# Most populated city in the world? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 3, 2004, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-populated-city-in-the-world/222448 "2004-01-03T07:15:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Madness2MyMethod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Madness2MyMethod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madness2MyMethod)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-populated-city-in-the-world/222448/1 "2004-01-03T07:15:03Z")
I keep googling for the answer, but I get different results. Even the guinness book of world records’ website yields zero results. Any definite answers? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Mnem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mnem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mnem)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-populated-city-in-the-world/222448/2 "2004-01-03T07:20:36Z")
I found that Seoul, South Korea seems to be the most populated with app. 10,321,449 ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-populated-city-in-the-world/222448/3 "2004-01-03T07:22:11Z")
I doubt that you’ll be able to find a definitive answer. Census methods and accuracies vary over the world. I doubt that anyone can tell you the population of any place any where at any particular time so as to give a definitive answer to your question. Mexico City used to be one of the really **big** cities, but I don’t know that that is true any more. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-populated-city-in-the-world/222448/4 "2004-01-03T07:26:20Z")
[http://web.ask.com/redir?bpg=http%3A%2F%2Fweb.ask.com%2Fweb%3Fq%3Dwhat%2Bcity%2Bhas%2Bthe%2Blargest%2Bpopulation%2Bin%2Bthe%2Bworld%26o%3D0%26page%3D1&q=what+city+has+the+largest+population+in+the+world&u=http%3A%2F%2Ftm.wc.ask.com%2Fr%3Ft%3Dan%26s%3Da%26uid%3D0FCEB4E99C8654CF3%26sid%3D1EEF90E6358D66FF3%26qid%3DA4B516796A5DFC4882DF651D5902536A%26io%3D0%26sv%3Dza5cb0db0%26o%3D0%26ask%3Dwhat%2Bcity%2Bhas%2Bthe%2Blargest%2Bpopulation%2Bin%2Bthe%2Bworld%26uip%3D4509ffee%26en%3Dte%26eo%3D-100%26pt%3DCity%2BPopulation%26ac%3D24%26qs%3D1%26pg%3D1%26ep%3D1%26te\_par%3D103%26te\_id%3D%26u%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.citypopulation.de%2F&s=a&bu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.citypopulation.de%2F&qte=0&o=0](http://web.ask.com/redir?bpg=http%3a%2f%2fweb.ask.com%2fweb%3fq%3dwhat%2bcity%2bhas%2bthe%2blargest%2bpopulation%2bin%2bthe%2bworld%26o%3d0%26page%3d1&q=what+city+has+the+largest+population+in+the+world&u=http%3a%2f%2ftm.wc.ask.com%2fr%3ft%3dan%26s%3da%26uid%3d0FCEB4E99C8654CF3%26sid%3d1EEF90E6358D66FF3%26qid%3dA4B516796A5DFC4882DF651D5902536A%26io%3d0%26sv%3dza5cb0db0%26o%3d0%26ask%3dwhat%2bcity%2bhas%2bthe%2blargest%2bpopulation%2bin%2bthe%2bworld%26uip%3d4509ffee%26en%3dte%26eo%3d-100%26pt%3dCity%2bPopulation%26ac%3d24%26qs%3d1%26pg%3d1%26ep%3d1%26te_par%3d103%26te_id%3d%26u%3dhttp%3a%2f%2fwww.citypopulation.de%2f&s=a&bu=http%3a%2f%2fwww.citypopulation.de%2f&qte=0&o=0) Ick, long address! You’ll find it here. I always heard it to be Sao Paolo, Brazil. Tokyo has always been behind by a couple million, but I didn’t check anything in India or China. Good luck. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-populated-city-in-the-world/222448/5 "2004-01-03T07:27:53Z")
BTW, click on the first hyperlinked “county” then click the contry on the map (close the stupid Java pop-up) then scroll down to the principal cities box. The first is counties. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-populated-city-in-the-world/222448/6 "2004-01-03T07:52:32Z")
Well, you have to define what you mean by city and metropolitan area, etc. Tokyo ain’t that big unless you count the greater Tokyo-Yokohama-Chibu area. Ditto for LA. Hong Kong has a district called Mong Kok. I don’t have a handy cite, but have seen claims that it was the most densely populated square mile on earth with over a million people. ---
**Author:** ![KenGr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecc23a/32.png) [@KenGr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KenGr)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-populated-city-in-the-world/222448/7 "2004-01-03T12:02:14Z")
This web site ranks “agglomerations” or major metropolitan areas: [http://www.citypopulation.de/World.html](http://www.citypopulation.de/World.html) and says that Tokyo is far ahead with over 33 million followed by Mexico City, New York, Seoul and Sao Paulo with over 20 million. But when you look at populations within political borders of individual cities, Tokyo does not make the top 10 per this list: [http://www.world-gazetteer.com/home.htm](http://www.world-gazetteer.com/home.htm) headed up by Mumbai, Buenos Aires, Moscow, Karachi and Delhi. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-populated-city-in-the-world/222448/8 "2004-01-03T12:14:09Z")
[http://www.citypopulation.de/cities.html#countries](http://www.citypopulation.de/cities.html#countries) That’s the link I meant. agglomerations are part, but not all of the site. Some searching of the site would show that. Let me make sure this works. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-populated-city-in-the-world/222448/9 "2004-01-03T12:16:03Z")
Yup, that’s it, sorry bout the last link. Now just click any country and scroll to the 2nd box. The 1st box is metro areas. Hope this helps ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-populated-city-in-the-world/222448/10 "2004-01-03T14:59:14Z")
I looked at Bangkok in that one, because I used to live there and _no one_ really knows how many people live there. This is because people register in the place of their ancestral home for things like voting, and indeed typically travel “up country” to vote, have children, etc, but then return to the city to make a living. So the 6-8 million figure for that city is at best an educated guess, and could be understated by as many as 10 million. Scary, eh? I would guess that a lot of the “third world” cities on the list might fall into the category of real population unknowable. Cities like Tokyo, New York, etc., should be closer to accurate, although there are still certain to be undocumented persons in those places (homeless, illegals and whatnot). ---
**Author:** ![Titan2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Titan2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Titan2)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-populated-city-in-the-world/222448/11 "2004-01-03T18:47:27Z")
Tokyo seems to come out ahead in all the metro cites,but that 30+mil compares to NYCs 30 mil,which they list as NYC/Phila.metro.That’s some big slice of the pie. Or Buenos Aires listed variously as 2.7 mil and over 11 mil.2nd to Bombay in another city (political division) listing. All those numbers should be taken with a grain if nobody can agree just what these cities/metro areas encompass. I can’t buy a NY/Phila metro area.To my way of thinking they each have their own.Don’t think SEPTA makes commuter runs to Penn Station. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-populated-city-in-the-world/222448/12 "2004-01-03T20:50:27Z")
For Buenos Aires there is the Capitol/Federal area, a pretty small square, and then a sprawling bunch of stuff radiating out from there, hence the two very disparate numbers. It would be similar to comparing just Manhattan, for NYC, to the entire NYC Metropolitan area (although I would not personally include Philly in NYC for ANY measure of that city). ---
**Author:** ![DBNY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c89c15/32.png) [@DBNY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DBNY)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-populated-city-in-the-world/222448/13 "2004-01-03T21:25:32Z")
I agree that placing New York and Philly together for a metro area is a bit of a stretch, but, you would be surprised how many people live in Bucks County and even Philadelphia proper that commute to Manhattan for work every day. I work with 2 such people. No, there’s not a direct commuter train from Philly to Manhattan, but Amtrak runs several times per day between the two cities and New Jersey Transit runs from Trenton to Penn Station. Trenton, BTW, is formally included in the New York CMSA by the US Census Bureau. It is 76 miles from Manhattan and only 35 miles from Philadelphia. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2004, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-populated-city-in-the-world/222448/14 "2004-01-04T01:08:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ShibbOleth \* > \*\*Cities like Tokyo, New York, etc., should be closer to accurate, although there are still certain to be undocumented persons in those places (homeless, illegals and whatnot). \*\* The figures for cities would be probably quite accurate, but it still doesn’t mean much about the urban population. They inform us only about the population within the administrative limits of the cities, which is meaningless since these limits are arbitrary hence can’t be compared (for instance the administrative limits of Paris follow the XIX° century line of forts…do you believe that 150 years later, you’ll notice a difference when crossing these limits?) What could be compared would be indeed the population of the agglomerations, but then, you must decide what to include and not to include in the agglomeration. Which is quite arbitrary too. So, you’re going to have wide differences from one estimate to another. There must be a very significant difference in the size of the cities in order to be able to tell with some certainty which one is the largest. For instance, the 3 largest european cities are Moscow, Paris and London, since they’ve clearly a larger poulation than any other. That at least you can tell. But I’ve seen these 3 cities ranked by population in all possible orders. You just can’t tell for sure which one is the most populated of the three, and which one is the least populated. So, IMO, the OP about the “most populated city in the world” doesn’t have a definitive answer. We could take the ten _agglomerations_ appearing the most often at the top of these numerous list ranking cities by population, and it would probably be one of those. Which one? Who knows… ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2004, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-populated-city-in-the-world/222448/15 "2004-01-04T03:57:20Z")
Go to the United Nations Site. They use a really good definition. It is a total area whereas so much is urban. If a portion ceases to have that much it isn’t urban and not counted. Anchorage Alaska is bigger than Rhode Island. That is city limits. The only accurate way to compare cities is with Population Density. For example LA is bigger than all of Cook County (Chicago), but Chicago is much denser than LA. Metro Areas as defined by the US are not good measures. For example the Reno Metro area extends all the way to the Idaho border. LA Consolidated Metro includes San Bernadino County extending to Nevada. That is hardly accurate. Tokyo has the City, The urban area and the prefecture (that’s the one with 30 million people) ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2004, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-populated-city-in-the-world/222448/16 "2004-01-04T04:25:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Markxxx \* > \*\*Tokyo has the City, The urban area and the prefecture (that’s the one with 30 million people) \*\* There is no meaningful way to distinguish the city from the prefecture. There is only one government, and it is only refered to as Tokyo City (Tokyo-to), never Tokyo Prefecture (Tokyo-ken). Since 1947, Tokyo has been divided into 23 wards (ku), but there are no higher levels of organization.