This page lists the 100 largest metropolitan areas of the world by population. This is a controversial and difficult to define quantity. These figures include suburban areas immediately surrounding a major city and sometimes multiple major cities which may be close enough together to function essentially as one area (e.g. Washington-Baltimore).
Figures are all rounded to three significant digits (four in cases of populations above ten million), as these can only be rough estimates.
| Rank | Metropolitan area name | Population estimate |
|---|
| 1 | Tokyo-Yokohama-Kawasaki-Chiba, Japan (Greater Tokyo Area) | 33,750,000 |
| 2 | Mexico City-Nezahualcóyotl-Ecatepec-Naucalpan, Mexico | 21,850,000 |
| 3 | New York City, New York-Newark, New Jersey-Paterson, New Jersey, United States (New York Metropolitan Area) | 21,750,000 |
| 4 | Seoul-Incheon-Bucheon-Goyang-Seongnam-Suweon, South Korea | 21,700,000 |
| 5 | São Paulo-Guarulhos, Brazil | 20,200,000 |
| 6 | Mumbai-Kalyan-Thane-Ulhasnagar, Maharashtra, India (Brihanmumbai/Greater Mumbai) | 18,800,000 |
| 7 | Delhi, Delhi-Faridabad, Haryana-Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India | 18,100,000 |
| 8 | Los Angeles-Riverside-Anaheim, California, United States (The Southland) | 17,450,000 |
| 9 | Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto, Japan | 16,700,000 |
| 10 | Jakarta-Bekasi-Bogor-Depok-Tangerang, Indonesia (Daerah Jabotabek/Jabotabek Area) | 16,300,000 |
| 11 | Cairo-Al-Jizah-Shubra al-Khaymah, Egypt | 15,600,000 |
| 12 | Moscow, Russia | 15,350,000 |
| 13 | Kolkata-Haora, West Bengal, India | 14,950,000 |
| 14 | Manila-Kalookan-Quezon City, Philippines (Metro Manila) | 14,000,000 |
| 15 | Buenos Aires-San Justo-La Plata, Argentina | 13,900,000 |
| 16 | Karachi, Pakistan | 13,100,000 |
| 17 | Shanghai Municipality, People's Republic of China | 12,500,000 |
| 18 | Rio De Janeiro-Nova Iguaçu-São Gonçalo, Brazil | 12,150,000 |
| 19 | Dhaka, Bangladesh | 12,050,000 |
| 20 | London, United Kingdom (London commuter belt) | 11,900,000 |
| 21 | Tehran-Karaj, Iran | 10,800,000 |
| 22 | Istanbul, Turkey | 10,900,000 |
| 23 | Beijing Municipality, People's Republic of China | 9,900,000 |
| 24 | Paris, France | 9,850,000 |
| 25 | Chicago, Illinois, United States (Chicagoland) | 9,650,000 |
| 26 | Lagos, Nigeria | 9,600,000 |
| 27 | Hong Kong Special Administrative Region-Shenzhen, Guangdong, People's Republic of China | 8,600,000 |
| 28 | Lima, Peru | 8,150,000 |
| 29 | Bogota, Colombia | 8,000,000 |
| 30 | Nagoya, Japan | 5,130,000 |
| 31 | Washington, DC-Baltimore, Maryland, United States (Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area) | 7,900,000 |
| 32 | Johannesburg-Soweto-East Rand-West Rand, South Africa | 7,750,000 |
| 33 | Bangkok, Thailand | 7,650,000 |
| 34 | Chongqing Municipality, People's Republic of China | 7,650,000 |
| 35 | Chennai-Tambaram-Avadi-Manali, Tamil Nadu, India | 7,300,000 |
| 36 | San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, California, United States (San Francisco Bay Area) | 7,250,000 |
| 37 | Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo | 6,950,000 |
| 38 | Lahore, Pakistan | 6,950,000 |
| 39 | Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China | 6,800,000 |
| 40 | Toronto-Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (Extended Golden Horseshoe) | 6,700,000 |
| 41 | Bangalore, Karnataka, India | 6,650,000 |
| 42 | Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India | 6,350,000 |
| 43 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States (Delaware Valley) | 5,950,000 |
| 44 | Saint Petersburg, Russia | 5,850,000 |
| 45 | Tianjin Municipality, People's Republic of China | 5,580,000 |
| 46 | Essen (Rhein-Ruhr), Germany | 5,800,000 |
| 47 | Detroit, Michigan, United States-Windsor, Ontario, Canada | 5,800,000 |
| 48 | Boston, Massachusetts, United States | 5,700,000 |
| 49 | Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, United States (Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex) | 5,700,000 | |
| 50 | Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States | 5,400,000 | |
| 51 | Khartoum, Sudan | 5,350,000 | |
| 52 | Belo Horizonte, Brazil | 5,300,000 | |
| 53 | Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India | 5,250,000 | |
| 54 | Santiago, Chile | 5,250,000 |
| 55 | Baghdad, Iraq | 5,200,000 | |
| 56 | Madrid, Spain | 5,200,000 | |
| 57 | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | 5,150,000 | |
| 58 | Houston, Texas, United States | 5,150,000 | |
| 59 | Alexandria, Egypt | 5,050,000 | |
| 60 | Atlanta, Georgia, United States | 4,850,000 | |
| 61 | Yangon, Myanmar | 4,850,000 | |
| 62 | Guangzhou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China | 4,800,000 | |
| 63 | Wuhan, Hubei, People's Republic of China | 4,800,000 | |
| 64 | Harbin, Heilongjiang, People's Republic of China | 4,550,000 | |
| 65 | Caracas, Venezuela | 4,500,000 | |
| 66 | Shenyang, Liaoning, People's Republic of China | 4,450,000 | |
| 67 | Singapore City, Singapore | 4,400,000 | |
| 68 | Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam | 4,450,000 | |
| 69 | Pune-Pimpri-Chinchwad, Maharashtra, India | 4,250,000 | |
| 70 | Algiers, Algeria | 4,200,000 | |
| 71 | Guadalajara-Zapopan, Mexico | 4,200,000 | |
| 72 | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | 4,200,000 | |
| 73 | Berlin, Germany | 4,150,000 | |
| 74 | Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire | 4,050,000 | |
| 75 | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | 4,050,000 | |
| 76 | Porto Alegre, Brazil | 3,950,000 | |
| 77 | Chittacong, Bangladesh | 3,900,000 | |
| 78 | Casablanca, Morocco | 3,850,000 | |
| 79 | Barcelona, Spain | 3,800,000 | |
| 80 | Milan, Italy | 3,800,000 | |
| 81 | Monterrey, Mexico | 3,800,000 | |
| 82 | Busan, South Korea | 3,750,000 | |
| 83 | Chengdu, Sichuan, People's Republic of China | 3,750,000 | |
| 84 | Recife, Brazil | 3,750,000 | |
| 85 | Jeddah, Saudi Arabia | 3,650,000 | |
| 86 | Phoenix, Arizona, United States (Valley of the Sun) | 3,650,000 | |
| 87 | Seattle, Washington, United States | 3,650,000 | |
| 88 | Ankara, Turkey | 3,600,000 | |
| 89 | Montreal, Quebec, Canada | 3,600,000 | |
| 90 | Pyongyang, North Korea | 3,600,000 | |
| 91 | Medellin, Colombia | 3,550,000 | |
| 92 | Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | 3,550,000 | |
| 93 | Athens, Greece | 3,500,000 | |
| 94 | Salvador, Brazil | 3,400,000 | |
| 95 | Brasília, Brazil | 3,500,000 | |
| 96 | Surat, Gujarat, India | 3,500,000 | |
| 97 | Fortaleza, Brazil | 3,300,000 | |
| 98 | Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States | 3,300,000 | |
| 99 | Rome, Italy | 3,300,000 | |
| 100 | Kiev, Ukraine | 3,250,000 | |
| 101 | Upper Silesian Metropolitan Area, Poland | 2,930,800 | |