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Biggest Cities Near a Border

Try to name the world's most populous urban areas whose centre is within 50km of an international border.
Population according to citypopulation.de, January 2025
Not including the loosely-defined Rhine-Ruhr area
Quiz by relessness
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Last updated: March 19, 2025
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First submittedSeptember 18, 2017
Times taken28,431
Average score70.0%
Rating4.22
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Keep scrolling down for answers and more stats ...
Population
Nearest neighbor
City
25.2 m
North Korea
Seoul
16.8 m
Uruguay
Buenos Aires
16.3 m
Rep. of the Congo
Kinshasa
14.6 m
India
Lahore
14.3 m
Cambodia
Ho Chi Minh City
8.00 m
Malaysia
Singapore
7.85 m
United States
Toronto
6.15 m
Palestinian Territories
Amman
6.15 m
Switzerland
Milan
5.75 m
Canada
Detroit
Population
Nearest neighbor
City
5.60 m
India
Rawalpindi /
Islamabad
3.96 m
Lebanon
Damascus
3.85 m
Kazakhstan
Tashkent
3.45 m
Belgium
Rotterdam
3.43 m
Vatican City
Rome
3.20 m
Mexico
San Diego
3.18 m
United States
Vancouver
3.05 m
Dominican Republic
Port-au-Prince
2.93 m
Bahrain
Dammam
2.80 m
Netherlands
Brussels
62 Comments
+4
Level 92
Sep 18, 2017
Great quiz!
+15
Level 80
Nov 3, 2018
It is, but the time limit is tough.
+3
Level 78
Sep 18, 2017
very creative, good quiz!
+3
Level 76
Sep 28, 2017
Amman (5.20 mil) is 37 km from Jordan's border (a well fortified - and mined - border, where we had to show both the Jordanian, then the Israeli, border guards our passports to get across!).
+4
Level 66
Jan 8, 2018
That probably doesn't count because that border is on Palestinian Territories.
+2
Level 80
Mar 20, 2025
Not that unusual. I have to do this every time I take the Eurostar from London to Paris, crossing from Bahrain to Saudi and back, going between Hong Kong and Mainland China and many other places
+3
Level 62
Apr 14, 2025
Yes, the mined railway from London to Paris
+1
Level 76
Sep 28, 2017
Dammam (2.45 mil) is 41 km from Bahrain at Passport Island on the King Fahd Causeway.
+4
Level 83
Sep 28, 2017
I thought one of the Belgium ones was Lille... turns out it isn't that big, however large it may have seemed when I got lost in it.
+1
Level 73
Jan 8, 2018
Well, you could consider OECD statistics that encompass the Belgian cities of Kortrijk and Tournai, for a total of 2.6 millions but it cannot be implemented in that quiz since it breaks an obvious rule, being a binational metro area.
+1
Level 76
Jan 8, 2018
Brussels centre (Ville de Bruxelles, Grand Place) is also 49 km from the Dutch border (Zeeuws Vlaanderen, near Koewacht). Just guessing the 2.025.000 population is below the cut off. :)
+1
Level 58
Apr 14, 2025
Brussels doesn't even have that many population.
+8
Level 87
Jan 10, 2018
You're saying Lille is li'l?
+1
Level 97
Sep 28, 2017
second Slovakia is Slovenia, right?
+4
Level 88
Sep 28, 2017
No, Vienna is close to Slovakia. By the way the distance Vienna-Bratislava is only 55km...
+2
Level 65
Dec 15, 2021
And by the way way, Bratislava is the current capital of Slovakia, but used to be the capital of Hungary, during Habsburg rule when it was called Pressburg.
+1
Level 88
Sep 28, 2017
I was sure to have tried Katowice, this is irritating. Maybe I typed Katovice...
+1
Level 92
Sep 28, 2017
Lahore definitely looks to be within 50 kms of the Indian frontier
+1
Level 46
Sep 28, 2017
Added Lahore and Dammam, waiting for it to be re-approved :)
+3
Level 73
Sep 28, 2017
Great idea. Needs a touch more time though.
+2
Level 72
Aug 19, 2018
Agree, I never even got to the end of the list.
+1
Level 78
Sep 29, 2017
Possibly Maputo and Kuwait City, depending on where the actual center is?
+1
Level 76
Jan 8, 2018
Kuwait might be a stretch, but within reason Maputo to the Swaziland border would be 49 km :). The population also seems to make the 2.2 million cut off.
+2
Level 63
Oct 1, 2017
Great quiz! Could you mention that the population figures are for the urban agglomeration?
+1
Level 59
Jan 8, 2018
Kolkata is only 242 km away from Bangladesh.
+4
Level 58
Jan 8, 2018
which is still significantly more than 50 miles
+1
Level 68
Jul 14, 2024
Km*
+1
Level 91
Jul 7, 2018
Porto Alegre is only 1,600 kilometers from a border (guessing).
+1
Level 55
Apr 14, 2025
First one I tried, being from there (then I read the caveat)
+2
Level 39
Jan 8, 2018
More time!!
+2
Level 63
Jan 8, 2018
I thought it was capital cities... I was starting to have a panic attack when Havana, Nassau, nor Ottowa were working for USA.
+8
Level 75
Jan 8, 2018
I enjoy the geography quizzes, but it seems it is getting difficult to find a topic that hasn't yet been covered. I worry that someday we will find ourselves being quizzed on such things as "major cities whose names were changed within the past century which are are situated within 100 miles of a capital city in another country whose name ends in ia and whose flag has no red on it."
+2
Level 73
Oct 2, 2019
That actually sounds like fun ! (And like the elimination quizzes)
+5
Level 78
Dec 12, 2023
Interestingly, there is one city that meets this description... can you name it?
+1
Level 75
Jan 8, 2018
What about Santiago?
+3
Level 43
Jan 9, 2018
Since when HAS DETROIT 5 MILLION POPULATION????
+1
Level 94
Nov 12, 2018
it's probably the combined statistical area of nine counties around it (as used by US statistics sources), as even the urban area in 2010 was only 3.7m. That covers an area of about 75 miles across that is linked with the city.
+2
Level 47
Sep 2, 2019
Yeah, Detroit's population is only 673,000. It's plummeted since 1 million in 1990.
+1
Level ∞
Mar 19, 2025
Yeah, the definition of the Detroit urban area is far too expansive. Why does no one ever complain about this for Melbourne or Sydney though?
+1
Level 73
Mar 21, 2018
Great quiz, I only got 18, nice challenge.
+1
Level 63
Jun 15, 2018
21/24, that was hard.
+2
Level 41
Jan 29, 2019
Oh, come on! I spelled Buenas Aires wrong. :(
+1
Level 80
Jul 21, 2020
Buenos*
+1
Level 47
Sep 2, 2019
It's so hard when the cities aren't just capitals
+1
Level 78
Oct 14, 2020
Tough one. Nice quiz.
+1
Level 35
Nov 28, 2020
But surely Tashkent is Closer to Tajikistan.
+1
Level 68
Jul 14, 2024
No, I don't think so
+3
Level 75
May 11, 2023
Rotterdam has 3 million people? Seems quite generous..

I'm guessing all of South Holland is included in that statistic

+1
Level 76
Mar 20, 2025
There are some agglomeration statistics which include a large part of the province indeed. In overviews it's often called "Rotterdam-The Hague" or "Randstad South"
+3
Level 86
Mar 19, 2025
One could argue if Palestinian Territories count as a nearest neighbor that Tel Aviv has to be included in the quiz.
+6
Level ∞
Mar 19, 2025
Hmm... This one is very tricky.

Clearly the Palestinian Territories are a different country than Amman.

But are they a different country than Israel? Hard to say considering that Israel controls their borders and is building settlements there. As always, I am an advocate for Palestinian statehood. If nothing else it would make quizzes simpler. But just wanting them to be a state doesn't mean they actually are.

I think I'll just leave the quiz as is. I'd advise people reading this to practice deep breathing, serenity, and grace in all things.

+3
Level 71
Mar 20, 2025
Wait, but as Quizmaster, don't you have the power to legitimize Palestine as a recognized country on your site? I'm not entering into political discourse, but if you're a proponent of Palestinian statehood, why isn't Palestine recognized on Jetpunk yet?
+2
Level ∞
Mar 20, 2025
Because, despite my wishes, Palestine is not a state.

I also want the United States to get more of its energy from nuclear power.

But when I update quizzes, I don't say "100% of US energy comes from nuclear power", because that would be a lie.

Truth matters. Imagine if every time you took a quiz you had to guess if I was making things up for political reasons.

+1
Level 67
Apr 21, 2025
I'd agree with this if Taiwan wasn't on these quizzes.

Palestine is an observer state in the UN where Taiwan isn't even a part of it.

+2
Level 91
Mar 20, 2025
Would be great to have a version without the hints of the nearest country - for me, that made it too easy.
+1
Level 60
Apr 14, 2025
Perhaps accept Ho Chi Minh?
+1
Level 58
Apr 14, 2025
Brussels doesn't have 2,+M residents.

The whole Brussels region (not just the city) only has 1,25M.

+1
Level 77
Apr 14, 2025
How many times will I forget the h at the end of Ho Chi Minh? Every time.
+1
Level 31
Apr 14, 2025
As the crow flies, Toronto is indeed within 50km of the US border, but to get there you have to travel over 100km to go around Lake Ontario
+1
Level 57
Apr 15, 2025
Cool
+1
Level 68
Apr 15, 2025
Beans
+1
Level 74
Apr 18, 2025
18/20