Talk:List of cities proper by population density

Regarding Japan entries (Suginami ward)
Currently (May 7, 2022), the Suginami ward of Tokyo, Japan is #54 on the population density ranking, and this is the only entry from Japan. This would seem to indicate that Suginami ward has the highest population density in all of Japan, and vastly outranks all other areas. However, this does not seem to be accurate. Looking at Japanese sites that rank population density in the country, there are other wards/cities in Japan with even higher population density. For example, the top 3 entries as of 2021 seem to be Toshima ward (density:22,990.62), Nakano ward (density:22,013.47), and Arakawa ward (density:21,367.91). Suginami ward is listed as only 18th place with density 17,250.59. Therefore, I suggest that this wiki page be updated accordingly.

Reference: https://uub.jp/rnk/k_j.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by DaikonSoylent (talk • contribs) 07:23, 7 May 2022 (UTC)

Friendship Village
I am sure that Friendship Village can not be a valid entry it only has a population of 4,512. Looking at the history it was only added a few days ago (22 August 2010).

How dose this page define a city? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.177.119.17 (talk) 16:49, 26 August 2010 (UTC)

the city with the highest density population
City: Malé           Country: Maldives Republic                 Density: 47.870 inh/km2  (the info is given per Ha in the website)

You can find it in this website: http://isles.egov.mv//Island/?id=432 which is a link (Rapid Assessment - Isles - The Provincial Information Management System) from the Presidential office website (http://www.presidencymaldives.gov.mv/4/?ref=3,13,0)

I don't know how to update the wiki article...if someone could do the update it could be helpful for the mankind ;-)

77.205.127.236 (talk) 11:39, 17 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I think the link that you posted only referred to Malé Island. Assuming from their website under "capital", this seems to be the entire city comprising of several islands. The areas of Malé, Villingili, Hulhule, and Hulhumalé seem to be part of the city of Male giving a total area 579.8 hectares. Thus a lower population density. I'm not too entirely sure though sure though. Elockid (talk) 13:28, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

The question you arise is very interesting. Though I looked for some information (french wiki: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malé) and I found that the Atoll, the Island and the City have the same name: Malé! The Malé Atoll is composed by Villingili Hulhule and Malé island..the last is a "city-island", the density comes as follows:

Villingili: 224.7 inhab/ha Hulhule: 12.7 inhab/ha Malé: 478.7 inhab/ha

Considering the information available in that official website (http://isles.egov.mv//Island/?id=432), we have to take into account three different densities.

In order to complete the list, we have to be sure that the Capital Malé is comprised of one island named also Malé.

Does someone have any clue??

77.205.127.236 (talk) 17:19, 29 July 2009 (UTC)


 * The Malé article does also reference the area as being 579.8 ha / 5.798 km2. It also references the areas mentioned as being subdivisions of the city. So it's possible that Villingili, Hulhule, and Malé are part of the same municpality. But I think more information is still needed. I'll look into it. But in the mean while, I'll add Malé (island) to this article, List of the most densely populated country subdivisions. Elockid ( Talk·Contribs ) 03:51, 21 August 2009 (UTC)

In the article, on the most densely populated cities, Manila, should be referred to as Metro Manila. The other cities referred to being in the Philippines, such as Caloocan, Malabon, Makati, Navotas, Pasig, Pasay, San Juan and Quezon Cities, municipality of Pateros are all cities within Metro-Manila. The 12 plus million population refers to the combination of the other Philippine cities mentioned above. There is therefore double counting. Mgotianun (talk) 01:58, 12 August 2019 (UTC)

In the article, on the most densely populated cities, Manila, should be referred to as Metro Manila. The other cities referred to being in the Philippines, such as Caloocan, Malabon, Makati, Navotas, Pasig, Pasay, San Juan and Quezon Cities, municipality of Pateros are all cities within Metro-Manila. The 12 plus million population refers to the combination of the other Philippine cities mentioned above. There is therefore double counting. Mgotianun (talk) 01:59, 12 August 2019 (UTC)

Municipalities allowed?
I just wonder if this list will accept municipalities too, or just administrative units with city status? I ask because there are some municipal units in a.o. Belgium and Greece that will qualify for sure.--Pjred (talk) 17:03, 20 August 2009 (UTC)
 * There's one municipality in the list Pateros, so I don't see the reason why not to include municipalities since they are similar to cities. They both have boundaries and a certain amount of people living in them. Elockid ( Talk·Contribs ) 17:31, 20 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Also Guttenberg and West New York don't have city status and are listed here and also List of United States cities by population density which does not limit addition of places based on if has a city status or not. Elockid ( Talk·Contribs ) 17:43, 20 August 2009 (UTC)

Cairo
I don't know what to do with Cairo at the moment. The 214 sq.km that's listed is definitly wrong - I recognize this figure from as long ago as back in the '80:s. The latest official figures I have found gives an area for Cairo governorate at somewhere between 3,000 and 3,500 sq.km (the Cairo Governorate homepage says 3,435.3 sq.km - another source says 3,085.12 sq.km). However, this is including Helwan which is a separate governorate nowadays. I haven't yet seen any area figure for the new boundaries of Cairo, so it's hard to calculate an accurate population density at the moment. Perhaps it's best to exclude Cairo from this list at the moment?--Pjred (talk) 16:35, 22 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Perhaps it is best to remove it since there seems to be conflicting data or make a note about it. The Cairo Governate website does seem somewhat more reliable to me since it is the official website for Cairo. Elockid ( Talk·Contribs ) 16:58, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

Athens and Thessaloniki parts, Greece
I think that Neapoli, Ampelokipoi, Kallithea and Nea Smyrni except Athens, should be removed from this list and transferred to List of the most densely populated country subdivisions. All these neighbourhoods are parts of either Athens or Thessaloniki, no matter if they constitute seperate municipalities. They cannot be characterized as different cities as they are absolutely integrated into a whole urban area. On the other hand, the List of the most densely populated country subdivisions explains that it includes every kind of country or urban division. Dimboukas (talk) 13:18, 24 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Still, if we are looking for official definitions of the administrative boundaries of "cities" in Greece, we are stuck with the municipalities. It doesn't matter if they are considered as parts of larger urban or metropolitan areas. We can't accept Athens or Thessaloniki and then exclude their suburbs, as they are (as far as I know) administrative units at an equal level in the hierarchy. It would of course have been different if they had been subdivisions of municipalities or cities, but that's not the case here. We can have this discussion about a lot of "suburbs" around the world (as most of us know, many big cities have underdimensioned administrative boundaries for their city propers), but it's meaningless and timewasting if we have to decide which city/municipality that's "the real stuff" every time. Any administrative city, or administrative unit at the same level (as municipalities), has to be accepted to give a somewhat fair list.--Pjred (talk) 15:45, 24 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Looking at the list from List of the most densely populated country subdivisions, it doesn't seem like it would fit in that much because almost all the places listed there seem to be part of a city district and not part of an urban area (suburb). The places you listed seem to have their own jurisdiction and own boundaries. To your other concern, although they are part of an urban area, they are still considered separate and I think should be included. Elockid ( Talk·Contribs ) 15:50, 24 August 2009 (UTC)

I updated the list for 2011 Greek census, including the referenced official announcement, but some guys seem to prefer the 2001 census results, altering the final. Ok guys, as you wish.

Least densely populated major cities, world cities and/or capitals or urbabnizations...
Rather than just showing the ones with the highest population density shouldn't the list extend to as much cities as possible? For instance one would know the way population density varies between "the wild", "the fields" and "the cities"Undead Herle King (talk) 18:58, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

Hong Kong and Macau
Why is hong kong and macau not listed here? please explain the population density issue as HK and MC are extremely dense. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mofw4662 (talk • contribs) 13:01, 18 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Macau is listed under 40. HK's population density is much lower than any of the cities here. Population density in the article is based on total population within the entire city limits. Not the built up area. For HK, the city limits include large areas of undeveloped land, which lowers the population density of HK. Elockid ( Talk·Contribs ) 13:17, 18 January 2010 (UTC)

This is not correct, other cities do not include the population of the area in the total city limits, see Mumbai entry. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.217.65.81 (talk) 09:15, 26 March 2010 (UTC)


 * Mumbai fixed. Exactly what other cities?  E lockid  ( Talk ) 21:31, 27 March 2010 (UTC)

No one looking up population density cares about "city limits". Imagine your shock. You go to Hong Kong. You're like "Wow! this place is packed!!!" You then look up this article and find out Hong Kong isn't even on the list. Paris is though so you go to Paris only to find it's not even 1/5th as dense. You conclude Wikipedia is not a useful source.

Whatever the criteria is for making the list it needs to pass the common sense test as well. No one would judge Paris to be as dense as Hong Kong (except maybe some bureaucrat) Greggman (talk) 05:34, 6 February 2016 (UTC)

Mumbai et al
I cross referenced Mumbai's area with the area listed under the main Mumbai article. In the list Mumbai's population is listed as 13.8 million with an area of 466 sq km, however in the main Mumbai article the area is listed as 603 sq km. While the article titled "Mumbai Municiple Area" lists different data again. With the Municiple Corporation of Greater Mumbai listing a population density of 27,000 while for "great Mumbai" this drops to 16,500 per sq km. While this article also lists the area of greater Mumbai as 4,355 and a density of only 4,000 sq km.

5 March 2012 (UTC) 05 May 2012

I agree with you. Based on wiki article. Mumbai is composed of two districts. Please see the corresponding area, population ang density.

1. Mumbai City district - 67.79 km2 - 3,145,966 million - 46,407.52/sq km

2. Mumbai Suburban district - 370 km2 - 9,332,481 million - 25,222.92/sq km

--

I would also guess it is highly likely there are errors like this for every city, with incorrect data being represented (the data most likely to give the highest density) rather than the most correct data.

As anyone who has lived in Hong Kong for example would know, Hong Kong the city does not include all the mountains and parks where there are no people living and cities like Hong Kong and Macau would have higher population densities than likely any of the cities listed here.

Why for example is only Mumbai's central city area included while the same is not done for Hong Kong (Victoria) or the city of Mong Kok?

I cannot see how this article can continue to exist when it is obviously full of personal bias. This is not encyclopedic. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.217.65.81 (talk) 09:13, 26 March 2010 (UTC)


 * Instead of making assumptions based on one city and your personal opinion while also bringing in your personal own bias, you should actually read the sources or find some sources that says that HK does not include mountains and parks. Greater Mumbai is a metropolitan area and NOT a city.
 * The guess that there are likely errors for every city with incorrect data being represented (the data most likely to give the highest density) rather than the most correct data is basically baseless and absolutely wrong. Check out the Philippine cities entry where the highest population density is NOTtaken. This already refutes your statement.  E lockid  ( Talk ) 21:52, 27 March 2010 (UTC)

Well this article is missing the most densly populated city of all. Here are some population densities for cities/municipalities in Hong Kong: Kwun Tong	 52 123 Wong Tai Sin	 45 540 Yau Tsim Mong	 40 136 Sham Shui Po	 39 095 Kowloon City	 36 178 Eastern	 31 664 Kwai Tsing	 22 421 Central and Western	 20 102

Source: http://www.bycensus2006.gov.hk/FileManager/EN/Content_981/a202e.xls

In addition the greater Kowloon area (which includes some of these municipalities has a population density in excess of 43,000 a square kilometre.

Since you have found it helpful to include sub municipalities of the greater Manila area it would also make sense to do this for Hong Kong. And unfortunately this means you can no longer claim Manila is number one. I will look up some other cities for you so you may redress the many problems with this list.

Maybe the list should just be scrapped because it is not very encyclopedic with huge errors in it.

In addition Kamarhati and all those other random indian places are suburbs of Kolkata. It seems some Indian just wants to have lots of indian slums added to the list. Why doesn't this list go and add all the slums of India, im sure there's lots of highly populated slums in Dehli, and Mumbai as well! While Pateros et al are just suburbs in metro Manila.

Here are some central districts in the Greater Shanghai metro area. I guess these should also be added to the list:

Distrit and Density Huangpu		46293 Luwan	43478 Jing'an	40026

(figures taken from their wikipedia entries)

I guess we can do this for all the highly populated suburbs in all the cities of China as has been done for India! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.217.65.81 (talk) 11:57, 28 March 2010 (UTC)


 * Those are city districts, not cities or municipalities themselves. They are part of Shanghai. I don't mean greater Shanghai. Those are part of the city itself. They are not even suburbs which are actually separate cities and are not part of the central city. This is the same with Hong Kong. The article for city districts and such are listed in another article called List of the most densely populated country subdivisions which lists the districts you listed. Both Mumbai and Manila have districts that are higher than HK and Shanghai either way by city district definition.
 * Greater Manila or Metro Manila is not a city. It is a metropolitan area which means its components are cities/municipalities, not city districts which are what Huangpu, Luwan and the others are. This is along the same lines for Mumbai. <b style="font-family:Calibri; font-size:medium; color:#4682B4;"> E lockid</b>  ( Talk ) 12:42, 28 March 2010 (UTC)

As Per Hong Kong's census department the area of greater Kowloon (which cointains areas of even great density) has a population density of 43,970 per square kilometre. Please add this as the number one most dently populated city. Source: http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/FileManager/EN/Content_803/population.pdf

How can you reject these cities in Hong Kong? Kowloon City is named a city, why would you refuse to add it and other cities/municipalities in Hong Kong? Why keep the sub cities of Manila, New York or Kolkata, but reject Hong Kong, which is widely known as one of if not the most densly populated place on Earth. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.217.65.81 (talk) 12:57, 28 March 2010 (UTC)

Dafni in Greece is just a small suburb of Athens, at only 1 square km, so this is a "City" yet Kownloon City is not a city? I am a little confused.

And please tell me, how can Gutenberg, with a population of just over 10,000 have a population of over 17,000 a square kilometre? So you include what is described in Wikipedia as a "town" which is only 4 blocks wide and part of the City of New Jersey, yet you refuse to add any of the city districts of Hong Kong? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.217.65.81 (talk) 13:01, 28 March 2010 (UTC)

And you are incorrect about Hong Kong, each of those districts/cities/municipalities have their own council/government just as those for India and the Philippines do. Please add the cities of Hong Kong to this list. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.217.65.81 (talk) 13:05, 28 March 2010 (UTC)


 * Kowloon is not city nor are any of the districts you added. Kowloon City is the name of a district of HK, meaning that it is not city. HK is the city in whole. Districts are not cities. Suburbs or "sub cities" as you call them are. By your logic, Guttenberg and Pateros are part of or consolidated with the cities of New York City and Manila respectively which if you will ask anyone, they'll say that's preposterous. However, Kowloon is part Hong Kong which is the city. There is no such thing as cities/municipalities of HK because HK itself is the city. You'll probably get the same answer if you ask it in the Hong Kong talk page. You might want to ask there if anyone agrees with you that Kowloon and the others are as you call them cities of HK. HK as the most densely populated on earth? The article I listed, List of the most densely populated country subdivisions seems to say differently. <b style="font-family:Calibri; font-size:medium; color:#4682B4;"> E lockid</b>  ( Talk ) 13:22, 28 March 2010 (UTC)

Guttenberg is not a City it is a town. http://www.guttenbergnj.org/ And I think   Ir. Wong Kwok-keung, SBS, JP Chairman of Kowloon City District Council would disagree that his city does not exist. Hong Kong itself is not a "City" it is a SAR (Special Administative Region of China, it was formed firtly when the British captured Hong Kong Island, and later by the addition of Kowloon and then the New Territories. the Hong Kong government administers the whole region, not "Hong Kong City". If you do not wish to make the changes to the article, I will be happy to make the changes myself. 203.217.65.81 (talk) 13:36, 28 March 2010 (UTC) http://www.districtcouncils.gov.hk/klc/english/welcome.htm —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.217.65.81 (talk) 13:27, 28 March 2010 (UTC)


 * Please gain consensus before doing so. Please also see List of United States cities by population density. HK is a city and an SAR with the same area. Many sources, even the main article Hong Kong, refers it as city and an SAR. Similar to HK, Singapore is widely considered as a city as well as a country. Hong Kong itself is a city and an SAR. What you're saying also contradicts many articles on Wikipedia. The districts you keep talking about are already listed in the appropriate article, List of the most densely populated country subdivisions. <b style="font-family:Calibri; font-size:medium; color:#4682B4;"> E lockid</b>  ( Talk ) 13:50, 28 March 2010 (UTC)

You cannot refer to Wikipedia articles as sources of Fact. That article "List of US cities" states clearly later on that its a list of "places" not cities, because I hope you are not seriously arguing that "Poplar Hills" with 396 people is a city? And to state that many people regard Hong Kong as a city is true, mean people and the New York article regard greater new york, or any metropolitan area as a City, because city has more than one meaning, your article is about "Cities proper". Well I am sorry but Hong Kong is not a "City proper" its a metropolitan area, just as Australian cities are actually made up of many smaller cities but they are still regarded as cities. The fact is Guttenberg is NOT a city, its a town. I think the town's website is a better source than Wikipedia. And Kowloon City, which is named a City is a City. I don't know what you are not understanding here. Why don't you add East Newark with a huge population of 2,377 sitting on 0.1 km to your list? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.217.65.81 (talk) 13:58, 28 March 2010 (UTC)


 * Because East Newark has an area of 0.1 sq mi not 0.1 sq km. which means it has a density og 23777 per sq mi. Lowest on the list is around 43000 per sq mi. The fact of the matter is that, none of the districts of HK are cities proper either. HK isn't the only one with a council system. So implying that because Kowloon has a district council does not mean it is a city. New York City also has a council type system for each of the boroughs. The boroughs, like the districts of HK were once separate municipalities, but have consolidated into one city which is the point I'm trying to get at. Manhattan, Queens, or The Bronx are not cities but in a sense are districts that make up the City of New York. Kowloon, and New Territories are similar by the sources and the concept of HK. The government refers them as districts of Hong Kong not as separate cities. <b style="font-family:Calibri; font-size:medium; color:#4682B4;"> E lockid</b>   ( Talk ) 15:36, 28 March 2010 (UTC)

Spanish cities
Mislata in Valencia, and Hospitalet in Barcelona are more than 20.000 hab/km2 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.120.14.239 (talk) 01:40, 20 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Do you have any sources (non-Wikipedia sources) that cite the land area and population. <b style="font-family:Calibri; font-size:medium; color:#4682B4;"> E lockid</b>  ( Talk ) 02:31, 20 April 2010 (UTC)
 * I found a source and added the two Spanish cities.--Pjred (talk) 10:48, 21 April 2010 (UTC)

Howrah/Haora
Howrah and Haora are supposedly two different cities on this list, but they are just two different spellings for the same city. Sowelilitokiemu (talk) 06:44, 15 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Fixed. <b style="font-family:Calibri; font-size:medium; color:#4682B4;"> E lockid</b>  ( Talk ) 11:03, 15 June 2010 (UTC)

Pateros, Metro Manila
is not a city. – HTD  ( ITN: Where no updates but is stickied happens. ) 07:39, 22 June 2010 (UTC)

This article pushes Manilacentrism by lacking photos from other cities of other countries. Zollerriia63 (talk) 02:42, 5 June 2011 (UTC)

Vincennes near Paris, France
Vincennes is the second most densely populated city in France not far behind Levallois-Perret, with more than 24500hab/km². I think it should be on the list. Aesma (talk) 16:51, 24 September 2010 (UTC)

Bogor and Sukabumi
I found out that the data of Bogor and Sukabumi in this version was wrong. (reference that said the area sizes are 21.56 km² and 12.15 km² were no longer exist). Therefore I fall back to the data that was provided in the articles of each cities. Bennylin (talk) 08:35, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Links: Bennylin (talk) 08:41, 6 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Cities of Indonesia Statistics Portal Nasional Republik Indonesia (Indonesian). Retrieved 12 June 2009. on this version is dead
 * From the official West Java province website: http://www.jabarprov.go.id/index.php/subMenu/839 states the size of Bogor and Sukabumi are 11.770,99 and 4.883,85 hectares respectively (117,7099 and 48,8385 km²)
 * From the official Bogor city website: http://www.kotabogor.go.id/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1118&Itemid=148 states the size of Bogor is 11.850 hectares or 118,50 km²
 * From the official Sukabumi city website: http://www.sukabumikota.go.id/geografi.asp states the size of Sukabumi is 4.800,231 hectares or 48,00231 km²

For further stats on Indonesian city density and their references, see id:Daftar_kota_di_Indonesia_menurut_kepadatan_penduduk. Bennylin (talk) 08:50, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

buenos aires
buenoa aires is overpopulated recently due to tourism and long stays population increased sharply and we have 3 million here and 12 million in great buenos aires a lot more people per km2 than even New York DC in Mexico is not correctly listed this article's incomplete since it bases only mostly in Asian cities — Preceding unsigned comment added by 181.1.17.166 (talk) 21:21, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Wrong entries
Entries like Titagarh, Baranagar, South Dumdum etc should be removed as these are municipalities under Kolkata, which is listed too, and not city proper. Wizvikz (talk) 20:20, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Use only big, 250K+, cities!
People, this article in USA/UK variant is useless - we don't want to read about small "50 blocks of flats" towns. I know what I say, because Bibirevo in Moscow has >40,000 density. But hey, how about making a good entry border like 250,000 people? Everything with 250,000 people inside counts, small towns - don't.

Moreover, it's a pain to see India in these lists. Look, India doesn't seem to have much of tall buildings, so I guess many people sign themselves as citizens of city while not living within its territory (you know, bureacracy binding to one or other city for needs of free medi-care). If I were making a new list, I would mention Bibirevo (part of Moscow) - it has >40000/km2 (or >100000/mi2) density and >250000 people inside, which makes it probably most dense piece of land in the world.

So, I insist on using cities with 250K size and more. Otherwise, I will have to add my hometown Troitsk, but use 1977 data, when the city was supposed to be a 0,5x0,5km block of land and had ~12000 residents (enough to become a town in Russia)


 * Troitsk appears to be part of Moscow now, not a separate entity. This goes the same for Bibirevo. So they don't qualify. Tall buildings =/= high population density. <b style="font-family:Calibri; font-size:14px; color:#4682B4;">Elockid</b>  ( Talk ) 00:17, 18 August 2013 (UTC)
 * No, it is! Of couse, horrific "hive" street design counts too, but India's towns can't be dense without artificial tricks. Moreover, someone have deleted my wipes... 212.41.32.98 (talk) 17:34, 21 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Please do not refactor others' comments. It's against policy to do so. New York for example has a lot of Skyscrapers, but Kolkata and Mumbai are commonly thought of being more densely populated than NYC. Even major cities like Paris and Manila are much more dense than NYC even though they don't have towering skyscrapers. <b style="font-family:Calibri; font-size:14px; color:#4682B4;">Elockid</b>  ( Talk ) 19:25, 21 August 2013 (UTC)

Kowloon - historical record in ~2000000 ppl/km^2 !
Suddenly, I've just learned about the most dense city ever (and most antiutopic one in the same time) is Kawloon - world record among cities.

With 0.026 km2 square and 50'000 residents, this "city-fortress" is a world's record of density:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kowloon_Walled_City

212.41.32.106 (talk) 00:34, 25 August 2013 (UTC)

P.S.

Please, let me keep my little edit outside of the list, since Kowloon was demolished in 1993, by two reasons. The first one is high crime rate - many criminals used to estabulish their businesses there. Second - 14-stored buildings were making difficult for airplaines to land on local airport.

P.P.S. It is important, that Kowloon had never had been a part of Hong Kong's city proper - it was an authonomic microcity inside it and therefore, cannot be estimated as "part of city" - it was surrounded by a wall, making a thick border.


 * It wasn't a "city". It was still in the special administrative region of HK. Plus, you can't source Wikipedia when you're trying to include information in the article. <b style="font-family:Calibri; font-size:14px; color:#4682B4;">Elockid</b>  ( Talk ) 01:11, 25 August 2013 (UTC)


 * https://youtube.com/watch?v=4YuNvIfM-YA
 * I think, the Kowloon phenomenon deserves a "honorary mention".
 * 109.252.65.192 (talk) 20:16, 22 August 2023 (UTC)

You know you are asking the wrong question...
...when this list is the answer. some towns in France with populations of 20K and 40K are in the top 20 in the world, alongside a bunch of sprawling slums that nobody ever heard of? 198.179.82.133 (talk) 17:30, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

Definition of 'city'?
It should be made clearer which kinds of administrative divisions that count as 'cities' for the purpose of this article, since each country has its own system of local government and administrative subdivision. What about, for example, countries with a unitary form of local government, that does not distinguish 'cities' from other forms of administrative units on the same level? 1700-talet (talk) 17:54, 16 November 2014 (UTC)

Include column for Metropolitan Area
The transparency and usefulness of this list could be dramatically helped if every entry included what city's metropolitan area it was part of. For example, the top five actual cities on this list are Manila, Chennai, Delhi, Calcutta, and Paris; almost every one of the cities above 50,000 people/sq mi is one of these cities or part of one of these cities' metro area. It would make the list much more easily parsible to keep its content the same as now, but add a column that identifies that, for example, Vincennes is in the Paris Metropolitan Area. Talindsay (talk) 18:46, 10 December 2014 (UTC)

Neapoli
Neapoli is not an independent municipality/local, rather it's only a district of a municipality/local government. As it currently exists, Neapoli has no associated independent local government. Upon the 2011 local government reform in Greece, Neapoli is only a consituent district of the indpendent municipality of Neapoli-Sykies, which itself is only a constituent local government within the dominant local government of Thessaloniki. I guess this is to say, that the smallest local unit of government that Neapoli could be added as is the municipality of Neapoli-Sykies, which wouldn't be on this list. It probably doesn't belong on this list, any longer. --Criticalthinker (talk) 06:57, 30 June 2015 (UTC)

Saint-Josse-ten-Noode
The Brussels commune of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode can't be put on the same list as Kolkata and Mumbai ! It is only covering a few quarters in the city of Brussels, even if the official 'City of Brussels' (Bruxelles-Ville, Ville de Bruxelles) is limited to the Brussels commune and Saint-Josse-ten-Noode has the status of independent municipality with its mayor, aldermen and municipal council. --Minorities observer (talk) 13:37, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

Shubra El-Kheima
i think Shubra El-Kheima should be listed in this list as it have population density around 40000/km2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shubra_El-Kheima — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.100.204.115 (talk) 10:07, 3 November 2015 (UTC)

concept error
It is statistically wrong to compare a part of one entity with the mean value of the whole of another entity. For example comparing parts of Paris with the whole of Delhi or Cairo. The article should decide whether it needs small places comparisons or the mean value of large cities, for example of cities larger than one million. Otherwise I don't see why not to include even smaller entities leading to even larger peaks. How about a few blocks of skyscrapers.. Please comments only from people that understand simple statistics The title also does not fit the content which asks for city propers and not just cities. The concept of city proper differs among countries or simply does not exist.

Cities that should be added (And I can't add at the moumet):
Cairo - density: 19,376<Br> Macau - density: 18,568 Beirut - density: 18,068 Damascus - density: 16,295 (possible) Athenes (municipalty) - density: 17042 Baghdad - density: 44258 (per miles)

Missing US cities
There are plenty of cities in the US with densities that would qualify for this list (although they are mostly smaller cities in New Jersey). Why are they not included? Is this just an ad hoc list? Kaldari (talk) 04:15, 5 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Someone recently added West New York. The other two that should be listed are Guttenberg, New Jersey and Union City, New Jersey. Kaldari (talk) 04:20, 5 April 2016 (UTC)

India
How shall we treat "Census Towns" in India? They are classified as "towns" in India by their urban charasteristics, but aren't administrative units as cities, municipalities or similar. Can they be included in this list anyway?--Pjred (talk) 09:58, 6 June 2016 (UTC)

Rank
I have removed the "rank" column. Unless a single reliable source lists precisely the 40 entries here, the "rank" is WP:OR and WP:SYN and probably just plain wrong. jnestorius(talk) 18:13, 8 December 2016 (UTC)

I think that's a really strong way to put it considering it is sorted by density anyway. El cid, el campeador (talk) 21:37, 5 January 2017 (UTC)

City of Manila?
Is it necessary to have 'city of'? No other city is listed that way, regardless of what the 'official' name of Manila is. If no one objects I'd sooner change it than not.El cid, el campeador (talk) 21:37, 5 January 2017 (UTC)

Inclusion of Kathmandu is obvious here
20288.88 sq km Airkeeper (talk) 13:42, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

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Density / population cutoff?
I just came back to this page and noticed that people add and remove cities to the list arbitrarily, because there are no defined criteria but how small the city can get, or what's the minimum density to be included on this list. I would suggest at least a cutoff of 18,000 people per square kilometer, because it large coincides with what this list already has. Not sure about the population cutoff. —Ynhockey (Talk) 00:07, 14 February 2019 (UTC)


 * Unfortunately, the reversion was also done arbitrarily. When you reverted the previous edits, you deleted two valid cities (those with 18,000 or more inhabitants per square kilometer):
 * * Cavite City — undefined /km2
 * * Navotas — undefined /km2
 * Also, in my previous edits, I updated the population of the Philippine cities to the latest (2015) census, and also verified the land area figures, as well as added citations for those cities figures.
 * Additionally, for population density, why not use automatic conversion from /km2 to /sqmi using  instead of raw text which is prone to errors? —Sanglahi86 (talk) 01:52, 14 February 2019 (UTC)
 * I have restored those two cities. Agree about the conversion, do you have a script that builds the table? In any case, what do you think about the cutoff? —Ynhockey (Talk) 12:12, 2 April 2019 (UTC)
 * Thank you for the response. I do not have a script, but the table in the revision had updated figures (at least for the Philippines) and had  codes within. We may rebuild the list from that revision for easier updating.
 * I think 5,000 /km2 would be a good cutoff as Baguio for example is widely known as a very dense city at undefined /km2. For population cutoff, I think 100,000 should suffice. Besides, this list is very incomplete in that several countries are missing. —Sanglahi86 (talk) 15:36, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
 * That seems like a very low number, for example of 75 Israeli cities, 21 have a density of over 5,000. We might have a list with 1,000 cities or more if that's the cutoff, making it unmaintainable. I think we should aim to keep the list at <100, while at the same time making the cutoff as round as possible. —Ynhockey (Talk) 11:29, 4 April 2019 (UTC)
 * I can see how that can be unmaintainable indeed. Then maybe at least a density of 15,000 /km2 if we choose only the densest cities. –Sanglahi86 (talk) 14:29, 4 April 2019 (UTC)

Population of Paris is wrong
The numbers don't check out : if you divide the population by the area you get 100 000 peop/km². I believe this is because the article took the area of Paris "intramuros" (whose population is close to 2M people) but used the population of the urban area of Paris. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.45.249.133 (talk) 13:46, 20 September 2019 (UTC)
 * It is a mixed article where you don't know whether the numbers refer to whole cities or "most dense subdivision". Is it Paris just 20 arrondissements? Or is it the urban area of Paris?

Missing flags -> Template:country data
Thanks for adding the flags for the missing cities,. How about adding them to these cities' country data template instead, so they get picked up by other pages, not just this one? (I did that for Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo a few days ago.) Guarapiranga (talk) 01:39, 20 November 2019 (UTC)

Manhattan
Manhattan is on the list even tho it's only a Borough of New York City. Shouldn't it be removed?

If not shouldn't other boroughs cities be included? The list would then look very different. Frlite (talk) 13:07, 19 April 2020 (UTC)

Subang Jaya shouldn't be in this list
The population of 1.6 million belongs to the Municipality of Subang Jaya (which includes other townships like Serdang, Puchong etc.) where as the area used for the calculation (70 km2) is only for the township of Subang Jaya.

The real area population of Subang Jaya township is just 600k in 70km2. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pankour (talk • contribs) 14:11, 10 June 2020 (UTC)

If there are no objections, I will proceed to remove it from the list for the reasons explained above.

Name change proposal into "Urban areas"
The article presently (2020) displays mostly "Urban areas" described by geography. Therefore all subdivisions, like municipalities defined by administration and not by geography, should be removed. You cannot compare some "blocks of an urban area" with the "whole of an urban area". It leads to confusion and misinformation. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 5.54.135.106 (talk) 05:49, 20 July 2020 (UTC)

Manhattan does not belong on this list
I've notified the one editor who seems to be replacing it, but Manhattan is a subdivision of city proper New York City and as such does not belong on this list. I'll be taking it off soon if I don't hear anything here. Ab e g92 contribs 16:20, 22 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Sorta agree. Manhattan is a sprawl-tier district, yeah; but! Manhattan is full of workforce and businessmen who do not actually reside in Manhattan. 81.89.66.133 (talk) 08:40, 21 July 2022 (UTC)
 * More importantly, Manhattan is part of a larger city, it is a borough now, not a city.PrisonerB (talk) 08:59, 21 July 2022 (UTC)

Baghdad
The total area of Baghdad listed was 204.4 km². However, the number wasn't based on a defined boundary, and was lacking sources. Citypopulation.de (which is based on official data) estimates a population 8,126,755 for an area of 520 km². As a result, the entry was removed.Tomaatje12 (talk) 18:08, 9 March 2021 (UTC)

Too few significant figures for the area data
I checked the source code where the raw data are fine with at least 2-3 significant figures. However, in the article, they become 0, 1, 2, etc, which are not very informative. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mteechan (talk • contribs) 18:29, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

Top 68 cities
Is there a reason why this article gives the top 68 most densely populated cities? I get that the cutoff has to be arbitrary, but I would expect the top 100 or something. Anditres (talk) 22:01, 9 February 2022 (UTC)


 * I agree it should be. — Guarapiranga ☎ 05:23, 18 July 2022 (UTC)

Criteria for inclusion in the list
Several places on the list are not cities. Either the title of the article needs to be changed, or there needs to be better set of criteria for inclusion in the list. I propose the latter.

Unfortunately the definition of a city is not agreed upon internationally. In the UK there is a sharp definition between a town and a city, as the Queen has to grant a place city status for it to become a city. Anywhere else is a town or a village. I'm from the most populous town in the UK which has a population of 213,052, so that could be a starting point for a working international Wikipedian definition of a city. To be clear, I'm not proposing that the literal definition should be that it is a city if it is more populous than Luton, not only because that would be a bit self-centred but also because 41 out of the 69 cities in the UK are less populous, and that includes London and St David's, the latter of which has a population, variously, of a whopping 1,841 or 1,600, depending on which article you take as gospel. But to me it would not be unreasonable to suggest that, to be defined as a city by Wikipedia and therefore be included in this list, a place should have a population of at least, say, 200,000 or 250,000. Back to the point I was making on the lack of an international definition, in Spain, most places are referred to as either a ciudad (city) or pueblo (town), with these being somewhat broad translations, as my hometown would definitely be referred to as a ciudad, and there are many pueblos, probably even the majority, that I would not call towns, but villages. I can't be certain, but I get the feeling that not only is the threshold to be considered a town or a city lower in Spain than in the UK - perhaps in part because there is no word for village, aside from pueblecito, which is just the diminutive of pueblo - but also that the decision to refer to it as a a town or a city probably also comes from its character, so that would be things like population density, relative centrality (so whether it is more populous and important than the places around it, or if it is subordinate to a larger city) and such. That's enough of me rambling about the difficulties of creating an ad hoc definition of a city, does anyone have any suggestions as to what that definition could actually be? Anditres (talk) 22:28, 9 February 2022 (UTC)


 * yeah, it more or less has become a list of municipalities by population density Tomaatje12 (talk) 10:33, 10 May 2022 (UTC)
 * That's basically what it means in the US: — Guarapiranga ☎ 01:28, 11 May 2022 (UTC)
 * Insignificant, though. An essay on, say, Guttenberg town with 11k residents would fail to prove a point if life in a dence city is a good thing or a bad thing. One can feel Guttenberg's residents use hospitals and such in neighboring areas - it's a part of the agglomeration! Guttenberg is basically an analog of Russian "sleep district" (many hi-rises, not so many parks/utility buildings) at this rate! 81.89.66.133 (talk) 09:05, 21 July 2022 (UTC)

Bandung
The population of Bandung is 2.4 million according to its wikipedia page ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandung) not 3 million cited by the ranking. Surfinginthearctic (talk) 09:13, 7 June 2022 (UTC)

Guttenberg and other mini-"cities"
IMO, 1-10 km² cities do not belong to this list due to being too small.

Living in Moscow or Tokyo means being surrounded by unknown people in crammed train cars or getting struck in a traffic jam -- the issues of life in a big city.

But a town like Guttenberg is merely an equivalent of a "sleeping area", which is an insignificant part of a big aglomeration. If a person lives in Guttenberg and works in Guttenberg, it's not the very "life in a dense city", but a walk in the park. Or literal everyday cozy walking from home to work and vice versa.

As a resident of a mega(lo)polis with 1hr+ way from home to work, I am quite unhappy to see an assorti of purely residential "little cities" on this list. 2A00:1FA0:131:3602:1709:B3DE:AC68:D3A5 (talk) 16:56, 9 August 2022 (UTC)
 * I removed Guttenberg, New Jersey and Emperador, Valencia since they are towns, not cities. If you see other towns and villages that should be removed please say so. PrisonerB (talk) 10:22, 10 August 2022 (UTC)


 * Thanks. I think all cities under 190 thousand shouldn't be in this list.

Uno. It's just in case some resident of some not-so-big, not-so-significant city starts pushing the city's (or even municipality, a synonym for a district) name into this list. Secundo. A bunch of 50-60 thousand people French "communes" are actually incorporated into a conglomeration-like quilt. 2A00:1FA0:4A4D:6115:0:47:C9DD:EC01 (talk) 12:54, 2 September 2022 (UTC)

Wrong information
This list is not only incomplete Its WRONG 45.64.241.197 (talk) 10:13, 21 November 2022 (UTC)

Please take off this page with obviously wrong information
Before the reputation of Wikipedia is completely ruined 45.64.241.197 (talk) 10:22, 21 November 2022 (UTC)

Buenos Aires should be on the list
Why there is no Buenos Aires in the list? It is the most densely cities in the world. 2001:448A:11A2:1495:D71:D1FC:EE8C:B1C2 (talk) 12:39, 5 July 2023 (UTC)

Add more cities
We have need to add more cities, in which all 380 cities must on the list here. 2001:448A:11A5:1C46:6976:4749:BAAD:839E (talk) 11:50, 19 July 2023 (UTC)

82
There are 81 cities on the list but somehow the list is 82 TheNuggeteer (talk) 04:11, 21 July 2023 (UTC)


 * I don't know whether this is a related issue, but right now (23 June 2024) the ranking goes from 2 through 88, with no number 1. Perhaps also related, the density of the top city (Tokyo, with the #2 ranking) is 6,424/km^2 (16,638/mi^2), which is far lower than the density of any other city on the list. I'm not familiar with how tables work in Wikipedia, so can't correct this, but I hope that someone does so. 2603:7000:3400:69F6:D955:AAD7:BE18:782D (talk) 20:12, 23 June 2024 (UTC)

Gaza
gaza should be added. It's 25 x 5 and has 2 million residents. Which makes it 21,000 per square miles. Here's the sourcing:

https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/11/middleeast/maps-population-density-gaza-israel-dg/index.html Teenyplayspop (talk) 01:44, 14 December 2023 (UTC)


 * WHOOPS. I didn't know Gaza is that dense! 2A00:1FA0:28B:AAE4:0:4B:E81C:4B01 (talk) 17:54, 6 February 2024 (UTC)
 * @Teenyplayspop Well then go ahead and add it! WP:BOLD Alexysun (talk) 01:38, 3 July 2024 (UTC)