Cities of the World

Copyright and Data Notice

1. Copyright
2. A note on the data

Introduction: Why Count Cities This Way?

Chapter 1. Three Ways to Measure a City

1. The problem of the boundary
2. How the settlement model classifies the cities
3. When the three measures disagree
4. Coverage at a glance

Chapter 2. Where the 6,902 Cities Are

1. A world of very uneven distribution
2. North and south, east and west
3. The extremes of latitude

Chapter 3. Population as Reported

1. What the population tag is
2. The size ladder
3. The thirty largest by reported figure
4. Million-plus cities by country
5. The rank-size pattern

Chapter 4. The Great Agglomerations

1. Cities that have grown together
2. The forty largest agglomerations
3. Agglomerations shared by the most cities
4. Where the 5-million-plus agglomerations are
5. A note on the largest urban clusters

Chapter 5. Density: People Within Ten Kilometres

1. A fair comparison
2. The densest city cores on Earth
3. The least dense
4. How much of the disc is built up
5. Density by country

Chapter 6. Twenty-Five Years of Change, 2000 to 2025

1. Measuring growth on a fixed footprint
2. The fastest-growing cores
3. The largest absolute gains
4. Cores that lost people
5. Growth by country

Chapter 7. High Cities and Low Cities

1. Elevation of the city point
2. The highest cities
3. Capitals in the clouds
4. The lowest cities
5. The steepest cities
6. Elevation by country

Chapter 8. Heat and Cold: Temperature Normals 1991–2020

1. Where the numbers come from
2. The hottest cities
3. The coldest cities
4. Continental and maritime
5. The “eternal spring” cities
6. The warmest month
7. Coverage by country

Chapter 9. Wet Cities and Dry Cities

1. Rainfall normals
2. The wettest cities
3. The driest cities
4. When the rain comes

Chapter 10. Airports and Ports

1. Distance to the nearest large airport
2. Ports

Chapter 11. Streets, Footpaths and Rails

1. Mapped networks in a 3 km circle
2. The densest street networks
3. Walking and cycling
4. Motorways
5. Rails
6. Networks by country

Chapter 12. Green in the City

1. Two ways to measure green
2. The most parkland near the centre
3. The most open green land
4. Greenness among the buildings
5. Green by country

Chapter 13. Capitals Compared

1. The most populous capital cores
2. Capitals that are not the largest city
3. Climate of the capitals
4. The fastest-growing capital cores

Chapter 14. Country Profiles

1. China
2. India
3. United States
4. Brazil
5. Japan
6. Turkiye
7. Russia
8. Philippines
9. Viet Nam
10. Indonesia
11. Mexico
12. Pakistan

Appendix A. Country Summary Table

Appendix B. The 150 Most Populous 10 km Discs

Appendix C. Column Glossary

Sources and Licences

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