What is the Largest City in the World?

When most people ask this question, they are referring to the city with the biggest population — as opposed to the city with the largest geographical area. So that’s what we are basing our answer on.

According to current population estimates (as of 2009), the largest city in the world is Tokyo, Japan. In 2009, the metropolitan area of that city had a population of more than 28 million people. .

Keep in mind that this kind of statistic changes often. Population growth is an ever-changing variable. For example, this time last year Mumbai, India was the largest city in the world in terms of population. But Tokyo recently edged ahead of it to capture the “largest” title. This time next year? Who knows. It could be Mexico City, or perhaps Sao Paulo, Brazil. Those two cities also have enormous populations.

That addresses the largest city in the world based on population. But what  about geographical space? When you use this “yardstick,” Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia is clearly the biggest. That city has a surface area of more than 100,000 miles.