# What's the largest city you've never heard of? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 8, 2001, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397 "2001-09-08T14:47:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2001, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/41 "2001-09-09T01:07:21Z")
#61 Shenyang, China. Although I admit that Essen was a bit of a squeaker. I’ve heard of many of these cities but had no idea that they were so _big_! ---
**Author:** ![Mauvaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mauvaise/32/11084_2.png) [@Mauvaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mauvaise)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2001, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/42 "2001-09-09T01:18:08Z")
Sigh. I thought I was good at geography. #19 Karachi (incl. div. cantonments) Pakistan 10750000 Also unknown for me: 22 Dhaka (Dacca) Bangladesh 9800000 31 Al-Khartum [Khartoum] Sudan 7200000 32 Lagos Nigeria 7200000 35 Hyderabad India 6700000 38 Chongqing China 6450000 41 Kinshasa Congo (Dem. Rep.) 6050000 43 Lahore (incl. Cantonment) Pakistan 5850000 49 Tianjin China 5350000 51 Nagoya Japan 5150000 57 Wuhan China 4450000 58 Belo Horizonte Brazil 4400000 60 Harbin China 4400000 61 Shenyang China 4350000 64 Ar-Riyad Saudi Arabia 4250000 69 Ahmadabad India 4150000 71 Pusan (Busan) South Korea 3950000 74 Abidjan Côte d Ivoire 3800000 75 Medellín Colombia 3800000 77 Porto Alegre Brazil 3650000 79 P’yongyang North Korea 3550000 81 Chengdu China 3500000 86 Pune (Poona) India 3450000 87 Recife Brazil 3450000 94 Jiddah Saudi Arabia 3150000 95 Salvador Brazil 3150000 96 Cali Colombia 3100000 97 Chittagong Bangladesh 3050000 100 Fortaleza Brazil 3000000 I feel terribly ignorant now, thanks Matt 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Trucido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@Trucido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trucido)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2001, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/43 "2001-09-09T01:49:22Z")
Woohoo! I’m still geography king! What do I win? 🙂 Besides scorn and ridicule, I mean… ---
**Author:** ![jaimest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/48db29/32.png) [@jaimest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaimest)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2001, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/44 "2001-09-09T02:23:45Z")
Phoenix has 3400000? Add Tucson’s metro population to that and that would leave about 8 people to occupy the rest of Arizona wouldn’t it? I have a list from about 30 years ago, the 1971 edition of the World Book Encyclopedia. Top 50 Metropolitan Areas of the World in 1971. 1. New York 16m 2. Tokyo 11.3m 3. Paris 8.2m 4. London 7.7m 5. Chicago 7.5m 6. Buenos Aires 7m 7. Los Angeles 7m 8. Shanghai 6.9m 9. Moscow 6.5m 10. São Paulo 5.4m I won’t bother with the rest but its obvious that Africa, Asia, and parts of Latin America have really moved to the city in the last 30 years; Mexico City is a mere #21 with 3.3m, behind a hypothetically reunited Berlin, with 3.3m. In 1971 Birmingham and Manchester, UK were a lofty #35 and # 37 repectively with 2.4 m. each. They aren’t even top 100 now. But if the Ruhr counts, why not say the “Midlands” of England or the “Megalopolis” of the East Coast? # 50 was Caracas, Venezuela with 1.95m! Some of Mexico City’s suburbs have more people today. Mukden, China was #38 in 1971 with 2.4 m. What is it now? I don’t think it dissapeared - maybe it’s now attatched to a larger area now. ---
**Author:** ![Weird\_AL\_Einstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c67d28/32.png) [@Weird\_AL\_Einstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weird_AL_Einstein)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2001, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/45 "2001-09-09T02:35:07Z")
# 38 Chongqing China, unless it’s a spelling variant of one I know (Sinkiang?), in which case it is # 40 Essen Germany. Nitpick: NY, NY includes Newark? Ahhhhhh…I dunno about that. I used to live in New Jersey… ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2001, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/46 "2001-09-09T02:48:34Z")
Tianjin, again. Then, Chengdu, then Chittagong. The other 97 I could place or at least recognize by country (even the Chinese ones written in Pinyin). But some assignations of Greater Metropolitan Areas do seem a bit of a reach. DC-Baltimore are hardly one cohesive unit. And the entire Ruhr is “Essen”? ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2001, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/47 "2001-09-09T03:19:59Z")
Well, for me it was Wuhan, China, number 57. FWIW, I have been to 31 of the places listed here. And I don’t buy into applying US “metropolitan area” counting concepts, which IMHO are a bit bogus to start with, to turn everyplace in the world into an instant mega-city. Also, for many of these places these are SWAGs, there is for example no census count for Bangkok, and the official count is far short of what many people believe to be the real count. There are several political reasons for this. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2001, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/48 "2001-09-09T04:56:23Z")
58 Belo Horizonte Brazil 4400000 ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2001, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/49 "2001-09-09T05:20:53Z")
I’d heard of all of 'em. No, really. I work in a map library. I’ve been a geography buff since I was a kid. Tianjin (Tientsin) is the most frequently named city on this thread so far. Here’s something that may jog your memory. Remember that movie _The Last Emperor_? Remember when Pu Yi was kicked out of the Forbidden City, he moved to Tientsin and became a “playboy”? One of my best friends ever came from Lahore. My yoga class has been graced by a very lovely young lady from Belo Horizonte. I used to work with someone from al-Khartûm. I have actually _been_ to Chennai/Madras. Mrs. Mojo is from Hyderabad. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Dead\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecb155/32.png) [@Living\_Dead\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Dead_Girl)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2001, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/50 "2001-09-09T13:14:55Z")
Well, I’ll be the first to admit that I suck at geography and was stopped at… #4. \*LDG hangs her head in shame. ---
**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:** [September 9, 2001, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/51 "2001-09-09T14:30:30Z")
I have a real big problem with the methodology. Do some google searches on city population. I also see I’m not the first to point this out. For example, San Francisco at 7.2 million. WTF? That’s 10x higher than the official population. SF is on a penninsula, Oakland is across the Bay for chrissakes. San Jose is at least an hour’s drive south. I’m not sure what kind of half assed methodology was used, but Shanghai would probably be at least 30 million if you include the same geographical size as San Francisco. I lived in Tokyo for a few years, and have always seen estimates for 10-15 million for the greater Tokyo area depending on how it’s defined. I guess this study is including the greater greater greater area. BTW, I’ve lived in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taipei and San Francisco. Any casual visitor would think that SF is a ghost town compared to the others. Answer to some previous questions on China. Chongqing used to be known as Chungking. By the way, check out this site which says that the Chongqing city proper population is 5.7 million, and the greater Chongqing area is 30 million. [http://www.canada.org.cn/chongqing/en/home/overview.htm](http://www.canada.org.cn/chongqing/en/home/overview.htm) Tianjin was Tsientsin, a treaty port from the opium war days, and where the Last Emperer hung out before heading up to Manchuria. Mukden was the old name for a big somewhere in China’s northeast, maybe Changchun? IIRC China has something like 20 cities with populations in excess of 5 million. They haven’t made this list. To answer the OP, I bet there’s at least 10 Chinese cities that people haven’t heard of. For example, Chengdu has an population of 3.2 million and over 9 million for the greater area [http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/chengdu.htm](http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/chengdu.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Kayeby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de0a6/32.png) [@Kayeby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kayeby)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2001, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/52 "2001-09-09T14:48:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Living Dead Girl \* > \*\*Well, I’ll be the first to admit that I suck at geography and was stopped at… #4. > > \*LDG hangs her head in shame. \*\* It’s okay **LDG**. _pats **LDG** on the head_ I stopped at #4 as well, and even paused at #3 for a microsecond. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2001, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/53 "2001-09-09T15:25:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kayeby \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Living Dead Girl \* > > \*\*Well, I’ll be the first to admit that I suck at geography and was stopped at… #4. > > > > \*LDG hangs her head in shame. \*\* > > It’s okay **LDG**. _pats **LDG** on the head_ I stopped at #4 as well, and even paused at #3 for a microsecond. ☹ \*\* 4 **Ciudad de México** Mexico 19300000 incl. Nezahualcóyotl, Ecatepec, Naucalpan. That’s just Spanish for ‘Mexico City’. You _must’ve_ heard of Mexico City, it’s the capital of Mexico ;). ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/54 "2001-09-10T07:10:17Z")
I have some doubts about the acuracy of some of those population figures. Osaka including Kyoto? The two cities are close but hardly the same. And if they’re measuring the population of the urban area, when I went there I was told Chongqing’s was close to 30,000,000. But they might have lied. ---
**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:** [September 10, 2001, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/55 "2001-09-10T07:27:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jovan \* > \*\*I have some doubts about the acuracy of some of those population figures. > > Osaka including Kyoto? The two cities are close but hardly the same. And if they’re measuring the population of the urban area, when I went there I was told Chongqing’s was close to 30,000,000. \*\* Chongqing is a special autonomous municipal region, along with Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai. Autonomous municial regions answer directly to the central government. Therefore, these are much more like a small state than a city. So the population of the Chongqing area is given at 30 million, that encompasses 82,400 square kilometers. Vermont by contrast is 24,900 square kilometers. ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/56 "2001-09-10T08:28:10Z")
58 Belo Horizonte Brazil 4400000 How about in area? I’ll bet that most people would be knocked out at #1: 1. Davao City, Philippines. (244,000 hectares, or 942 square miles, #319 in population) Yeah the methodology is iffy, as it is very difficult to define exactly what a metro area is. The web site even gives a warning about this: > [@](#): > > ). Official censuses and estimations are mostly the basis of the popupation data; the definition of agglomerations is sometimes based on unofficial or own estimates. Considering its former development, the population of the agglomerations and cities is projected on 13.05.2001. The data of such a statistic are all of varying, and some of suspect accuracy. There are several reasons: the varying relevance and accuracy of the base data, the poor comparibility of the definitions of agglomerations, errors in the projections and so on. In the sites faq, they refuse to answer a question about the 10 biggest cities, saying that such a question is essentially meaningless. Looking at the site as a whole, it isn’t really intended to be used as a top 10 type of thing, but more to give info about the largest populated areas of the planet. I once read a discussion on this subject that defined the New York / Providence / Boston corridor a single metro area. I also have a cousin who lives in Brooklyn, which is part of New York, but she frequently refers to going to Manhattan, where she works, as “going into the city”. For her, Brooklyn is only technically part of New York. Largest city lists can be as much a matter of ego as reason. Ask people around here, and it’s a well known “fact” that Mexico City is the largest in the world, and some would take it as an insult to disagree. It’s like the “tallest building” debate. How do you define how tall a building is? If you live in Chicago, you define the height of a building as the ground to the top of the highest floor. Using this definition, surprise, the Sears Tower is the world’s tallest building. If you live in, oh, let’s say Malaysia, it’s pretty obvious that 250 ft. decorative spires count in the height, which makes the Petronas Towers the world’s tallest buildings. But if you include spires, why not anntenae? Then, the Sears Tower is tallest. If you are considering only the population of the city proper, the only site I could find had Seoul listed first at about 12 million. Unfortunately, that was months ago, and for the life of me, I can’t find it now. Most sites stick with agglomerations, claiming that determining city populations with any accuracy when it comes to very large cities is next to impossible. I take all such lists with a grain of salt. You can’t count large city populations accurately, and metro areas, or agglomorations, are fuzzy concepts. But it is fun for the purposes of the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Pammipoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/87869e/32.png) [@Pammipoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pammipoo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/57 "2001-09-10T09:38:49Z")
It’s official, I’m an idiot. I’m out at #3 ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Dead\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecb155/32.png) [@Living\_Dead\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Dead_Girl)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/58 "2001-09-10T13:06:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by everton \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Kayeby \* > > \*\* > > > > > [@](#): > > > > > > \*Originally posted by Living Dead Girl \* > > > \*\*Well, I’ll be the first to admit that I suck at geography and was stopped at… #4. > > > > > > \*LDG hangs her head in shame. \*\* > > > > It’s okay **LDG**. _pats **LDG** on the head_ I stopped at #4 as well, and even paused at #3 for a microsecond. ☹ \*\* > > 4 **Ciudad de México** Mexico 19300000 incl. Nezahualcóyotl, Ecatepec, Naucalpan. That’s just Spanish for ‘Mexico City’. You _must’ve_ heard of Mexico City, it’s the capital of Mexico ;). \*\* **Everton** … I offically love you. Yes, I have heard of Mexico City, so that means my _actual_ knowledge gets me all the way to… #9. Crap. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/59 "2001-09-10T13:16:24Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by China Guy \* \*\*I have a real big problem with the methodology. Do some google searches on city population. I also see I’m not the first to point this out. For example, San Francisco at 7.2 million. WTF?\*\* I had the same reaction to the listing of Toronto as 5.2 million. Canada’s own census reports the Toronto metropolitan area as 4.3 million, and that is a VERY generous definition of “metropolitan area” which would include places nobody thinks is part of Toronto. ---
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/60 "2001-09-10T13:35:48Z")
#51, Nagoya. The next one after that is #71, Pusan. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397.md?page=4)