Top 10 Biggest Cities by Population (1955 - 2035)

This data ranking visualizes the most populated cities in the world and projects the near future based on official estimates.

It is perhaps unsurprising that the majority of the most populous cities in the world are in the two most densely populated countries in the world, China and India.

However, Tokyo currently is the largest city in the world if the entire Tokyo metro area is included, with a total of more than 38 million residents. Another Japanese city, Osaka, also has a very large population of almost 20.5 million. However, due to a low birth rate and almost no immigration, Japanese cities are likely to decline in the near future.

Of the European cities, Istanbul is the most populous, with more than 14.5 million residents. This is followed by Moscow (over 12 million) and Paris (11 million including the Paris metro area). These cities are of course also culturally significant and between them welcome millions of tourists each year.

There are quite a number of popular and culturally rich cities that have smaller populations, often making for higher living standards for their residents. Barcelona, Sydney, Berlin and Vancouver all have fewer than five million residents, but are very popular choices for city living. There are also some comparatively very small cities with big cultural, historical or political reputations, such as Sarajevo (314,000), Edinburgh (502,000), and Venice (631,000), demonstrating that small cities can be highly significant regardless of the size of their population.

African cities, like Kinshasa, are experiencing tremendous population growth and will rank amongst the biggest cities within this century!

Music: Epic Inspirational Piano (2018) by AKASHIC RECORDS