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Biggest Cities with Exceptions

Most of the world's biggest cities are in Asia. Try to name the biggest cities in the world that AREN'T.
Includes cities that are transcontinental
Urban area population, according to citypopulation.de - January 2020
Two loosely-defined areas have been filled in by default
Quiz by relessness
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Featured Quiz
Last updated: February 10, 2020
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More quiz info >>
First submittedMarch 31, 2016
Times taken35,746
Average score68.8%
Rating4.79
Quiz and answer stats >>
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Population
Urban Area
23.0 mil
Mexico City
22.4 mil
São Paulo
22.1 mil
New York City
21.0 mil
Cairo
19.4 mil
Lagos
17.7 mil
Los Angeles
17.3 mil
Moscow
16.4 mil
Buenos Aires
16.0 mil
Istanbul
14.8 mil
London
13.9 mil
Johannesburg
13.2 mil
Rio de Janeiro
12.4 mil
Kinshasa
11.4 mil
Paris
10.1 mil
Lima
9.75 mil
Chicago
9.60 mil
Bogotá
Population
Urban Area
8.55 mil
Washington, DC /
Baltimore
8.15 mil
Luanda
7.85 mil
San Francisco
7.75 mil
Boston
7.45 mil
Toronto
7.35 mil
Philadelphia
7.25 mil
Santiago
7.20 mil
Dallas
6.75 mil
Houston
6.55 mil
Madrid
6.45 mil
Dar es Salaam
6.40 mil
Miami
6.30 mil
Khartoum
6.20 mil
Milan
5.90 mil
Nairobi
5.85 mil
Atlanta
5.80 mil
Alexandria
Population
Urban Area
5.75 mil
Detroit
5.70 mil
The Ruhr
5.65 mil
Saint Petersburg
5.60 mil
Abidjan
5.35 mil
Guadalajara
5.30 mil
Sydney
5.10 mil
Accra
5.00 mil
Belo Horizonte
5.00 mil
Cologne / Dusseldorf
5.00 mil
Monterrey
4.95 mil
Melbourne
4.78 mil
Barcelona
4.73 mil
Berlin
4.70 mil
Phoenix
4.48 mil
Casablanca
4.43 mil
Seattle
kalbahamut
+16
Level 84
Mar 31, 2016
Forgot about Australia...
kalbahamut
+26
Level 84
Oct 21, 2016
Forgot them again
TinklePork
+3
Level 62
Apr 26, 2017
I'm amazed that two Australian cities made the list since their overall population is so low. I've never been there, but I suspect that the population is heavily compacted into the capital cities (Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne etc), with almost nobody living outside these cities.
grantdon
+13
Level 74
May 8, 2017
Pretty much...around half of the population lives within 100 km of the three main centres. Despite the stereotypes, Australia is one of the most urbanised countries in the world
Sifhraven
+3
Level 66
Feb 26, 2020
Yea, Australia is more than 186 times larger than the Netherlands for instance, but the population comes pretty close, only 1,4 times larger.
Sifhraven
+3
Level 66
Feb 26, 2020
If you go just by land area Australia is actually 225 times bigger. If Australia would have the same population density, they would need more than 3900 million more inhabitants than they currently have! (Yes that is the correct amount of zero's)
joeythelemur
+6
Level 86
Aug 1, 2016
Why can I never remember Atlanta exists? :-\
brandybuck96
+3
Level 81
Sep 4, 2016
I do that, and also forget about Phoenix. It's really annoying.
Djilas
+2
Level 81
Oct 12, 2016
I do that about Toronto ...
Maladroit
+1
Level 52
Mar 12, 2018
Well now, at least in America, we're unforgettable. Not in a good way, though...
IsleAuHaulte
+1
Level 87
Jun 26, 2018
Because it's quasi-urban at best, very, very spread out.
French2010
+2
Level 90
Aug 1, 2016
Very fun quiz. Small typo - Belo Horizonte is showing as 1.93 instead of 4.93 which I assume is the correct figure.
GrandMo
+2
Level 71
Aug 2, 2016
If you have The Ruhr already filled in, why is Cologne/Dusseldorf listed separately?

Good to learn a few of the biggest African cities that rarely make the lists (Luanda, Abidjan...)

tschutzer
+2
Level 89
Aug 3, 2016
+1. I would definitely have tried Dusseldorf if not for the Ruhr already being filled in. Very misleading.
Quizmaster
+2
Level ∞
Aug 3, 2016
Yeah, that's confusing. I don't know why citypopulation.de doesn't include Dusseldorf in the Ruhr. But even so they are good source, and much better than the alternatives.
PjotrL
+2
Level 73
Oct 25, 2016
The Ruhr is a river and the cities along the Ruhr (and Lippe) are an urban area referred to as "Ruhr-area", when Düsseldorf is included, it's usually referred to as Rhein-Ruhr, to indicate you go beyond the Ruhr-area. Hope this helps :)
camus
+5
Level 77
Mar 13, 2020
I've been ranting about this on other quizzes but this concept continues to confuse people from far away. The Ruhr Area and Rhine Area are very distinctive. Tell someone from Düsseldorf or Cologne that they're from the Ruhr Area and you get crazy looks. However, since they are so close to each other and actually overlap in small parts, it makes sense to combine them into the Rhine-Ruhr mega region. Düsseldorf/Cologne = Rhine-Ruhr, but never ever =Ruhr.
InfiniteInsanity999
+2
Level 42
Oct 21, 2016
Great quiz, surprised I forgot Phoenix (among a few others of course)
HectorVortac
+3
Level 48
Oct 21, 2016
Might have done better had I remembered the 17 million person metro area I used to live in.
omnikin
+1
Level 58
Oct 21, 2016
Istanbul is in Turkey (Asia).
fuanacdc
+11
Level 80
Oct 21, 2016
Here we go
ander217
+11
Level 76
Oct 21, 2016
"Includes cities that are transcontinental" - Istanbul fits that caveat since it is in both Europe and Asia.
Findlay
+2
Level 83
Feb 11, 2020
According to the Turkish Government, more than 8 million of Istanbul's population lived on the European side in 2010, meaning even just counting the part not in Asia, it easily made this list (and it has grown considerably since then). Then of course there's the caveat about transcontinental cities.
relessness
+12
Level 47
Oct 21, 2016
33/50 I made this quiz... what on earth :(
joeythelemur
+7
Level 86
Oct 21, 2016
Ha! Too busy makin' 'em and not enough time takin' 'em! :-)
Sifhraven
+1
Level 66
Feb 26, 2020
Maybe you do better on "not on earth" ;) I agree, earth geography can be tricky :)
omnikin
+1
Level 58
Oct 21, 2016
40/50, new record for me!
angrobper14
+2
Level 83
Oct 21, 2016
Nice pic of Mexico, and it was also nice that you accept just "Mexico" as a valid answer.
rawe
+1
Level 66
Oct 21, 2016
41/50
Algernon
+1
Level 71
Oct 23, 2016
Great quiz. Could do with a bit more time though. I still had about a dozen to type in when I ran out of time and I hadn't reached the stage of 'name any remotely big/famous city and hope'.
Maladroit
+1
Level 52
Mar 12, 2018
Would that have got you Casablanca?
Quizmaster
+1
Level ∞
Feb 10, 2020
Added one more minute
Parinter
+1
Level 43
Oct 24, 2016
Forgot Mexico City.... :\
thebest21
+2
Level 59
Dec 1, 2016
47/50 but could have done it with more time. It is amazing how many cities disappear from this list when Asia is not included!
catlover2496
+1
Level 44
Feb 16, 2017
Mexico City is bigger than New York City? Didn't expect that!
Findlay
+2
Level 83
Feb 11, 2020
Depends on the source. Depending on what you consult NYC, Mexico City or Sao Paulo will be given as the largest city in the Americas. Defining metro areas is a messy business
Antofagasta
+1
Level 62
Jun 8, 2017
Missed one. One. I thought: start with U.S., leave Canada 'til later. Arrgh!
McLerristarr
+2
Level 61
May 23, 2019
Shouldn't Rome be on here?
Quizmaster
+6
Level ∞
Feb 10, 2020
No.
Prakash14
+1
Level 56
Dec 17, 2019
47/50 and I forgot Cairo and St Petersburg, lmao
kalbahamut
+1
Level 84
Feb 11, 2020
>_< grrr ... after the update I only missed Alexandria. I started with Africa and even with Egypt. I think Cairo was the first one I got. I was sure I had typed it in already.
Malbaby
+1
Level 71
Feb 12, 2020
Good quiz......... with 3 seconds to go I tried to type Buenos Aires ........ didn't.
Bubblecat
+1
Level 70
Feb 13, 2020
Would've got an extra one if I hadn't misspelt Abidjan :P
NauruPalau
+1
Level 51
Feb 22, 2020
Missed St. Petersburg, Alexandria, Detroit, Phoenix, and belo Horizonte. Never heard of the last one
Sifhraven
+2
Level 66
Mar 13, 2020
You will, as you do more quizzes on here. Last year I hadnt heard of it either.
nokay
+2
Level 59
Mar 1, 2020
Kind of surprised that Addis Ababa isn't on here
Germanwolverine
+1
Level 61
Mar 3, 2020
Half of Istanbul is in Asia though
PoetsCorner
+1
Level 83
Aug 4, 2022
Nowhere near half.
Nordleman
+1
Level 49
Mar 13, 2020
Seattle definitely shouldn't be on this list lol the population isn't even over 1 million let alone 4.5.
robin2065
+2
Level 65
Mar 13, 2020
Metro population, not city proper
blausand
+2
Level 4
Mar 13, 2020
Man, really, go and solve that unjoyful pairing of Köln and Düsseldorf immediately!

No one of either city would ever build a sum of the two population figures.

The Ruhr Area, fine. Köln or Düsseldorf - no way for any of them to end up in this list.

seabird
+1
Level 65
Mar 13, 2020
Missed my hometown. Had no idea it would be on this list.
Antimatter
+1
Level 44
May 2, 2020
Istanbul is cheating!!! ;) :P
dirtyorange
+1
Level 76
May 26, 2020
I'm an American and I missed five US cities. I'm so ashamed.
Fishyyy
+1
Level 55
Jun 10, 2020
very inaccurate, Sao Paulo is larger then Mexico City and how is San Francisco larger then Houston and Phoenix?
Fishyyy
+1
Level 55
Jun 10, 2020
Why isn't Kiev on the list?
JackintheBox
+1
Level 77
Jul 21, 2020
Got all but Toronto and Philadelphia! (Forgot about Canada)
chipwrecks
+1
Level 51
Dec 23, 2020
San Antonio by all accounts is larger than many of the cities on this list.
Minutiae
+1
Level 67
Aug 14, 2021
Got all but... Berlin.
boltos
+1
Level 68
Feb 13, 2022
Fun quiz. I basically just went through as many NFL or MLB locations as I could think, then big UEFA teams, the two from Oz and as many African places as I could think. Enjoyed this. Thank you.
Georockstar
+1
Level 60
Jun 29, 2022
Noooo just one was left.. Accra?
ergillo
+1
Level 56
Dec 21, 2022
Milan has 3.25M people in the whole metropolitan area, just mthe city is 1.5M (Rome metropolitan area has 4.5M)
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