Half of the world’s population now lives in cities, according to UN-Habitat’s latest reports. While this number is set to increase to two-thirds by 2050, urban challenges are growing exponentially, making it more crucial than ever, to transform our cities. Annually, the world population review assesses the growth of cities and the number of residents living in metropolitan areas, to understand global evolution trends. In 2022, the list of the top 20 most populated countries remained similar to the 2021 edition, with a slight change in numbers and positions. Tokyo kept its status as the world’s largest city, with 37 million inhabitants, while Delhi and Shanghai, followed in second and third positions.
Comparing the results to the 2021 edition, the only decrease that can be seen in the top 20, involves both Japanese cities, Tokyo and Osaka. The rest of the list had, on average, a growth of 1.8% in the total of people residing in metropolitan areas. In fact, African cities Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Lagos in Nigeria gathered the highest rates, with respectively a 4.39% and a 3.54% increase in residents in 1 year. The largest city in the American continent is still Sao Paulo in Brazil, followed closely by Mexico City and Buenos Aires in Argentina, further down the table. In Europe, Istanbul is the most populous, with more than 14.5 million residents.
Discover below the top 20 most populated cities in the world in 2022, in comparison to 2021, and check the full list of results.
1- Tokyo, Japan
Population 2022: 37,274,000
Population 2021: 37,339,804
2- Delhi, India
Population 2022: 32,065,760
Population 2021: 31,181,376
3- Shanghai, China
Population 2022: 28,516,904
Population 2021: 27,795,702
4- Dhaka, Bangladesh
Population 2022: 22,478,116
Population 2021: 21,741,090
5- Sao Paulo, Brazil
Population 2022: 22,429,800
Population 2021: 22,237,472
6- Mexico City, Mexico
Population 2022: 22,085,140
Population 2021: 21,918,936
7- Cairo, Egypt
Population 2022: 21,750,020
Population 2021: 21,322,750
8- Beijing, China
Population 2022: 21,333,332
Population 2021: 20,896,820
9- Mumbai, India
Population 2022: 20,961,472
Population 2021: 20,667,656
10- Osaka, Japan
Population 2022: 19,059,856
Population 2021: 19,110,616
11- Chongqing, China
Population 2022: 16,874,740
Population 2021: 16,382,376
12- Karachi, Pakistan
Population 2022: 16,839,950
Population 2021: 16,459,472
13- Istanbul, Turkey
Population 2022: 15,636,243
Population 2021: 15,415,197
14- Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
Population 2022: 15,628,085
Population 2021: 14,970,460
15- Lagos, Nigeria
Population 2022: 15,387,639
Population 2021: 14,862,111
16- Buenos Aires, Argentina
Population 2022: 15,369,919
Population 2021: 15,257,673
17- Kolkata, India
Population 2022: 15,133,888
Population 2021: 14,974,073
18- Manila, Philippines
Population 2022: 14,406,059
Population 2021: 14,158,573
19- Tianjin, China
Population 2022: 14,011,828
Population 2021: 13,794,450
20- Guangzhou, China
Population 2022: 13,964,637
Population 2021: 13,635,397
