This is a list of contiguous
urban areas of the world ordered according to population as of 2009. The figures here have been compiled by
Demographia.
Definitions and issues
Demographia defines an urban area (urbanized area agglomeration or urban centre) as a continuously built up landmass of urban development containing a high population density, without regard for administrative boundaries (
i.e. municipality,
city or
commune) or a labor market (
i.e. metropolitan area). Except in
Australia, the authorities use a minimum urban density definition of 400 persons per square kilometer (or the nearly identical 1,000 per square mile in the
United States). Demographia uses maps, satellite photographs to estimate continuous urbanization. Demographia also uses small area population data, where available, to match population estimates to urbanized land area. National census authority data are presented in Australia,
Canada,
France, the
United Kingdom and the United States. Census of
India urban agglomerations are not used because the geographical size of constituent units (municipalities) often includes large rural (non-urban) areas. Sources for population estimates and land area definitions are coded by letter in the Table below, respectively.
A: National census authority data.
B: Demographia land area estimate based upon map or satellite photograph analysis.
C: Demographia population "build up" from third, fourth or fifth order jurisdictions (NUTS-3, NUTS-4, NUTS-5 or equivalent).
D: Population estimate based upon United Nations agglomeration estimate.
E: Demographia population estimate from national census authority agglomeration data.
F: Other Demographia population estimate.
G: Estimate based upon projected growth rate from last census.
H: Combination of adjacent national census authority agglomerations.
The most reliable population estimates are A and H. Population estimates C are generally reliable. Population estimates D and E are less reliable. Population estimates coded F and G are the least reliable.
The estimates are quite different from the list of
World's largest urban agglomerations produced by the
United Nations that reports inconsistently on urban geographic, despite its reference to agglomerations. This is evident, for example, in
Manila,
Kuala Lumpur,
Jakarta,
Seoul and
Moscow, where the UN data are for political jurisdictions, rather than urban areas. In other cases, metropolitan area data are shown, such as in
Brazil.
Urban areas are confined to a single metropolitan area or labor market area. In some cases, urban areas have virtually grown together (
e.g. BosWash in the United States and
Taiheiyō Belt in
Japan), yet are still considered separate urban areas.
Urban areas are confined to a single nation, unless there is freedom of movement (including labor) between the adjacent nations. Currently, this condition is met only between some continental nations of the
European Union (
e.g. Lille–
Kortrijk in both France and
Belgium).
Urban areas (population over 2,000,000) ranked by 2009 projected population
Number of areas by country
- People's Republic of China (including Hong Kong): 31
- United States (including Puerto Rico): 21
- Germany, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan and South Africa: 4
- Canada, Colombia, Italy, Republic of China (Taiwan), South Korea, Turkey and the United Kingdom: 3
- Australia, Egypt, Iran, Nigeria, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Syria and Vietnam: 2
References and notes
