The 200 most exciting cities
I am a big city addict. I feel truly alive when I am in a big city. I love their idea density, their fast pace, and their excellence in food, street art and academic research.
My goal is to visit all of the world’s biggest cities and the cities that are relatively small but are the biggest in their country or surrounding geographical area. Below is my current list of 200; this list is constantly evolving based on my travels and on the new things I learn about the world. The population data is based on various contradictory sources, including UN and World Population Review.
Progress on my goal? 69 out of 200.
Jakarta, Indonesia
42 million
Dhaka, Bangladesh
36 million
Tokyo, Japan
33 million
Shanghai, China
29 million
Guangzhou, China
27 million
Manila, Philippines
25 million
Karachi, Pakistan
21 million
Sao Paulo, Brazil
19 million
Beijing, China
17 million
Lahore, Pakistan
15 million
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
14 million
Moscow, Russia
14 million
New York City, USA
14 million
Shenzhen, China
14 million
Lagos, Nigeria
13 million
Los Angeles, USA
13 million
Osaka, Japan
13 million
Chennai, India
11 million
Kinshasa, DRC
11 million
Luanda, Angola
11 million
Bogota, Colombia
10 million
Lima, Peru
10 million
Hyderabad, India
9 million
Paris, France
9 million
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
9 million
Tehran, Iran
9 million
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
8 million
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
8 million
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
7 million
Chongqing, China
7 million
Hong Kong
7 million
Khartoum, Sudan
7 million
Nagoya, Japan
7 million
Nanjing, China
7 million
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
7 million
Tianjin, China
7 millionsh
Wuhan, China
7 million
Abidjan, Ivory Coast
6 million
Amman, Jordan
6 million
Baghdad, Iraq
6 million
Belo Horizonte, Brazil
6 million
Chengdu, China
6 million
Nairobi, Kenya
6 million
Accra, Ghana
5 million
Ankara, Turkey
5 million
Barcelona, Spain
5 million
Brasilia, Brazil
5 million
Chittagong, Bangladesh
5 million
Colombo, Sri Lanka
5 million
Dubai, UAE
5 million
Fukuoka, Japan
5 million
Hanoi, Vietnam
5 million
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
5 million
Kabul, Afghanistan
5 million
Madrid, Spain
5 million
Melbourne, Australia
5 million
Monterrey, Mexico
5 million
Saint Petersburg, Russia
5 million
Toronto, Canada
5 million
Xi An, China
5 million
Yangon, Myanmar
5 million
Yaounde, Cameroon
5 million
Abuja, Nigeria
4 million
Antananarivo, Madagascar
4 million
Asuncion, Paraguay
4 million
Casablanca, Morocco
4 million
Dakar, Senegal
4 million
Douala, Cameroon
4 million
Kampala, Uganda
4 million
Kano, Nigeria
4 million
Kumasi, Ghana
4 million
Montreal, Canada
4 million
Rome, Italy
4 million
Santo Domingo, Dominican Rep.
4 million
Tel Aviv, Israel
4 million
Algiers, Algeria
3 million
Bamako, Mali
3 million
Brazzaville, Rep. of the Congo
3 million
Caracas, Venezuela
3 million
Chicago, USA
3 million
Damascus, Syria
3 million
Guatemala City
3 million
Guayaquil, Ecuador
3 million
Kyiv, Ukraine
3 million
Kuwait City
3 million
Lisbon, Portugal
3 million
Lusaka, Zambia
3 million
Milan, Italy
3 million
Mogadishu, Somalia
3 million
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
3 million
Port Au Prince, Haiti
3 million
Pyongyang, North Korea
3 million
Sana'a, Yemen
3 million
Aleppo, Syria
2 million
Almaty, Kazakhstan
2 million
Auckland, New Zealand
2 million
Beirut, Lebanon
2 million
Brussels, Belgium
2 million
Bucharest, Romania
2 million
Budapest, Hungary
2 million
Conakry, Guinea
2 million
Harare, Zimbabwe
2 million
Havana, Cuba
2 million
Kathmandu, Nepal
2 million
La Paz, Bolivia
2 million
Lomé, Togo
2 million
Matola, Mozambique
2 million
Mecca, Saudi Arabia
2 million
Minsk, Belarus
2 million
Muscat, Oman
2 million
N'Djamena, Chad
2 million
Panama City
2 million
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2 million
Quito, Ecuador
2 million
San Juan, Puerto Rico
2 million
Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia
2 million
Stockholm, Sweden
2 million
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
2 million
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
2 million
Vienna, Austria
2 million
Cotonou, Benin
1 million
Amsterdam, Netherlands
1 million
Asmara, Eritrea
1 million
Bangui, Central African Republic
1 million
Belgrade, Serbia
1 million
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
1 million
Bujumbura, Burundi
1 million
Copenhagen, Denmark
1 million
Doha, Qatar
1 million
Dushanbe, Tajikistan
1 million
Freetown, Sierra Leone
1 million
Gaza
1 million
Hargeisa
1 million
Helsinki, Finland
1 million
Jerusalem
1 million
Kigali, Rwanda
1 million
Libreville, Gabon
1 million
Lilongwe, Malawi
1 million
Monrovia, Liberia
1 million
Niamey, Niger
1 million
Nouakchott, Mauritania
1 million
Oslo, Norway
1 million
Prague, Czechia
1 million
San Jose, Costa Rica
1 million
Tbilisi, Georgia
1 million
Tripoli, Libya
1 million
Vientiane, Laos
1 million
Yerevan, Armenia
1 million
Zurich, Switzerland
1 million
Bissau, Guinea-Bissau
0.5 million
Bratislava, Slovakia
0.5 million
Boston, USA
0.5 million
Chișinău, Moldova
0.5 million
Djibouti
0.5 million
Edinburgh, UK
0.5 million
Juba, South Sudan
0.5 million
Kingston, Jamaica
0.5 million
Ljubljana, Slovenia
0.5 million
Manama, Bahrain
0.5 million
Riga, Latvia
0.5 million
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
0.5 million
Skopje, North Macedonia
0.5 million
Tirana, Albania
0.5 million
Vilnius, Lithuania
0.5 million
Vladivostok, Russia
0.5 million
Washington DC, USA
0.5 million
Zagreb, Croatia
0.5 million