The controversy to decide which is the largest city in the world

Over the past few centuries, cities have come to define the way humans live, work and, most importantly, relate to life over time.

For instance, Around 1800, only 10% of the world’s population lived in citiesbut since 2009 the planet’s urban population has surpassed the rural one and, in the United States, about 80% of people call cities home.

As more people have moved to cities, these metropolises have grown, some disproportionately. However, what is the largest city on the planet according to various studies? And how exactly is the “biggest” defined?

How cities are measured and which is the largest

This is achieved by measuring its geographical area or its population. Both methods can legitimately lead to the proclamation of a city as the largest.

“They are both just as bad and just as good as the other,” says Kevin Ward, professor of human geography at the University of Manchester in the UK. Additionally, Ward is director of the Manchester Urban Institute,

“These methods capture different aspects of urban change and transformation. With some cities growing upward and creating further densification, some cities might be expected to increase in population without necessarily expanding their physical footprint. “

Ward also suggested a possible third option: evaluate the cultural impact of a city in the rest of the world. In this sense, one could say that “Paris, London or New York” are the “greatest”. However, this is open to individual interpretation.

Measuring the size of a city is difficult, partly because there is no universally accepted way to define what a city is or where it starts and ends.

What constitutes a “city” varies from country to country, “observes Ward, and neither size nor population is always a determining factor.

Vatican City, for example, is the smallest independent country in the world and is tiny in terms of population (only 453 people live) and area (0.19 square miles, or 0.49 square kilometers).

For its part, Ngerulmud, the capital of the Republic of Palau, in the western Pacific, has only 400 inhabitants, but with an area of ​​466 square kilometers, it is larger than the Vatican City, and is considered the least populated capital in the world.

Various sources have proposed establishing the largest city in the world by area, and according to WorldAtlas and World Population Review, New York City appears first. However, the two sources have different interpretations of the size of the city.

According to WorldAtlas, New York City occupies a total of 8,683 km2, while the World Population Review indicates that the city occupies 12,093 km2.

This discrepancy is due, according to Ward, to the fact that there are no concrete “rules and understandings” on how to determine the limits of a city.

However, in terms of population, New York City is far from top of the list. According to the World Population Review, New York, with a population of 8,177,020 in 2022, is currently the 45th most populous city in the world, between Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (8,419,566) in 44th place and Hangzhou, China (8,044. 878). ) in 46th place. .

In terms of population numbers, no other city comes close to Tokyo, the capital of Japan.. With an estimated population of 37,274,000, according to the World Population Review, Tokyo has more than 5 million residents compared to Delhi in Indiawhich is in second place, with approximately 32,065,760 people.

There is no larger city but several megacities

While it’s hard to say for sure which city is the largest, it’s clear the world has a growing number of them megacities, generally considered to be cities with more than 10 million inhabitants.

“These sprawling urban centers face numerous challenges as they continue to expand,” Ward noted, “but they will hold the key to humanity’s long-term survival. given that by 2050 almost 70% of the world population will live in cities “.

According to United Nations estimates, the world could have up to 43 megacities by 2030, up from 31 today. The UN has also predicted that, by 2028, Delhi will overtake Tokyo and become the most populous city on the planettherefore the time of the Japanese capital at the top of the population could end in the very near future.