thumb|right|[[Mumbai, the financial capital of India, is the most populous city proper in the world.]]

This is a list of the most populous cities of the world defined according to the concept of city proper. The list ranks the world's urban municipal units (or well-defined statistical groupings of such units) according to population. Note that the populations listed are for the city proper and not for the urban area nor the metropolitan area. The meaning and role of the political units taken for the purpose of this list to be the "city proper" are not and cannot be wholly consistent, owing to the differing systems of local government around the world. Statistical definitions for each city, approximate surface area, and population density are also indicated.

Cities proper by population

See also

• Historical urban community sizes

• List of cities by population density

• List of largest cities throughout history

• List of metropolitan areas by population

• List of urban areas by population

• Rank mobility index

• World's largest cities (explaining alternative measures)