The thousand-year-old city of Cairo, the capital of Egypt, commands this ranking considering the urban agglomerations, while it is bypassed by Kinshasa as regards only the city borders.A feature in common to almost all African cities is their rapid growth in recent decades, which still continues at a very rapid pace, with the consequent birth of slums in the peripheral suburbs; Lagos, for example, had just over two and a half million inhabitants in 1980, Kinshasa about 2 million.
Nigeria, with 15 cities, is the most represented country, also because it is the most populated, and by far, of the whole continent, followed by Morocco and the Democratic Rep. of the Congo with 5 cities.
There are also several countries represented by a single city, in most cases the capital, usually the economic as well as political fulcrum of that country.
| City | Urban aggl. | Population | Urban area | Country | Other cities in urban area |
| Cairo | 20,296,000 | 9,607,000 | 2,010 Kmē | Egypt | Giza, Shubra al-Khaymah |
| Lagos | 16,637,000 | 9,000,000 | 1,966 Kmē | Nigeria | Ikeja, Mushin, Ikorodu |
| Johannesburg | 14,586,000 | 2,026,000 | 4,040 Kmē | South Africa | Soweto, Pretoria, Benoni, Tembisa |
| Kinshasa | 12,836,000 | 12,836,000 | 474 Kmē | Democratic Rep. of the Congo |
|
| Luanda | 9,051,000 | 2,572,000 | 1,005 Kmē | Angola | |
| Dar es Salaam | 7,962,000 | 5,655,000 | 961 Kmē | Tanzania | |
| Khartoum | 7,869,000 | 1,411,000 | 1,031 Kmē | Sudan | Omdurman, Khartoum North |
| Onitsha | 7,022,000 | 1,499,000 | 1,942 Kmē | Nigeria | Asaba, Nkpor |
| Nairobi | 6,599,000 | 4,397,000 | 852 Kmē | Kenya | Ruiru |
| Addis Ababa | 5,889,000 | 3,860,000 | 622 Kmē | Ethiopia | |
| Abidjan | 5,617,000 | 5,617,000 | 376 Kmē | Ivory Coast | |
| Accra | 5,431,000 | 1,782,000 | 1,222 Kmē | Ghana | Ashiaman, Tema |
| Kampala | 5,407,000 | 1,739,000 | 772 Kmē | Uganda | Nansana, Kira, Makindye Ssabagabo |
| Alexandria | 5,264,000 | 5,264,000 | 293 Kmē | Egypt | |
| Kano | 4,817,000 | 3,626,000 | 326 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Yaoundé | 4,603,000 | 3,452,000 | 228 Kmē | Cameroon | |
| Cape Town | 4,448,000 | 3,433,000 | 839 Kmē | South Africa | |
| Casablanca | 4,314,000 | 3,563,000 | 469 Kmē | Morocco | |
| Kumasi | 4,257,000 | 444,000 | 650 Kmē | Ghana | |
| Bamako | 4,014,000 | 2,704,000 | 422 Kmē | Mali | Kalabancoro |
| Ibadan | 3,846,000 | 3,565,000 | 471 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Ouagadougou | 3,831,000 | 2,684,000 | 471 Kmē | Burkina Faso | |
| Algiers | 3,779,000 | 2,365,000 | 443 Kmē | Algeria | Rouïba |
| Dakar | 3,775,000 | 1,477,000 | 194 Kmē | Senegal | Pikine, Guediawaye |
| Abuja | 3,770,000 | 1,236,000 | 927 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Mbuji-Mayi | 3,682,000 | 3,682,000 | 137 Kmē | Democratic Rep. of the Congo |
|
| Douala | 3,629,000 | 3,516,000 | 202 Kmē | Cameroon | |
| Durban | 3,318,000 | 3,120,000 | 1,072 Kmē | South Africa | |
| Lusaka | 3,270,000 | 2,204,000 | 313 Kmē | Zambia | |
| Conakry | 2,973,000 | 2,096,000 | 409 Kmē | Guinea | |
| Harare | 2,885,000 | 1,492,000 | 834 Kmē | Zimbabwe | Chitungwiza, Epworth |
| Lubumbashi | 2,753,000 | 2,753,000 | 433 Kmē | Democratic Rep. of the Congo |
|
| Antananarivo | 2,721,000 | 1,274,000 | 181 Kmē | Madagascar | |
| Lomé | 2,695,000 | 1,350,000 | 414 Kmē | Togo | |
| Port Harcourt | 2,637,000 | 1,149,000 | 433 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Maputo | 2,553,000 | 1,130,000 | 417 Kmē | Mozambique | Matola |
| Tunis | 2,529,000 | 603,000 | 451 Kmē | Tunisia | At-Tadaman, Sukrah |
| Mogadishu | 2,104,000 | 1,650,000 | 127 Kmē | Somalia | |
| Brazzaville | 2,061,000 | 2,061,000 | 238 Kmē | Congo | |
| Benin City | 2,028,000 | 1,125,000 | 482 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Kaduna | 1,972,000 | 1,647,000 | 300 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Rabat | 1,953,000 | 533,000 | 189 Kmē | Morocco | Salé, Témara |
| Monrovia | 1,745,000 | 1,745,000 | 202 Kmē | Liberia | |
| N'Djamena | 1,743,000 | 1,743,000 | 220 Kmē | Chad | |
| Cotonou | 1,726,000 | 679,000 | 215 Kmē | Benin | Godomey, Abomey-Calavi |
| Bukavu | 1,579,000 | 1,579,000 | 85 Kmē | Democratic Rep. of the Congo |
|
| Kigali | 1,517,000 | 1,517,000 | 114 Kmē | Rwanda | |
| Nouakchott | 1,498,000 | 1,237,000 | 174 Kmē | Mauritania | |
| Niamey | 1,487,000 | 1,408,000 | 135 Kmē | Niger | |
| Freetown | 1,458,000 | 1,262,000 | 184 Kmē | Sierra Leone | |
| Lilongwe | 1,378,000 | 1,126,000 | 251 Kmē | Malawi | |
| Mombasa | 1,354,000 | 1,208,000 | 135 Kmē | Kenya | |
| Aba | 1,349,000 | 1,200,000 | 91 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Ilorin | 1,335,000 | 1,233,000 | 254 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Oran | 1,335,000 | 803,000 | 153 Kmē | Algeria | |
| Fčs | 1,304,000 | 1,187,000 | 91 Kmē | Morocco | |
| Maiduguri | 1,266,000 | 822,000 | 155 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Warri | 1,266,000 | 1,055,000 | 163 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Bujumbura | 1,265,000 | 793,000 | 78 Kmē | Burundi | |
| Tripoli | 1,258,000 | 1,258,000 | 502 Kmē | Libya | |
| Port Elizabeth | 1,255,000 | 968,000 | 391 Kmē | South Africa | |
| Enugu | 1,251,000 | 1,251,000 | 205 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Bangui | 1,231,000 | 812,000 | 145 Kmē | Central African Rep. | |
| Uyo | 1,190,000 | 848,000 | 181 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Nyala | 1,161,000 | 780,000 | 106 Kmē | Sudan | |
| Tangier | 1,156,000 | 1,087,000 | 96 Kmē | Morocco | |
| Bunia | 1,148,000 | 1,148,000 | 60 Kmē | Democratic Rep. of the Congo |
|
| Lubango | 1,145,000 | 601,000 | 218 Kmē | Angola | |
| Nsukka | 1,138,000 | 444,000 | 339 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Hargeisa | 1,098,000 | 741,000 | 65 Kmē | Somalia | |
| Mwanza | 1,091,000 | 1,091,000 | 111 Kmē | Tanzania | |
| Bobo-Dioulasso | 1,068,000 | 905,000 | 101 Kmē | Burkina Faso | |
| Banjul | 1,059,000 | 31,100 | 319 Kmē | The Gambia | |
| Blantyre | 1,058,000 | 858,000 | 207 Kmē | Malawi | |
| Agadir | 1,050,000 | 498,000 | 117 Kmē | Morocco | Aït Melloul |
| Touba | 1.019.000 | 1.019.000 | 184 Kmē | Senegal |
* data on urban agglomerations updated to 2022 (estimates), those on population according to official data or more recent estimates of the national statistical services, when different from urban agglomerations.