World's Most Populous Cities

in 2025

Data sources for gridded population: Center for International Earth Science Information Network - CIESIN - Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Count, Revision 11. Palisades, New York: NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). https://doi.org/10.7927/H4JW8BX5 via Gridded Population of the World (GPW).

Data source for most populous cities: United Nations (2025). World Urbanization Prospects 2025: Summary of Results Table A4. Population size and ranking of cities with more than 5 million inhabitants as of 1 July 2025

Design inspiration: Ridgeline plot maps with annotations