông Bí, Bắc Giang, Ninh Bình, Bạc Liêu, Bà Rịa, Thái Bình, Rạch Giá, Cà Mau, Phan Rang–Tháp Chàm, Tuy Hòa, Phan Thiết, Vĩnh Yên, Lào Cai and Phú Quốc.
* Type III urban area (31 provincial cities and 12 towns).
* Type IV urban area (35 towns and 35 townships).
* Type V urban area (586 townships and 54 communes).
Thailand
Bangkok is the largest urban area in Thailand.
Europe
Finland
Urban areas in the Nordic countries, As in other Nordic countries, an urban area (''taajama'' in Finnish language, Finnish) in Finland must have a building at least every and at least 200 people. To be considered a town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
or a city (''kaupunki'') for statistical purposes, an urban area must have at least 15,000 people. This is not to be confused with the city / town designation used by Municipalities of Finland, municipalities.
France
In France, an urban area (''Fr: aire d'attraction d'une ville'') is a zone encompassing an area of built-up growth (called an "urban unit" (''unité urbaine'') – close in definition to the North American urban area) and its commuter belt (''couronne périurbaine, couronne''). Americans would find the INSEE definition of the urban area to be similar to their metropolitan area
A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...
.
The List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest cities in France, in terms of urban area population (2017), are Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
(12,628,266), Lyon (2,323,221), Marseille (1,760,653), Toulouse (1,360,829), Bordeaux (1,247,977), Lille (1,191,117), Nice (1,006,201), Nantes (972,828), Strasbourg (790,087) and Rennes (733,320).
Germany
Germany has a number of large List of cities in Germany, cities. The largest conurbation
A conurbation is a region comprising a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most ca ...
is the Rhine-Ruhr region (11 million ), including Düsseldorf (the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia), Cologne, Bonn, Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg, and Bochum.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is the 30th List of countries by population density, most densely populated country in the world, with —or if only the land area is counted. The Randstad is the country's largest conurbation
A conurbation is a region comprising a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most ca ...
located in the west of the country and contains the four largest cities: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht (city), Utrecht. The Randstad has a population of 7 million inhabitants and is the List of metropolitan areas in Europe by population, 6th largest metropolitan area
A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...
in Europe.
Sweden
Urban areas in Sweden (''tätorter'') are statistically defined localities, totally independent of the administrative subdivision of the country. There are 1,956 such localities in Sweden, with a population ranging from 200 to 1,372,000 inhabitants.
United Kingdom
In 2013 the United Kingdom's Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament.
Overview
The ONS is responsible for th ...
(ONS) published ''2011 Built-up Areas - Methodology and Guidance'' which sets out its definition of a built-up area as an area of built-up land of at least , separated from other settlements by at least . For 2011 census data there are 5,493 built-up areas, of which 501 are divided into sub-divisions for which data is also available. Each built-up area is named algorithmically, using Ordnance Survey place-name data.
The ONS has produced census results from urban areas since 1951, since 1981 based upon the extent of irreversible urban development indicated on Ordnance Survey maps. The definition is an extent of at least 20 ha and at least 1,500 census residents. Separate areas are linked if less than 200 m (220 yd) apart. Included are transportation features. The UK has five Urban Areas with a population over a million and a further sixty nine with a List of urban areas in the United Kingdom#List of urban areas in the UK with a population over 100,000, population over one hundred thousand.
Norway
Statistics Norway defines urban areas ("tettsteder") Urban areas in the Nordic countries, similarly to the other Nordic countries. Unlike in Denmark and Sweden, the distance between each building has to be of less than 50 m, although exceptions are made due to parks, industrial areas, rivers, and similar. Groups of houses less than 400 m from the main body of an urban area are included in the urban area.
Poland
In Poland, official "urban" population figures simply refer to those localities which have the status of towns (''miasta''). The "rural" population is that of all areas outside the boundaries of these towns. This distinction may give a misleading impression in some cases, since some localities with only village status may have acquired larger and denser populations than many many smaller towns with most excessive example of Poznań, most spread urban area of the country with population of the city app. 534 thousand and urban area above 1,100 thousand inhabitants. On the other hand, the Upper Silesian Industrial Region conurbation with numerous large and medium cities covers 3,200 km and has approximately 3 million people.
Russia
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
, the capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, has a population estimated at 12.4 million residents within the city limits, while over 17 million residents in the urban area, and over 20 million residents in the Moscow metropolitan area, Moscow Metropolitan Area. It is among the List of largest cities, world's largest cities, being the List of European cities by population within city limits, most populous city entirely within Europe, the List of urban areas in Europe, most populous urban area in Europe, the List of metropolitan areas in Europe, most populous metropolitan area in Europe, and also the largest city by land area on the European continent. Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, the cultural capital, is the second-largest city, with a population of roughly 5.4 million inhabitants. Other major urban areas are Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, and Chelyabinsk.
File:Business Centre of Moscow 2.jpg, Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
, the capital and largest city of Russia
File:Spb 06-2017 img01 Spit of Vasilievsky Island.jpg, Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, the cultural capital and the second-largest city
File:Novosibirsk skyline in winter.jpg, Novosibirsk, the largest city in Siberia and the third-largest city
File:E-burg asv2019-05 img46 view from VysotSky.jpg, Yekaterinburg, the fourth-largest city in the country.
Oceania
Australia
The Australian Bureau of Statistics refers to urban areas as Urban Centres, which it generally defines as population clusters of 1,000 or more people. Australia is one of the most urbanised countries in the world, with more than 50% of the population residing in Australia's three biggest urban centres.
New Zealand
Statistics New Zealand defines urban areas in New Zealand, which are independent of any administrative subdivisions and have no legal basis. There are four classes of urban area: major urban areas (population 100,000+), large urban areas (population 30,000-99,999), medium urban areas (population 10,000-29,999) and small urban areas (population 1000-9,999). As of 2021, there are 7 major urban areas, 13 large urban areas, 22 medium urban areas and 136 small urban areas. Urban areas are reclassified after each New Zealand census, so population changes between censuses does not change an urban area's classification.
North America
Canada
According to Statistics Canada, an urban area in Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
is an area with a population of at least 1,000 people where the density is no fewer than . If two or more urban areas are within of each other by road, they are merged into a single urban area, provided they do not cross census metropolitan area or census agglomeration boundaries.
In the Canada 2011 Census, Statistics Canada redesignated urban areas with the new term "Population centre (Canada), population centre";["From urban areas to population centres"]
. Statistics Canada, May 5, 2011. the new term was chosen in order to better reflect the fact that urban vs. rural is not a strict division, but rather a continuum within which several distinct settlement patterns may exist. For example, a community may fit a strictly statistical definition of an urban area, but may not be commonly thought of as "urban" because it has a smaller population, or functions socially and economically as a suburb of another urban area rather than as a self-contained urban entity, or is geographically remote from other urban communities. Accordingly, the new definition set out three distinct types of population centres: small (population 1,000 to 29,999), medium (population 30,000 to 99,999) and large (population 100,000 or greater). Despite the change in terminology, however, the demographic definition of a population centre remains unchanged from that of an urban area: a population of at least 1,000 people where the density is no fewer than 400 persons per km2.
Mexico
Mexico is one of many countries where the urbanization rate is at least 80%. Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
, its capital, is the largest urban area in the country.
United States
In the United States, there are two categories of urban area. The term ''urbanized area'' denotes an urban area of 50,000 or more people. Urban areas under 50,000 people are called ''urban clusters''. Urbanized areas were first delineated in the United States in the 1950 census, while urban clusters were added in the 2000 census. There are 1,371 List of United States urban areas, urban areas and urban clusters with more than 10,000 people.
The United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau defines an urban area as "core census block groups or census block, blocks that have a population density of at least 1,000 people per square mile (386 per square kilometer) and surrounding census blocks that have an overall density of at least 500 people per square mile (193 per square kilometer)".
The largest urban area in the United States is the New York metropolitan area. The population of New York City, the core of the metropolitan area, exceeds 8.8 million people, its List of metropolitan statistical areas, metropolitan statistical area has a population that is over 20 million, and its List of Combined Statistical Areas, combined statistical area population is over 23 million. The next seven largest urban areas in the U.S. are Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
, Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, San Francisco, Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
, and Atlanta. About 82 percent of the population of the United States lives within the boundaries of an urbanized area as of December, 2010. Combined, these areas occupy about 2 percent of the land area of the United States. Many Americans live in agglomerations of cities, suburbs
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...
, and town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
s that are adjacent to a metropolitan area's largest city.
The concept of Urbanized Areas as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau is often used as a more accurate gauge of the size of a city, since in different cities and states the lines between city borders and the urbanized area of that city are often not the same. For example, the city of Greenville, South Carolina has a city population just over 68,000 and an urbanized area population of around 400,000, while Greensboro, North Carolina has a city population just over 285,000 and an urbanized area population of around 300,000 — meaning that Greenville is actually "larger" for some intents and purposes, but not for others, such as taxation, local elections, etc.
In the U.S. Department of Agriculture's natural resources inventory, urban areas are officially known as ''developed areas'' or urban and built-up areas. Such areas include cities, ethnic villages, other built-up areas of more than 10 ac (4 ha), industrial sites, railroad yards, cemeteries, airports, golf courses, shooting ranges, institutional and public administration sites, and similar areas. The 1997 national resources inventory placed over 98,000,000 ac (40,000,000 ha) in this category, an increase of 25,000,000 ac (10,000,000 ha) since 1982.
South America
Argentina
Argentina is highly urbanized. The ten largest metropolitan areas account for half of the population, and fewer than one in ten live in rural areas. About 3 million people live in Buenos Aires City and the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area totals around 15 million, making it one of the largest urban areas in the world, with a population of 18 million all up.
Córdoba, Argentina, Córdoba has around 1.5 million people living in the urban area, while Rosario, Santa Fe, Rosario, Mendoza, Argentina, Mendoza and San Miguel de Tucumán, Tucumán have around 1.2 million inhabitants each[ and La Plata, Mar del Plata, Salta and Santa Fe, Argentina, Santa Fe] have at least 500,000 people each.
Brazil
Chile
Chile is highly urbanized, just like Argentina. The largest urban area in the country is its capital, Santiago.
See also
* Developed environments
* Urban climatology
* Urban culture
* Urban decay
* Urban exploration
* Urban planning
* Urban renewal
* Urbanization
* Urban vitality
References
External links
United Nations Statistics Division (UNSTAT): Definition of "urban"
World Urban Areas
All identified world urbanized areas 500,000+ and others: Population & Density.
Geopolis
research group, University of Paris-Diderot, France for world urban areas
Gridded Population of the World
– contains links to urban area definitions and maps for over 230 countries/territories
* [http://www.populationdata.net/index2.php?option=palmares&rid=4&nom=grandes-villes PopulationData – World's largest urban areas 1,000,000+ population]
{{Authority control
Urban areas,
Urban design
Urban planning