List of metropolitan areas by population

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The question of which are the world's largest cities is a complex one to which there is no single correct answer as there are many different ways of defining a city, and it is not easy to apply theoretical definitions to complex facts on the ground. One concept is the metropolitan area, which is based on the concept of a labor market area and is typically defined as an employment core (an area with a high density of available jobs) and the surrounding areas that have strong commuting ties to the core. See the metropolitan area article for comments on the difficulties and inconsistencies of that concept.

The following is a list of the top twenty largest metropolitan areas in 2003 as defined by one source.^[1] It should be seen as an interpretation, not as hard fact. All of the numbers are debatable, and it is in the nature of a metropolitan area that this should be so.

Rank	Metropolitan area	Country	Population	Area (km²)
1	Tokyo	Image:Flag of Japan.svg Japan	32,450,000	8,014
2	Seoul	Image:Flag of South Korea.svg South Korea	20,550,000	5,076
3	Mexico City^[2]	Image:Flag of Mexico.svg Mexico	20,450,000	7,346
4	New York City^[3]	Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States	19,750,000	17,884
5	Mumbai	Image:Flag of India.svg India	19,200,000	2,350
6	Jakarta	Image:Flag of Indonesia.svg Indonesia	18,900,000	5,100
7	Sao Paulo	Image:Flag of Brazil.svg Brazil	18,850,000	8,479
8	Delhi	Image:Flag of India.svg India	18,600,000	3,182
9	Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto	Image:Flag of Japan.svg Japan	17,375,000	6,930
10	Shanghai	Image:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg People's Republic of China	16,650,000	5,177
11	Metro Manila	Image:Flag of the Philippines.svg Philippines	16,300,000	2,521
12	Hong Kong-Shenzhen^[4]	Image:Flag of Hong Kong.svg Hong Kong, People's Republic of China	15,800,000	3,051
13	Los Angeles	Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States	15,250,000	10,780
14	Kolkata	Image:Flag of India.svg India	15,100,000	1,785
15	Moscow	Image:Flag of Russia.svg Russia	15,000,000	14,925
16	Cairo	Image:Flag of Egypt.svg Egypt	14,450,000	1,600
17	Buenos Aires	Image:Flag of Argentina.svg Argentina	13,170,000	10,888
18	London	Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom	12,875,000	11,391
19	Beijing	Image:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg People's Republic of China	12,500,000	6,562
20	Karachi	Image:Flag of Pakistan.svg Pakistan	11,800,000	1,100

1 References and notes
2 See also
- 2.1 Lists of metropolitan areas by region
- 2.2 Lists of metropolitan areas by country
3 External links

[edit] References and notes

^ R.L. Forstall, R.P. Greene, and J.B. Pick, "Which are the largest? Why published populations for major world urban areas vary so greatly", City Futures Conference, (University of Illinois at Chicago, July 2004) – Table 5 (p.34)
^ Consists of two separate zona metropolitanas: the Zona Metropolitana del Valle de Mexico (ZMVM) and the Zona Metropolitana de Toluca (ZMT)
^ Consists of two separate metropolitan statistical areas (MSA): the New York-Northern New Jersey Long Island MSA and the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk MSA.
^ There are some restrictions on the movement of labor between Hong Kong and mainland China.