Biggest World Cities on Lakes

Can you name the most populous cities in the world that are situated next to a lake with a surface area greater than 500 square kilometres?
Includes salt lakes, but not reservoirs.
Includes cities whose metropolitan area reaches the lake even if the city centre is further away.
For comparison, Lake Geneva has a surface area of 580 square km.
Source: citypopulation.de (May 2023; metropolitan area population)
Quiz by georgekotz
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Last updated: March 16, 2024
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First submittedSeptember 1, 2017
Times taken346
Average score55.6%
Rating4.40
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Population
Lake
City
40.0 mil
Lake Taihu
Shanghai (Suzhou)
26.7 mil
Laguna de Bay
Manila
9.90 mil
Lake Michigan
Chicago
7.55 mil
Lake Ontario
Toronto
7.50 mil
Lake Chao
Hefei
5.85 mil
Lake St. Clair
Detroit
3.98 mil
Lake Victoria
Kampala
3.10 mil
Lake Erie
Cleveland
2.68 mil
Caspian Sea
Baku
2.63 mil
Great Salt Lake
Salt Lake City
2.50 mil
Markermeer
Amsterdam
2.25 mil
Mälaren
Stockholm
2.08 mil
Lake Valencia
Valencia
1.63 mil
Lake Taihu
Huzhou
1.52 mil
Lake Michigan
Milwaukee
1.46 mil
Lake Valencia
Maracay
1.42 mil
Lake Erie
Buffalo
1.37 mil
Lake Managua
Managua
+1
Level 76
Sep 1, 2017
The necessary data was not easy to find, so please let me know if you spot any omissions!
+1
Level ∞
Sep 1, 2017
Nice quiz!
+1
Level 76
Sep 1, 2017
Thanks a lot, Quizmaster!
+1
Level 95
Sep 1, 2017
Excellent quiz!
+1
Level 76
Sep 1, 2017
Thank you all! I'm happy that you're enjoying it!
+1
Level 63
Sep 1, 2017
Really fun quiz! My first thought was Mexico City as it is the only city I could think of that's literally on top of a lake :D
+1
Level 58
Sep 1, 2017
Could you add New Orleans (Lake Pontchartrain)? I believe its metro population exceeds Buffalo.
+1
Level 76
Sep 1, 2017
According to the source, New Orleans' metropolitan population is 1.01 million, so it is slightly below the cutoff.
+1
Level 76
Oct 3, 2017
very interesting!
+1
Level 81
Jun 11, 2018
Does Lake Maracaibo not count as a lake?
+1
Level 76
Jun 11, 2018
According to Wikipedia, Lake Maracaibo is a tidal bay and an inlet of the Caribbean, even though it is sometimes considered a lake, so I think it would be better to leave it out.
+1
Level 76
May 5, 2023
Updated with new population data, which changed the rankings and answers quite significantly. I also added the "Lake" column as a hint. It removes some of the challenge of recalling lakes with cities on their shores, but it makes the quiz more feasible, as especially some of the newly added answers would be too difficult without some additional clue. I hope you enjoy the quiz!
+1
Level 69
Feb 7, 2024
Buffalo is on Lake Erie, not Lake Ontario 👍
+1
Level 76
Feb 8, 2024
Right, my mistake. Thanks for the correction!
+1
Level 57
Mar 16, 2024
Great quiz! Although Managua sits in lake Xolotlán also known as lake Managua, not in Lake Nicaragua.
+1
Level 76
Mar 16, 2024
Thanks, fixed!