Home > Asia > Largest cities
Tokyo, capital of Japan   Many of the major cities in the world are located in Asia, on the other hand over 60% of the population lives on this continent, with China and India which alone have now exceeded two billion and seven hundred million inhabitants.

   The following ranking is ordered by the number of inhabitants of urban agglomerations, fact that reflects more reality than that of administrative borders, as over time, in most cases, cities have expanded far beyond these limits, incorporating into the urban area other neighboring cities previously separated from the main center by rural or uninhabited areas; however, the data relating to the population of the city alone is also presented, excluding its conurbation, which in some cases coincides with the previous one, as the city borders may have been redefined in the meantime.

   In some countries, especially China, the municipalities are very large and often include rural / wooded areas, for example Chongqing, which has about 29 million inhabitants, but on an area of 82,403 kmē, in fact similar to a region more than a real city, in these cases only the inhabitants of the urban area contiguous to the city center are counted.

   Tokyo at the moment is the most populous metropolis of the entire planet, considering the urban agglomeration, but there are other cities with much higher growth rates that in the future should contend with it for this supremacy.

   The list obviously includes a large number of cities in China and India, but there are large metropolises all over the continent, even in less populated areas, such as the Arabian Peninsula; none in Asian part of Russia.


City Urban aggl.  Population Urban area Country Other cities in urban area
Tokyo 37,732,000 9,733,000 8,231 Kmē Japan Yokohama, Kawasaki,
Saitama, Chiba
Jakarta 33,756,000 10,610,000 3,546 Kmē Indonesia Bekasi, Tangerang, Depok,
Tangerang Selatan, Bogor
Delhi 32,226,000 11,035,000 2,344 Kmē India Ghaziabad, Faridabad,
Gurgaon, Noida
Guangzhou 26,940,000 16,097,000 4,535 Kmē China Foshan
Mumbai 24,973,000 12,442,000 976 Kmē India Vasai-Virar, Bhiwandi
Manila 24,922,000 1,847,000 1,911 Kmē Philippines Quezon City, Caloocan, Taguig
Shanghai 24,073,000 21,910,000 4,333 Kmē China  
Seoul 23,016,000 9,586,000 2,769 Kmē South Korea Incheon, Suwon, Goyang, Yongin
Dhaka 18,627,000 10,279,000 619 Kmē Bangladesh Gazipur, Narayanganj
Beijing 18,522,000 18,522,000 4,284 Kmē China  
Kolkata 18,502,000 4,497,000 1,352 Kmē India  
Bangkok 18,007,000 5,528,000 3,199 Kmē Thailand Nonthaburi, Pak Kret
Shenzhen 17,619,000 17,619,000 1,803 Kmē China  
Istanbul 16,079,000 15,204,000 1,471 Kmē Turkey  
Karachi 15,738,000 15,738,000 1,124 Kmē Pakistan  
Bangalore 15,386,000 8,495,000 1,401 Kmē India  
Ho Chi Minh City 15,136,000 7,005,000 2,165 Kmē Vietnam Bien Hoa
Osaka 15,126,000 2,752,000 3,020 Kmē Japan Kobe, Kyoto, Sakai, Himeji
Chengdu 14,645,000 13,568,000 1,935 Kmē China  
Tehran 14,148,000 8,694,000 1,704 Kmē Iran Karaj
Chennai 12,395,000 4,647,000 1,085 Kmē India  
Xi'an 12,328,000 9,900,000 1,826 Kmē China  
Lahore 12,306,000 12,306,000 945 Kmē Pakistan  
Chongqing 12,135,000 9,581,000 1,580 Kmē China  
Zhengzhou 10,959,000 5,963,000 1,785 Kmē China  
Dongguan 10,646,000 9,645,000 1,759 Kmē China  
Hyderabad 10,494,000 6,993,000 1,404 Kmē India  
Tianjin 10,368,000 10,368,000 2,813 Kmē China  
Wuhan 10,251,000 10,251,000 1,722 Kmē China  
Hangzhou 9,523,000 9,236,000 1,344 Kmē China  
Nagoya 9,197,000 2,332,000 3,704 Kmē Japan Toyota, Gifu, Okazaki, Ichinomiya
Taipei 9,079,000 2,563,000 1,059 Kmē Taiwan New Taipei, Taoyuan
Kuala Lumpur 8,911,000 1,982,000 2,163 Kmē Malaysia Subang Jaya, Klang,
Shah Alam, Petaling Jaya
Nanjing 8,422,000 7,520,000 1,614 Kmē China  
Pune 8,231,000 3,124,000 650 Kmē India  
Ahmedabad 8,009,000 5,634,000 360 Kmē India  
Shenyang 7,964,000 7,050,000 1,551 Kmē China Fushun
Hanoi 7,547,000 3,605,000 963 Kmē Vietnam  
Bandung 7,512,000 2,444,000 487 Kmē Indonesia Cimahi
Hong Kong 7,413,000 7,413,000 290 Kmē China  
Riyadh 7,237,000 6,925,000 1,673 Kmē Saudi Arabia  
Surabaya 6,998,000 2,874,000 912 Kmē Indonesia  
Yangon 6,874,000 4,729,000 666 Kmē Myanmar  
Quanzhou 6,676,000 1,469,000 2,248 Kmē China Jinjiang, Nan'an, Shishi
Surat 6,538,000 4,502,000 238 Kmē India  
Dubai 6,404,000 3,411,000 1,507 Kmē United Arab Emirates Sharjah, Ajman
Qingdao 6,229,000 6,229,000 1,759 Kmē China  
Baghdad 6,183,000 6,183,000 694 Kmē Iraq  
Suzhou 6,031,000 5,893,000 1,386 Kmē China  
Singapore 5,918,000 5,918,000 523 Kmē Singapore  
Ankara 5,389,000 5,155,000 671 Kmē Turkey  
Xiamen 5,201,000 4,617,000 715 Kmē China  
Kabul 5,151,000 4,602,000 272 Kmē Afghanistan  
Changsha 5,014,000 5,014,000 754 Kmē China  
Hefei 5,001,000 5,001,000 894 Kmē China  


* 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.