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Biggest Cities in Asia

Try to name the 50 most populous urban areas in Asia.
According to citypopulation.de, January 2023
Includes one city that straddles Europe and Asia
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: March 1, 2023
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First submittedFebruary 6, 2013
Times taken85,542
Average score56.0%
Rating4.87
6:00
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Population
Urban Area
67.8 m
Guangzhou / Shenzhen
40.8 m
Tokyo
40.0 m
Shanghai
33.4 m
Delhi
28.9 m
Jakarta
26.7 m
Manila
26.6 m
Mumbai
24.9 m
Seoul
21.3 m
Dhaka
20.9 m
Beijing
20.5 m
Bangkok
19.1 m
Karachi
17.7 m
Osaka
17.4 m
Kolkata
16.6 m
Chengdu
16.2 m
Tehran
16.1 m
Istanbul
Population
Urban Area
14.5 m
Xiamen
14.4 m
Lahore
13.7 m
Bangalore
13.5 m
Ho Chi Minh City
13.4 m
Hangzhou
12.3 m
Xi'an
12.2 m
Chennai
11.8 m
Wuhan
11.4 m
Tianjin
11.1 m
Hyderabad
10.5 m
Nagoya
10.5 m
Chongqing
10.5 m
Changsha
9.45 m
Zhengzhou
9.30 m
Ahmedabad
9.20 m
Taipei
9.15 m
Riyadh
Population
Urban Area
9.10 m
Kuala Lumpur
9.05 m
Nanjing
8.55 m
Shenyang
8.00 m
Shantou
7.75 m
Singapore
7.55 m
Pune
7.50 m
Baghdad
7.50 m
Hefei
7.45 m
Surat
7.30 m
Hong Kong
7.25 m
Qingdao
7.10 m
Ningbo
7.00 m
Hanoi
6.90 m
Bandung
6.60 m
Dubai
6.35 m
Jinan
+10
Level 75
Mar 30, 2013
Have only heard of about half of the cities - need to do some homework!
+1
Level 65
Feb 6, 2024
Have you done your homework after a decade?
+15
Level 37
Mar 30, 2013
istanbul is in europe..
+11
Level 82
Mar 30, 2013
Depends on if Turkey is counted as part of Europe or part of Asia... I've seen it both ways plenty of times, but this quiz goes with the traditional distinction between Europe/Asia being at the bosporous, which means Istanbul is half in Europe and half in Asia.
+2
Level 37
Apr 20, 2013
marinebioligst, that qualification must have been added after my comment ;)
+5
Level 84
Feb 24, 2021
But this quiz lists the entire population of Istanbul as if they all live in Asia.
+5
Level 70
Feb 25, 2021
Istanbul is a bit tricky, though it looks like it would still (barely) make the list if only the Asian part was counted. As best as I could find 35% of Istanbul's population lives in the Asian part of the city, which would be in the 5.4-5.7 million people range.
+1
Level 68
Dec 26, 2021
Mr.milk, As far as I know, Istanbul is on land. At least it was like that when I went there 40 days ago.
+1
Level 33
Apr 5, 2023
Maybe only the asian part of the population counts, not the european part, thrace.
+10
Level 27
Jul 3, 2018
istanbul is in europe and asia
+2
Level 60
Jul 1, 2022
its half half, one half in Asia and one hallf in europe
+6
Level 52
Jul 30, 2013
I'm pretty sure people living in Shantou wouldn't have guessed the city would be on this
+3
Level 66
Dec 9, 2014
How could I miss Beijing? I got (of China) Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Shangai, Chennai and Xi'An.
+22
Level 93
Dec 17, 2014
Chennai is in India, though.
+7
Level 91
Aug 20, 2015
Must have meant Chengdu.
+4
Level 42
Apr 7, 2021
You spelt Shanghai wrong
+4
Level 50
Mar 27, 2015
China and India make up for more than half of the list (26). O.o

This quiz could be updated with better data, though :)

Thanks!

+3
Level ∞
Aug 19, 2015
I don't think there is a site with better data.
+2
Level 50
Oct 12, 2015
What I mean was that Guangzhou and some other cities at the time of my comment was were a bit more. Now, it looks great and after 6 tries I got them all (every time I missed 2 or 3).
+2
Level 8
Feb 3, 2018
Hey Quizmaster. I dare you to try my quizzes!
+3
Level 87
Oct 12, 2015
By far the two biggest countries in the world in terms of population, so I don't see why that would come as a surprise. Quizmaster is right, best available data.
+2
Level 50
Oct 12, 2015
Man, I have commented like months ago and the data was different, wouldn't you think? :)
+2
Level 49
Nov 29, 2020
im preaty sure they have more than half of Asia's population
+1
Level 70
Sep 21, 2015
shenzhen?
+1
Level 50
Oct 6, 2015
Source considers it part of the Guangzhou metro.
+6
Level 34
Oct 21, 2018
Shenzhen is considerably closer (walking distance) to Hong Kong than it is to Guangzhou, and is not considered part of Guangdong in Chinese statistics (except in a broader conurbation that includes Hong Kong and Guangzhou). It doesn't really matter so long as typing it in brings up its pair, but really it's big enough to count on its own, with 12 million people, bigger than two thirds of the cities on this list.
+7
Level 87
Oct 12, 2015
The growth of Surat is incredible. These Gujaratis know how to get things done.
+1
Level 65
Oct 12, 2015
........well I got all of the ones I've heard of....
+3
Level 74
Oct 12, 2015
Bengaluru is the proper name for Bangalore and should be accepted, just as Mumbai and Kolkata are.
+2
Level ∞
Oct 13, 2015
Bengaluru was supposed to work. It will now.
+2
Level 55
Oct 13, 2015
Im guessing Quezon city is considered part of Manila's metro area?
+3
Level 82
Oct 14, 2015
probably. In terms of "city proper" I think Quezon is technically bigger.
+1
Level 59
Oct 13, 2015
Argh how could I forget Manila? I typed all the Asian capital cities and forgot that one :-/
+1
Level 77
May 25, 2017
Although Turkey is geographically Asia, (and also recognised as an Asian country by Jetpunk), Istanbul is definitely in Europe.
+7
Level 84
Feb 3, 2018
Istanbul is on both sides of the Bosporus Strait, so it's partly in Europe and partly in Asia. ("Includes one city that straddles Europe and Asia") Of course, there aren't 14.8 million people on the Asian side, so that figure is misleading.
+1
Level 67
Jun 4, 2017
Normally would expect to not know Chinese cities but I knew 'em all!
+1
Level 66
Sep 1, 2017
44 but I can't believe I missed Pune
+1
Level 71
Feb 3, 2018
1:54 left
+1
Level 8
Feb 3, 2018
I only know Seoul, Tokyo, and Beijing. I don't know much big cities in Asia because I don't live there.
+34
Level 83
Feb 8, 2018
That's not a good result regardless of whether you live in Asia or not.
+4
Level 59
May 20, 2021
I don't live in Asia either but I got 36
+1
Level 30
Aug 16, 2021
You could do Chennai. I live in Chennai,India
+3
Level 66
Nov 17, 2022
I'v only ever been to the United States and Mexico, and I got 40.
+1
Level 73
Apr 5, 2023
I'm an African and I got 48. After several tries, of course :)
+1
Level 8
Feb 3, 2018
I forgot to say Hong Kong.
+9
Level 52
Apr 5, 2021
I hope you typed it, then
+1
Level 51
Feb 12, 2018
Finally got 51/51, 3:20 left.
+1
Level 42
May 8, 2018
where is chittagong
+16
Level 57
Feb 25, 2021
Bangladesh
+1
Level 66
Apr 29, 2021
Touché
+1
Level 43
May 8, 2018
I wish the powers that be would just change the definition and boundary of europe i have been all over europe and i can confirm unequivocally that turkey, cyprus and israel are european in every sense of the word. Customs culture ethnicity are wholly european and from my understanding Armenia is as well however i have never been there to see for myself.
+9
Level 84
May 8, 2018
"In every sense of the word", aside from actually being part of the actual continent (aside from the small part of Turkey)? You're barking up the wrong tree mate. And who are the "powers that be" anyway?
+1
Level 73
Apr 5, 2023
I don't know if I can share external links of this type here, but I wrote a comprehensive answer on Quora about this European Identity issue that you might be interested in:

https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Turkey-regarded-as-a-European-country-despite-being-in-the-Middle-East/answer/Hatem-Raafat-1?ch=10&oid=1477743649000759&share=4a84c252&srid=ZUa6v&target_type=answer

+1
Level 65
Mar 21, 2024
Ethnicity???
+2
Level 34
May 8, 2018
Chittagong is located in south-eastern Bangladesh
+1
Level 75
May 8, 2018
If someone would make a largest cities in Asia excluding Chinese cities, I might have a shot at a decent score. I tried adding zhou, chen, and dong to every syllable I could think of, but still failed miserably. (Then again I also forgot Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Ahmedabad, Colombo, Lahore, Bangalore, and Karachi, so my failure is not limited to China.) I'll keep trying.
+1
Level 67
May 8, 2018
Why on earth did I even try this one?
+1
Level 52
Dec 30, 2018
To those saying that Istanbul is in Europe, you are correct. It is geographically and I would say politically but I think a large majority of us would consider Turkey Asian so while not in Asia, it's technically Asian. Sort of like how the Sinai peninsula is technically African.
+1
Level 45
Jun 10, 2019
Dang, I somehow got all of them on my first try though with only 0:08 left until I remembered that Yangon existed. I was in the middle east searching for the missing city for some reason.
+2
Level 21
Sep 17, 2019
Hanoi?
+1
Level 75
Apr 5, 2023
Hanoi who?
+1
Level 69
Oct 9, 2019
i got 29, i think the should be up i couldnt even finish going thru most countries
+1
Level 69
Oct 9, 2019
I got Surabaya but forgot shanghai and manila lol
+3
Level 82
Nov 15, 2019
I always forget Wenzhou
+2
Level 40
Feb 23, 2020
How did I guess Wuhan and Surabaya but not Singapore or Colombo-
+2
Level 62
Aug 30, 2020
Singapore according to Worldometers has 5.85m people, so how does Singapore city have more than that? that doesn't make sense
+1
Level 49
Sep 14, 2020
The urban area / metro area definition used in the quiz probably means Singapore includes Johor Baru and the various urban areas in Malaysia's southern Johor state.
+2
Level 57
Feb 25, 2021
How is Hanoi not on this?
+1
Level 93
Jun 7, 2022
The source lists Hanoi as 4.2M in the urban agglomeration (however the quiz source also gives municipal area population as 6.45M if you search for the city)
+1
Level 75
Feb 25, 2021
I'm not going too say what's right and what's wrong, but there is data inconsistency here. This morning, I took https://www.jetpunk.com/quizzes/biggest-cities-by-letter-quiz and Xiamen was considered the largest city in the world that starts with X by urban area. Therefore, it confuses me that Xian is on this quiz while Xiamen is not.
+6
Level ∞
Feb 25, 2021
But Xiamen is on this quiz.
+1
Level 87
Feb 25, 2021
So how did Chittagong drop off the face of the earth (or at least this quiz)?
+4
Level ∞
Feb 25, 2021
Chittagong has a population of 5.0 million according to citypopulation.de, so it's no longer larger enough to be on the list.

In other news, Bangladesh is no longer growing as quickly as it once was. Fertility rates have fallen to replacement levels, and there is a huge amount of outward migration.

+4
Level 82
Apr 5, 2021
wow who could have predicted that? I thought the geniuses at the future demography department were sure it was going to have a population of half a billion or something by 2100.
+2
Level 71
Apr 5, 2021
I mean Nigeria once had a population lower than Bangladesh. Now it has a significantly larger population and, unlike Bangladesh, shows little sign of stopping in the near future. Could current population predictions for Nigeria be completely wrong? Absolutely! After all, 800 million people by 2100 seems a bit absurd. But also we don't definitively know what'll happen to Nigeria's birth rates, so it's easier to criticize things like this in hindsight than it is in the moment.
+3
Level 85
Apr 5, 2021
Bangladesh made a concerted effort to reduce the birth rate over the last few decades. They started by increasing female education and then empowerd them by giving them options for family planning. They also lowered infant mortality rates so only have two children became a viable option as both would live to adult hood. The birth rate is now 2.04 per woman -- less than replacement rate. Give women the knowledge and their children the proper health care and birth rates will go down.
+1
Level 24
Apr 5, 2021
I forgot so many Chinese cities, I just get the easy ones like Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou, And the others are difficult
+1
Level 54
Apr 5, 2021
I thought Istanbul was on the European side?
+1
Level 82
Feb 18, 2022
The bulk of its population is, but the entire city straddles the Bosporus and a good portion is on Asia Minor.
+1
Level 70
Apr 6, 2021
how did i miss kolkata and singapore city but get jeddah amd yangon
+3
Level 82
Feb 18, 2022
doesn't seem that implausible to me. The latter two aren't unknown cities or anything.
+1
Level 72
Nov 14, 2022
I got Harbin and missed Beijing.
+1
Level 55
Apr 27, 2022
completely forgot turkey
+1
Level 50
Jan 14, 2023
Shouldn't Zhengzhou be here?
+1
Level 60
Mar 1, 2023
The description says 51 instead of 50
+5
Level 82
Mar 1, 2023
I got the notification that this quiz was reset and I audibly groaned. Time to type every Chinese and Indian city I can think of!
+1
Level 73
Mar 2, 2023
The description says 51 cities.
+2
Level 80
Mar 2, 2023
Man, Hanoi must have grown a lot in the past year. I don't remember it being anywhere near that big before. Never would have guessed it.
+1
Level 63
Mar 3, 2023
somehow got 44 cities and forgot Hong Kong
+1
Level 33
Apr 5, 2023
What is Guangzhou/Shenzen, like ive never heard of it before???? I thought Tokyo was the biggest city in the world
+1
Level 73
Apr 5, 2023
It is, as a single city, but quizzes like these on this site always rely on citypopulation.de for URBAN AREA population. There they group these two chinese cities that are very close to each other because, according to them, they constitute one giant urban agglomoration.
+1
Level 73
Apr 5, 2023
The reason urban area populations are used more often in city quizzes on Jetpunk is because it is more consistent across the world; many cities are defined by their countries' administrations by unfairly small borders that constitute the "main city" and the suburbs or adjacent districts are not included. This is called CITY PROPER population, and there are quizzes for that on this site too. It is why cities like Miami or San Francisco are really small if you ignore the suburbs, but are in the top 10 biggest in the U.S. by urban area. Of course, the issue of Guangzhou/Shenzen might be stretching this concept beyond its original intentions but you'd have to take it up with the good folks at citypopulation.de
+1
Level 73
Apr 5, 2023
The opposite problem exists too, where the city borders, as drawn by the country, includes srrounding towns and villages that are not connected to each other. This is the case in some prefecture-level cities in China, and is also unfair for comparison.
+2
Level 61
Apr 6, 2023
i really just typed china :skull:
+1
Level 61
Apr 6, 2023
And Chattogram should be on here