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 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 | 22,679,000 | 10,312,000 | 2,696 Kmē | Egypt | Giza, Shubra al-Khaymah |
| Johannesburg | 15,551,000 | 2,026,000 | 4,040 Kmē | South Africa | Soweto, Pretoria, Benoni, Tembisa |
| Lagos | 14,540,000 | 9,000,000 | 2,585 Kmē | Nigeria | Ikeja, Mushin, Ikorodu |
| Kinshasa | 13,493,000 | 13,493,000 | 518 Kmē | Democratic Rep. of the Congo |
|
| Luanda | 10,914,000 | 2,572,000 | 1,005 Kmē | Angola | |
| Dar es Salaam | 7,965,000 | 5,384,000 | 961 Kmē | Tanzania | |
| Addis Ababa | 7,922,000 | 4,198,000 | 673 Kmē | Ethiopia | |
| Nairobi | 7,264,000 | 4,978,000 | 1,085 Kmē | Kenya | Ruiru |
| Onitsha | 7,205,000 | 1,499,000 | 1,943 Kmē | Nigeria | Asaba, Nkpor |
| Khartoum | 7,155,000 | 1,411,000 | 1,031 Kmē | Sudan | Omdurman, Khartoum North |
| Abidjan | 6,461,000 | 6,461,000 | 632 Kmē | Ivory Coast | |
| Accra | 6,336,000 | 1,782,000 | 1,222 Kmē | Ghana | Ashiaman, Tema |
| Alexandria | 5,552,000 | 5,552,000 | 293 Kmē | Egypt | |
| Kumasi | 5,192,000 | 444,000 | 650 Kmē | Ghana | |
| Yaoundé | 5,095,000 | 3,763,000 | 228 Kmē | Cameroon | |
| Kampala | 4,679,000 | 1,794,000 | 772 Kmē | Uganda | Nansana, Kira, Makindye Ssabagabo |
| Kano | 4,670,000 | 3,626,000 | 326 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Casablanca | 4,608,000 | 3,218,000 | 469 Kmē | Morocco | |
| Cape Town | 4,595,000 | 3,433,000 | 839 Kmē | South Africa | |
| Bamako | 4,228,000 | 4,228,000 | 422 Kmē | Mali | |
| Mogadishu | 4,219,000 | 1,650,000 | 127 Kmē | Somalia | |
| Douala | 4,093,000 | 3,816,000 | 202 Kmē | Cameroon | |
| Algiers | 3,699,000 | 2,364,000 | 443 Kmē | Algeria | Rouïba |
| Ibadan | 3,657,000 | 3,565,000 | 471 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Lusaka | 3,518,000 | 2,212,000 | 313 Kmē | Zambia | |
| Dakar | 3,510,000 | 1,182,000 | 194 Kmē | Senegal | Pikine, Guediawaye |
| Mbuji-Mayi | 3,493,000 | 3,493,000 | 137 Kmē | Democratic Rep. of the Congo |
|
| Ouagadougou | 3,481,000 | 2,415,000 | 471 Kmē | Burkina Faso | |
| Durban | 3,452,000 | 3,120,000 | 1,072 Kmē | South Africa | |
| Port Harcourt | 3,429,000 | 1,149,000 | 433 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Conakry | 3,407,000 | 3,407,000 | 409 Kmē | Guinea | |
| Antananarivo | 3,154,000 | 1,380,000 | 181 Kmē | Madagascar | |
| Brazzaville | 3,118,000 | 2,138,000 | 241 Kmē | Congo | Kintélé |
| Maputo | 2,911,000 | 1,143,000 | 417 Kmē | Mozambique | Matola |
| Lubumbashi | 2,750,000 | 2,750,000 | 433 Kmē | Democratic Rep. of the Congo |
|
| Tunis | 2,686,000 | 599,000 | 451 Kmē | Tunisia | At-Tadaman, Sukrah |
| Lomé | 2,572,000 | 1,350,000 | 414 Kmē | Togo | |
| Abuja | 2,420,000 | 1,236,000 | 927 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Harare | 2,394,000 | 1,492,000 | 834 Kmē | Zimbabwe | Chitungwiza, Epworth |
| Rabat | 2,082,000 | 516,000 | 189 Kmē | Morocco | Salé, Témara |
| Cotonou | 2,007,000 | 780,000 | 215 Kmē | Benin | Godomey, Abomey-Calavi |
| Monrovia | 1,969,000 | 1,969,000 | 202 Kmē | Liberia | |
| N'Djamena | 1,926,000 | 1,926,000 | 220 Kmē | Chad | |
| Benin City | 1,905,000 | 1,125,000 | 482 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Kaduna | 1,880,000 | 1,647,000 | 300 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Freetown | 1,836,000 | 1,319,000 | 184 Kmē | Sierra Leone | |
| Banjul | 1,687,000 | 26,500 | 319 Kmē | The Gambia | |
| Nouakchott | 1,584,000 | 1,447,000 | 174 Kmē | Mauritania | |
| Mombasa | 1,582,000 | 1,395,000 | 135 Kmē | Kenya | |
| Kigali | 1,517,000 | 1,517,000 | 490 Kmē | Rwanda | |
| Fčs | 1,430,000 | 1,183,000 | 91 Kmē | Morocco | |
| Warri | 1,403,000 | 1,055,000 | 163 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Hargeisa | 1,401,000 | 741,000 | 65 Kmē | Somalia | |
| Pointe-Noire | 1,399,000 | 1,399,000 | 199 Kmē | Congo | |
| Kananga | 1,355,000 | 1,355,000 | 73 Kmē | Democratic Rep. of the Congo |
|
| Oran | 1,353,000 | 803,000 | 153 Kmē | Algeria | |
| Bangui | 1,351,000 | 812,000 | 145 Kmē | Central African Rep. | |
| Niamey | 1,329,000 | 1,329,000 | 135 Kmē | Niger | |
| Ilorin | 1,321,000 | 1,233,000 | 254 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Lilongwe | 1,312,000 | 1,312,000 | 251 Kmē | Malawi | |
| Tangier | 1,306,000 | 1,275,000 | 96 Kmē | Morocco | |
| Port Elizabeth | 1,281,000 | 968,000 | 391 Kmē | South Africa | |
| Tripoli | 1,261,000 | 1,261,000 | 502 Kmē | Libya | |
| Lubango | 1,247,000 | 601,000 | 218 Kmē | Angola | |
| Bujumbura | 1,196,000 | 375,000 | 78 Kmē | Burundi | |
| Maiduguri | 1,160,000 | 822,000 | 155 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Sekondi-Takoradi | 1,158,000 | 245,000 | 98 Kmē | Ghana | |
| Uyo | 1,152,000 | 848,000 | 181 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Enugu | 1,145,000 | 1,145,000 | 205 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Touba | 1.137.000 | 1.137.000 | 184 Kmē | Senegal | |
| Mwanza | 1,105,000 | 1,105,000 | 111 Kmē | Tanzania | |
| Bobo-Dioulasso | 1,102,000 | 905,000 | 101 Kmē | Burkina Faso | |
| Aba | 1,084,000 | 1,084,000 | 91 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Agadir | 1,077,000 | 505,000 | 117 Kmē | Morocco | Aït Melloul |
| Marrakech | 1,025,000 | 1,025,000 | 111 Kmē | Morocco | |
| Nsukka | 1,012,000 | 444,000 | 342 Kmē | Nigeria |
* data on urban agglomerations updated to 2023 (estimates), those on population according to official data or more recent estimates of the national statistical services, when different from urban agglomerations.