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10 Biggest Cities That Aren't World Capitals

Name the ten most populous urban areas that aren't the capital of their country.
Urban area population, not city proper
According to citypopulation.de, January 2023
Not including Delhi which includes New Delhi
Quiz by cty
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Last updated: March 5, 2023
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First submittedJune 29, 2016
Times taken80,076
Average score70.0%
Rating4.93
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Population
Urban Area
67.8 mil
Guangzhou / Shenzhen
40.0 mil
Shanghai
26.6 mil
Mumbai
23.1 mil
New York City
23.0 mil
São Paulo
21.4 mil
Lagos
19.1 mil
Karachi
17.7 mil
Los Angeles
17.7 mil
Osaka
17.4 mil
Kolkata
+15
Level 71
Jul 21, 2016
This is well done, but I already made the exact same thing a few months ago...
+8
Level 71
Jul 21, 2016
http://www.jetpunk.com/user-quizzes/183941/most-populous-non-capital-cities
+1
Level 60
Jul 21, 2016
This quiz could have been made even more far back, but the date given shows the date this quiz was featured/last updated
+26
Level ∞
Jul 25, 2016
In this case, @GrandMo is right. Sorry to all.
+4
Level 67
Nov 10, 2016
14/20 in Asia alone! Way to go!
+2
Level 70
Mar 6, 2023
I mean, 12/20 people are in Asia alone
+22
Level 77
Apr 16, 2023
Those poor Asians. No one should be alone.
+1
Level 60
Apr 16, 2023
It would be rather surprising if this was still true, given there are now 10 answers.
+2
Level 68
Nov 11, 2016
Very enjoyable quiz, thanks.
+1
Level 65
Nov 11, 2016
great, well done
+13
Level 69
Nov 11, 2016
Got all but New York. Feeling dumb
+11
Level 75
Nov 11, 2016
Misery loves company. I'm right there with you.
+4
Level 70
Nov 11, 2016
Ho Chi Minh City?
+9
Level 66
Nov 11, 2016
Has population less than 9.6 million.
+2
Level 65
Nov 12, 2016
So I got Nagoya and Xiamen and missed New York City, Los Angeles, and Istanbul.
+1
Level 86
Nov 13, 2016
missed 3 obvious ones. Great quiz!
+1
Level 22
Nov 13, 2016
Delhi isn't the capital city of India, New Delhi is. BTW Delhi is bigger than Mumbai
+2
Level 67
Jun 8, 2017
Only missed Xiamen. Annoying, but I should be happy with it.
+1
Level 57
Jun 24, 2022
Xian and Xiamen show up in a lot of city quizzes on Jetpunk so I'm glad to have learned about them early on :)
+1
Level 60
Jul 20, 2023
Was surprised when it's missing.
+1
Level 65
Nov 29, 2017
Delhi?
+3
Level 69
Dec 17, 2017
Johannesburg?
+1
Level 69
Dec 17, 2017
Why aren't you including Johannesburg?
+18
Level 67
Dec 17, 2017
Johannesburg's urban area contains Pretoria, a capital of South Africa.
+3
Level 69
Feb 19, 2019
Oh okay that makes sense.
+2
Level 76
Aug 23, 2018
Nice quiz. I'd like to see an extended version of this quiz with maybe 50 answers.
+3
Level 73
Aug 25, 2022
I've made one for the 100 biggest. With a map (https://www.jetpunk.com/user-quizzes/287534/100-biggest-cities-that-arent-world-capitals-on-a-map) and without a map (https://www.jetpunk.com/user-quizzes/287534/biggest-cities-that-arent-world-capitals-extreme).
+3
Level 86
Feb 16, 2019
Typo: Shanghai is 35.9, not 45.6.
+1
Level ∞
Feb 17, 2019
Fixed
+8
Level 84
Feb 17, 2019
Would suggest a quiz similar, BUT only with the cities that surpass their countries' capital.

Let me explain myself: all the Chinese cities that surpass Beijing would do, but those that are below Beijing wouldn't do.

+6
Level 82
Mar 27, 2019
or how about one of those "quiz with exceptions" quizzes? In this case, exclude India and China.
+1
Level 57
Jun 24, 2022
I instantly thought of this when I finished the quiz. Maybe I'll make it, maybe someone already did, who knows
+1
Level 82
Mar 27, 2019
gosh darn it. I swear I typed Chengdu. Only one I missed.
+2
Level 60
Mar 27, 2019
And I typed Chengdu more than 5 times only to see it's not in the list
+5
Level 82
Mar 27, 2019
Then what's that city after Hyderabad and before Chicago that starts with a Cheng and ends with a du?
+3
Level 60
Jul 20, 2023
The more I look at old comments, the more cities I find that I tried but were taken off the quiz.
+3
Level 28
Mar 27, 2019
great quiz! 20/21 in 2:02

kept thinking lagos was capital of nigeria

+4
Level 77
Jun 17, 2019
Sadly, you were a little out of date.
+1
Level 75
Mar 27, 2019
If Guangzhou is listed at 45.6M, then Karachi should be higher than Mumbai.
+6
Level 67
Mar 27, 2019
There is a really good Chinese restaurant around the corner from me called Chengdu Impression, and while taking this quiz I thought "I should really get some Chinese food tonight"...and I still missed Chengdu. For shame.
+4
Level 56
Mar 28, 2019
That's a kind of mixed name for a restaurant, isn't it? "Is this food Szechuan food from Chengdu?" "Well, it's an IMPRESSION, actually."
+3
Level 86
May 23, 2020
How is it possible that Chongqing is not on this quiz?
+4
Level 75
Sep 1, 2020
When Chongqing was cut away from Sichuan province, it included a large portion of territory not part of the metropolitan area. This is different than Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin, which I think caused a lot of confusion, as I started hearing people referring to Chongqing as the world's biggest city.
+4
Level 57
Jun 24, 2022
Perhaps Cairo will make this list in the coming years when the New Administrative Capital is finished https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Administrative_Capital

If that happens eventually, then hello future dwellers :)

+4
Level 71
Apr 16, 2023
Ditto for Jakarta. Indonesia is making a new capital because Jakarta is too crowded.
+4
Level 74
Apr 16, 2023
Also about to be mostly underwater soon.
+1
Level 67
Apr 17, 2023
I am pretty sure that Cairo and the NAC will be in the same metro area.
+1
Level 60
Feb 15, 2023
Yes 21/21. With only seconds left to spare.
+1
Level 73
Mar 29, 2023
Guangzhou has jumped up 20 million? Sheesh!
+1
Level 67
Apr 17, 2023
Los Angeles sits at 10 million... where do you get 17 million from?
+1
Level 63
Apr 18, 2023
I think this quiz needs to be updated using different sources, because when I google search "biggest cities by population," ignore all the capitals, and look at a few different sources/sites, NONE OF THEM match up to what you have here. When did it become acceptable to combine cities anyway? You may as well just combine Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane and stick that on the list.
+2
Level 67
Apr 18, 2023
Thought Istanbul would be on here, guess it used to be but got passed
+1
Level 51
Nov 30, 2023
I was surprised not to see Istanbul as well - I checked their population and it's around 15 million so I guess it just missed out.
+1
Level 67
Apr 18, 2023
Just missed Kolkata. Didn't even think of any Chinese cities until the last 10 seconds and then I remembered Guangzhou/Shenzhen and Shanghai are some of the largest cities
+1
Level 60
Jun 20, 2023
Just gave myself the biggest facepalm as I nearly forgot NYC and I already had put LA
+1
Level 67
Jul 31, 2023
Crazy that Lahore and Istanbul don't even make the list anymore
+1
Level 59
Oct 4, 2023
Wheres Rio de Janeiro??
+1
Level 39
Feb 2, 2024
İstanbul should in be there