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What is City Population?

City Population is a reference site for demographic statistics: population counts for countries, administrative divisions, cities, urban areas and agglomerations, presented with interactive maps and charts. It is built for looking up numbers and comparing places rather than for news, analysis or data downloads.

What you can find there

• Country and regional pages covering administrative divisions down to city level
• An index of the world's urban agglomerations with at least one million inhabitants
• "Top 10 Cities" pages for selected countries and their subdivisions
• World-by-map pages that turn statistics into tables, maps and diagrams
• Help material including abbreviations, a glossary, FAQs and a list of references

Who it suits

• Students and researchers who need a quick population figure for a specific city or region
• Planners, journalists and analysts comparing settlement sizes across countries
• Anyone checking whether a place is a city proper, an urban area or an agglomeration — a distinction the site keeps visible, and one that often explains why two sources disagree about a city's size

Trade-offs to keep in mind

Coverage is statistical and map-oriented, so it works well for lookups and simple comparisons but is not a substitute for a national statistics office when you need methodology notes, revisions or microdata. Figures also carry reference dates, so a number that looks outdated may simply reflect the last census or estimate used.

A practical next step: start from the map index or a country page, then check the reference date and the definition label before quoting a figure. For a second opinion on the same place, national statistical agencies publish their own tables, and the United Nations maintains international population data you can cross-check against.

How can I find the largest cities in a specific country using City Population?

Use the country index or the site search. City Population organizes its data by country, then by administrative division, city, urban area and agglomeration, so you can narrow from a national page down to individual places rather than relying on a single global ranking.

A practical route

1. Open the country page for the country you want. The site's index pages are grouped by continent (Africa, America, Asia, Europe, Oceania).
2. On the country page, look for the city or major-city section, which lists the largest cities with their populations.
3. If you need a quick top list, the "Top 10 Cities" pages cover selected countries and their administrative divisions.
4. For metro-level rather than city-boundary figures, use the urban agglomeration data, which covers agglomerations of at least 1 million inhabitants.

Which figure to use

The main trade-off is definitional: city-boundary populations and agglomeration populations can differ sharply, so mixing them in one comparison produces misleading rankings. Pick one definition and stay with it.

As a next step, open the country page, note the reference date shown with the figures, and use the site's glossary and abbreviations pages to confirm what each column means before you cite a number. For a second source on the same cities, you can cross-check against United Nations urban data or national statistical offices.

What is the difference between a city and an urban agglomeration on City Population?

On City Population, "city" and "urban agglomeration" describe different geographic units, and the difference matters whenever you compare population figures.

City usually means the population within a single administrative boundary — the municipality, commune or similar legal entity. This is the figure that matches political borders, so it is the right one when you need to know how many people live in a named place as officially defined.

Urban agglomeration covers the continuously built-up area around and beyond that boundary, including suburbs and neighbouring settlements that are physically joined to the core. It is generally larger than the city figure for the same place, because it captures the wider urban footprint rather than the legal one.

The site groups all urban agglomerations of the world with at least 1 million inhabitants under a single index, with a reference date of 2026-01-01, which shows that agglomerations are treated as a distinct, comparable dataset rather than as a synonym for cities.

How to choose

A practical example: if you are sizing a local service that must be delivered by one municipal authority, the city figure is the relevant one. If you are assessing the catchment for a regional transport network or a large retail site, the urban agglomeration is usually closer to reality, because people commute across boundaries that the city figure ignores.

One caution: because agglomerations are defined by built-up continuity rather than law, different sources can draw their edges differently, so cross-check before treating an agglomeration total as exact.

For a next step, look up the same place in both the city and urban agglomeration indexes on City Population and note the gap — a large gap tells you the settlement extends well past its administrative border.

How often is the population data updated on City Population?

City Population does not update every place on a single fixed schedule. The site publishes updates as new census results, official estimates, or revised administrative boundaries become available, so different countries and cities can show different reference dates. One visible example from the site is its urban agglomeration list, which uses a reference date of 2026-01-01.

For practical use, treat the date attached to each table or map as the real answer, not the site as a whole. If you need a current figure for a report, check the specific country or city page and look for its reference date. If the date is older than you need, compare it with the national statistics office for that country.

A useful next step: open the country page you care about, note the reference date, and check the site's Last Updates page to see whether a newer release has been posted. This matters most for fast-growing cities, where a two- or three-year-old estimate can understate the current population.

Can I download or export the population statistics from City Population?

City Population does not present itself as a download or bulk-export service. Its published material is meant to be read on the site: population tables, interactive maps and charts for countries, administrative divisions, cities, urban areas and agglomerations, plus index pages by continent and a "World by Map" section. There is no stated data-download or export option in the site's own help and information pages.

What you can realistically do

• Read and cite figures online. Use the country, city and agglomeration pages as a reference source, noting the reference date shown with each dataset (for example, urban agglomerations are dated 2026-01-01).
• Copy small tables manually. For a handful of cities or one country, transcribing values into a spreadsheet is quick and keeps you in control of the reference date.
• Check the help pages first. The "Help & Information" area covers abbreviations, a glossary, frequently asked questions, references and links — the natural place to confirm what reuse is permitted and how figures are defined.
• Respect the terms of use. The site lists Terms of Use & Privacy, so treat large-scale scraping or redistribution as something to verify rather than assume.

If you need machine-readable data

For anything beyond a few dozen rows, City Population is a poor fit. Consider official statistical agencies and international bodies instead:

• United Nations — international population estimates and urbanisation data.
• Eurostat — European regional and city statistics with downloadable datasets.
• U.S. Census Bureau — U.S. city and county population data.
• World Bank — open indicator datasets covering population and urban growth.

A practical rule: if your project needs to be refreshed or reproduced automatically, start with an agency that publishes bulk files; use City Population for quick cross-checks, definitions of urban agglomerations, and readable comparisons across countries.

How does City Population define an urban agglomeration with at least 1 million inhabitants?

City Population's urban agglomeration pages cover "all urban agglomerations of the world with at least 1 million inhabitants," with a reference date of 2026-01-01. In practice, that means the entry threshold is the agglomeration's total population, not the population of a single administrative city: a place qualifies once the built-up urban area as a whole reaches one million residents, even if the central municipality is much smaller.

The site treats agglomerations as a distinct category from cities and administrative divisions, which matters when you compare places. A city figure usually follows a legal boundary; an agglomeration figure follows the contiguous urban area, so it can include suburbs and adjoining communities that sit outside the city limits. That is why an agglomeration total is often larger than the "city" number for the same name.

For a concrete use: if you are sizing a market, planning transport, or comparing metro-level demand, use the agglomeration figure. If you need to match a legal jurisdiction, budget, or election boundary, use the administrative division figure instead. Check the reference date before mixing numbers from different pages, since figures are updated on their own schedules.

The site's Help & Information section includes a glossary and abbreviations page, which is the right place to confirm exactly how any particular table labels its geography. Start there if a page's terminology is ambiguous, then compare the city and agglomeration entries for your location side by side. Related reference points include City Population and, for official national statistics, United Nations.