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 mainly on the World City Populations (2020), it is only correct to the order of magnitude.
Progress on my goal? 53 out of 200.
Tokyo, Japan
37 million
New Delhi, India
33 million
Shanghai, China
29 million
Dhaka, Bangladesh
23 million
Sao Paulo, Brazil
23 million
Beijing, China
22 million
Cairo, Egypt
22 million
Mumbai, India
21 million
Osaka, Japan
19 million
Chongqing, China
17 million
Karachi, Pakistan
17 million
Kinshasa, DRC
16 million
Lagos, Nigeria
16 million
Kolkata, India
15 million
Manila, Philippines
15 million
Bangalore, India
14 million
Guangzhou, China
14 million
Lahore, Pakistan
14 million
Río de Janeiro, Brazil
14 million
Tianjin, China
14 million
Moscow, Russia
13 million
Shenzhen, China
13 million
Chennai, India
12 million
Bangkok, Thailand
11 million
Bogota, Colombia
11 million
Hyderabad, India
11 million
Jakarta, Indonesia
11 million
Lima, Peru
11 million
Paris, France
11 million
Chengdu, China
10 million
Nagoya, Japan
10 million
Nanjing, China
10 million
Seoul, South Korea
10 million
Tehran, Iran
10 million
Ahmedabad, India
9 million
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
9 million
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
9 million
Luanda, Angola
9 million
New York City, USA
9 million
Wuhan, China
9 million
Baghdad, Iraq
8 million
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
8 million
Hong Kong
8 million
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
8 million
Surat, India
8 million
Madrid, Spain
7 million
Pune, India
7 million
Alexandria, Egypt
6 million
Abidjan, Ivory Coast
6 million
Barcelona, Spain
6 million
Belo Horizonte, Brazil
6 million
Khartoum, Sudan
6 million
Saint Petersburg, Russia
6 million
Singapore
6 million
Toronto, Canada
6 million
Yangon, Myanmar
6 million
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
5 million
Ankara, Turkey
5 million
Brasilia, Brazil
5 million
Chittagong, Bangladesh
5 million
Fukuoka, Japan
5 million
Hanoi, Vietnam
5 million
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
5 million
Kabul, Afghanistan
5 million
Melbourne, Australia
5 million
Nairobi, Kenya
5 million
Sydney, Australia
5 million
Taipei, Taiwan
5 million
Yaounde, Cameroon
5 million
Antananarivo, Madagascar
4 million
Asuncion, Paraguay
4 million
Berlin, Germany
4 million
Casablanca, Morocco
4 million
Douala, Cameroon
4 million
Faisalabad, Pakistan
4 million
Kampala, Uganda
4 million
Kano, Nigeria
4 million
Kumasi, Ghana
4 million
Los Angeles, USA
4 million
Montreal, Canada
4 million
Rome, Italy
4 million
Santo Domingo, Dominican Rep.
4 million
Tel Aviv, Israel
4 million
Accra, Ghana
3 million
Algiers, Algeria
3 million
Athens, Greece
3 million
Bamako, Mali
3 million
Brazzaville, Rep. of the Congo
3 million
Busan, South Korea
3 million
Caracas, Venezuela
3 million
Chicago, USA
3 million
Dakar, Senegal
3 million
Damascus, Syria
2 million
Dubai, UAE
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
Mashhad, Iran
3 million
Milan, Italy
3 million
Mogadishu, Somalia
2 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
Amman, Jordan
2 million
Baku, Azerbaijan
2 million
Beirut, Lebanon
2 million
Brussels, Belgium
2 million
Bucharest, Romania
2 million
Budapest, Hungary
2 million
Conakry, Guinea
2 million
Havana, Cuba
2 million
La Paz, Bolivia
2 million
Lomé, Togo
2 million
Matola, Mozambique
2 million
Minsk, Belarus
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
Tunis, Tunisia
2 million
Vienna, Austria
2 million
Warsaw, Poland
2 million
Cotonou, Benin
1 million
Amsterdam, Netherlands
1 million
Asmara, Eritrea
1 million
Auckland, New Zealand
1 million
Bangui, Central African Republic
1 million
Belgrade, Serbia
1 million
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
1 million
Bujumbura, Burundi
1 million
Colombo, Sri Lanka
1 million
Copenhagen, Denmark
1 million
Doha, Qatar
1 million
Dushanbe, Tajikistan
1 million
Freetown, Sierra Leone
1 million
Gaza
1 million
Harare, Zimbabwe
1 million
Hargeisa
1 million
Helsinki, Finland
1 million
Jerusalem
1 million
Kathmandu, Nepal
1 million
Kigali, Rwanda
1 million
Libreville, Gabon
1 million
Lilongwe, Malawi
1 million
Managua, Nicaragua
1 million
Monrovia, Liberia
1 million
Muscat, Oman
1 million
N'Djamena, Chad
1 million
Niamey, Niger
1 million
Nouakchott, Mauritania
1 million
Oslo, Norway
1 million
Prague, Czechia
1 million
San Francisco, USA
1 million
San Jose, Costa Rica
1 million
San Salvador, El Salvador
1 million
Stockholm, Sweden
1 million
Tbilisi, Georgia
1 million
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
1 million
Tripoli, Libya
1 million
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
1 million
Vientiane, Laos
1 million
Yerevan, Armenia
1 million
Zürich, 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, Djibouti
0.5 million
Edinburgh, UK
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
Tallinn, Estonia
0.5 million
Tirana, Albania
0.5 million
Vilnius, Lithuania
0.5 million
Washington DC, USA
0.5 million
Zagreb, Croatia
0.5 million