Eddie On Everything

List of the World’s 100 Most Populated Metro Areas

June 2, 2006 on 9:23 pm | In lists, stats |

New York City may not top the list of largest cities in the world, but it rounds out the top three on a list of “largest metropolitan areas.”

Joining NYC on the list, we have Los Angeles coming in at 12, sweet home Chicago at 25, and Miami at 42. Miami as the fourth largest metro area in the United States? Are you kidding me?

Wow, I guess sometimes truth IS stranger than fiction. But then again, when you define the entire southern tip of Florida as your metro area, you’re gonna pick up a few stragglers.

Rounding out the top 60 are Philly, Dallas, Boston, Atlanta, and Houston. (Yes, that’s the same Houston that is the fourth largest city in the nation.) Washington DC barely misses the mark at 61.

I guess this list goes to show, it’s not about the raw numbers, it’s all how you define the parameters.

World’s Most Populated Metropolitan Areas

Rank	Metropolitan area name		Definition	Area (mi²)	Population estimate
1	Tokyo(Greater Tokyo Area)		Officialmetropolitan area (Keihinyo MMA)	5,211	35,237,000
2	MexicoCity (Greater Mexico City)		Officialmetropolitan area (ZMCM)	1,922	19,013,000
3	NewYork City, New York–Newark, New Jersey (New York metropolitanarea)		Urbanarea (FIPS 63217)	3,350	18,498,000
4	Mumbai(Bombay) (MMRDA)		Administrativearea (MMRDA)	1,683	18,336,000
5	SãoPaulo (Greater São Paulo Area)		Officialmetropolitan area	3,107	18,333,000
6	Delhi(National Capital Territory of Delhi)		Administrativearea (NCT)	571	15,334,000
7	Kolkata(Calcutta) (Kolkata Metropolitan Area)		Administrativearea (KMD)	687	14,299,000
8	BuenosAires (Aglomerado Gran Buenos Aires)		Metropolitanarea	1,420	13,349,000
9	Jakarta(Jabotabek Metropolitan Area)		Urbanizedarea	525	13,194,000
10	Shanghai		Municipality(urban population)	2,509	12,665,000
11	Dhaka		Officialmetropolitan area (Dhaka Megacity)	618	12,560,000
12	LosAngeles–Long Beach–Santa Ana, California (GreaterLos Angeles Area)		Urbanizedarea (FIPS 51445)	1,668	12,146,000
13	Karachi		Citydistrict	1,363	11,819,000
14	Rio de Janeiro		Officialmetropolitan area	1,930	11,469,000
15	Osaka–Kobe(Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto)		Urbanizedarea (administrative boundaries) (excludes Kyoto)	799	11,286,000
16	Cairo–Giza–ShubraEl-Khema		Metropolitanarea	0	11,146,000
17	Lagos		Urbanizedarea	247	11,135,000
18	Beijing		Municipality(urban population)	6,489	10,849,000
19	Manila(Metropolitan Manila)		Administrativearea (Metro Manila)	247	10,677,000
20	Moscow		Cityproper (Federal city)	417	10,672,000
21	Paris		Urbanarea (commune boundaries)	1,050	9,854,000[3]
22	Istanbul		Metropolitanmunicipality	706	9,760,000
23	Seoul(Seoul National Capital Area)		Cityproper (Seoul City)	235	9,592,000[4]
24	Tianjin		Municipality(urban population)	4,609	9,346,000
25	Chicago,Illinois (Chicagoland)		Urbanizedarea (FIPS 16264)	2,123	8,711,000
26	Lima(Lima Metropolitan Area)		Officialmetropolitan area	1,085	8,180,000
27	London(Greater London Urban Area)		Urbanarea	625	7,615,000[1]
28	Bogotá–Soacha		Metropolitanarea	764	7,594,000
29	Tehran		Cityproper	255	7,352,000
30	HongKong Special Administrative Region		Administrativearea	425	7,182,000
31	Chennai(Madras), Tamil Nadu		Administrativearea (CMDA)	455	6,915,000
32	Bangkok		Officialmetropolitan area (Bangkok Metropolis)	606	6,604,000
33	Rhein-RuhrgebietNorth–Duisburg, Essen, Krefeld, Mülheim an der Ruhr,Oberhausen, Bottrop, Gelsenkirchen, Bochum, Dortmund, Hagen, Hamm andHerne (Ruhr Valley)		Urbanarea (NUTS-3 boundaries)	1,737	6,566,000
34	Bangalore,Karnataka		Administrativearea (BDA)	494	6,532,000
35	Lahore,Punjab		Citydistrict	683	6,373,000
36	Hyderabad,Andhra Pradesh		Administrativearea (HUDA)	718	6,145,000
37	Wuhan,Hubei		Prefecture-levelcity (urban population)	3,277	6,003,000
38	Baghdad		Governorate(province)	282	5,910,000
39	Kinshasa		Province-levelcity (urban population)	3,845	5,717,000
40	Santiago(Santiago Metropolitan Region)		Metropolitanarea	907	5,623,000
41	Riyadh		Cityproper	598	5,514,000
42	Miami,Florida (South Florida)		Urbanizedarea (FIPS 56602)	1,116	5,380,000
43	Philadelphia,Pennsylvania (Delaware Valley)		Urbanizedarea (FIPS 69076)	1,799	5,325,000
44	Saint Petersburg		Administrativearea (Gorod)	444	5,315,000
45	Belo Horizonte		Officialmetropolitan area	3,547	5,304,000
46	Ahmedabad,Gujarat		Administrativearea (AUDA)	502	5,171,000
47	Madrid		Officialmetropolitan area	656	5,145,000
48	Toronto(Greater Toronto Area)		Officialmetropolitan area (CMA)	2,266	5,060,000
49	Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)		Municipality(urban population)	807	5,030,000
50	Chongqing		Prefecture-levelcity [pre-1997 borders] (urban population)	5,744	4,975,000
51	Shenyang,Liaoning		Prefecture-levelcity (urban population)	5,003	4,916,000
52	Dallas–FortWorth–Arlington, Texas (Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex)		Urbanizedarea (FIPS 22042)	1,405	4,612,000
53	Khartoum–KhartoumNorth–Omdurman		Urbanizedarea (administrative boundaries)	0	4,495,000
54	Pune,Maharashtra		Urbanizedarea	270	4,485,000
55	Barcelona		Officialmetropolitan area	1,251	4,424,000
56	Sydney, New South Wales		Metropolitanarea (Statistical Division)	4,686	4,388,000
57	SingaporeCity		Cityproper	266	4,372,000
58	Boston,Massachusetts (Greater Boston)		Urbanizedarea (FIPS 09271)	1,737	4,313,000
59	Atlanta,Georgia (Atlanta Metropolitan Area)		Urbanizedarea (FIPS 03817)	1,961	4,284,000
60	Houston,Texas (Greater Houston)		Urbanizedarea (FIPS 40429)	1,293	4,283,000
61	Washington, DC		Urbanized area (FIPS 92242)(excludes Baltimore)	1,158	4,190,000
62	Chittagong		Officialmetropolitan area (census definition)	382	4,171,000
63	Hanoi		Metropolitanarea	830	4,147,000
64	Yangon		Urbanizedarea	135	4,082,000
65	Bandung		Urbanizedarea	85	4,020,000
66	Milan		Urbanizedarea (administrative boundaries)	656	4,007,000
67	Detroit,Michigan (Metro Detroit)		Urbanizedarea (FIPS 23824)	1,262	3,980,000
68	Guadalajara, Jalisco		Officialmetropolitan area	1,054	3,905,000
69	Guangzhou,Guangdong		Prefecture-levelcity (urban population)	2,872	3,881,000
70	Jeddah		Cityproper	216	3,807,000
71	Porto Alegre		Metropolitanarea	3,818	3,795,000
72	Alexandria,Al Iskandariyah Governorate		Governorate	1,146	3,760,000
73	Casablanca (Region du Grand Casablanca)		Administrativearea	625	3,743,000
74	Rhein-Main–Darmstadt,Frankfurt am Main, Offenbach am Main and Wiesbaden (Greater Frankfurt)		Urbanarea (NUTS-3 boundaries)	1,351	3,721,000
75	Surat,Gujarat		Urbanizedarea	77	3,671,000
76	Melbourne, Victoria		Metropolitanarea (Statistical Division)	2,968	3,663,000
77	Ankara		Metropolitanmunicipality	965	3,593,000
78	Busan(Pusan)		Cityproper (Busan City)	293	3,527,000
79	Recife,Brazil		Metropolitanarea	1,069	3,527,000
80	Monterrey,Nuevo León		Officialmetropolitan area	1,548	3,517,000
81	Abidjan		Cityproper	212	3,516,000
82	Montreal,Quebec (Greater Montreal Area)		Metropolitanarea (CMA)	1,563	3,511,000
83	Chengdu,Sichuan		Prefecture-levelcity (urban population)	4,767	3,478,000
84	Phoenix–Mesa,Arizona (Valley of the Sun)		Urbanizedarea (FIPS 69184)	799	3,393,000
85	SanFrancisco–Oakland, California		Urbanized area (excludes SanJose)	525	3,342,000[2]
86	Brasilia		Metropolitanarea (RIDE)	5,558	3,341,000
87	Salvador		Metropolitanarea	903	3,331,000
88	Berlin		Berlincity state	344	3,328,000
89	Rhein-RuhrgebietMiddle–Düsseldorf, Mönchengladbach,Remscheid, Solingen and Wuppertal		Urbanarea (NUTS-3 boundaries)	579	3,325,000
90	Johannesburg		Metropolitanmunicipality (excludes Ekurhuleni and West Rand)	633	3,288,000
91	Kabul		Cityproper	0	3,288,000
92	Pyongyang		Cityproper	814	3,284,000
93	Caracas		Officialmetropolitan area	745	3,276,000
94	Fortaleza		Metropolitanarea	1,911	3,261,000
95	Algiers		Wilaya(province)	104	3,260,000
96	Xi’an		Prefecture-levelcity (urban population)	3,852	3,256,000
97	Athens		Urbanizedarea (administrative boundaries)	0	3,238,000
98	Medellín		Metropolitanarea (Valle de Abura)	444	3,236,000
99	Nagoya		Urbanizedarea (administrative boundaries)	259	3,189,000
100	CapeTown		Metropolitanmunicipality	965	3,103,000

(Note- based on 2005 data)

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