List of largest suburbs by population

Largest suburbs worldwide (exluding PRC)

The following is a table of the largest incorporated suburbs worldwide, with over 700,000 people.

A suburb here is defined as subordinate to a central city from a business or infrastructure sense, and it may or may not have more population than the central city due to arbitrary municipal definitions.

Cities in People's Republic of China are often defined in way as prefectures/counties, for the sake of simplicity they are listed in a separate list as explained in the respective section.

Coincidentally, a similar scenario applies to Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung in Taiwan after they merged with their respective surrounding suburb counties in December 2010, despite they are controlled by Republic of China(Taiwan), except there is no nesting issues. Taipei County was also considered merging with Taipei City (and Keelung City) when such proposals were discussed, but instead became a special municipality--New Taipei City on its own. With its area surrounding Taipei and Keelung City unaltered, the New Taipei City occurs on top of this list. ROC data is included here because it is complete and easy to follow.

Also excluded are transborder agglomerations. In the Pop date column, C stands for census, P for provisional result, E for estimate.

Rank	City	Population	Pop date	Metropolitan area	Nation
1	New Taipei	3,947,608	2013E	Taipei	Republic of China (Taiwan)[1]
2	Yokohama	3,703,258	2014E	Tokyo	Japan[2]
3	Ekurhuleni	3,178,470	2011C	Greater Johannesburg	South Africa[3]
4	Incheon	2,891,286	2012E	Seoul	South Korea[4]
5	Quezon City	2,761,720	2010C	Manila	Philippines[5]
6	Giza	2,681,863	2006C	Greater Cairo	Egypt
7	Bekasi	2,510,951	2014E	Jabodetabek (Jakarta)	Indonesia[6]
8	Ghaziabad	2,358,525	2011C	Delhi NCR	India[7]
9	Tangerang	2,001,925	2014E	Jakarta	Indonesia[6]
10	Depok	1,869,681	2014E	Jakarta	Indonesia[6]
11	Omdurman	1,849,659	2008C	Khartoum	Sudan[8]
12	Thane	1,818,872	2011C	Mumbai Metropolitan Region	India[7]
13	La Matanza	1,772,130	2010CP	Buenos Aires	Argentina
14	Pimpri-Chinchwad	1,729,359	2011C	Pune	India[7]
15	Ecatepec de Morelos	1,685,806	2010C	Mexico City	Mexico[9]
16	Karaj	1,614,626	2011C	Greater Tehran	Iran[10]
17	Kobe City	1,540,242	2014E	Osaka	Japan[2]
18	Gurgaon	1,514,085	2011C	Delhi NCR	India[7]
19	Caloocan	1,489,040	2010C	Manila	Philippines[5]
20	Kawasaki	1,450,097	2014E	Tokyo	Japan[2]
21	South Tangerang	1,436,187	2014E	Jabodetabek (Jakarta)	Indonesia[6]
22	Faridabad	1,404,653	2011C	Delhi/NCR	India[7]
23	Guarulhos	1,299,249	2013E	São Paulo	Brazil[11]
24	Saitama City	1,244,695	2014E	Tokyo	Japan[2]
25	Kalyan-Dombivali	1,246,381	2011C	Mumbai Metropolitan Region	India[7]
26	Vasai-Virar	1,221,223	2011C	Mumbai Metropolitan Region	India[7]
27	Ulsan	1,166,503	2012E	Busan-Ulsan	South Korea[4]
28	Zapopan	1,155,790	2010C	Guadalajara	Mexico[9]
29	Suwon	1,147,955	2012E	Seoul	South Korea[4]
30	Navi Mumbai	1,119,477	2011C	Mumbai Metropolitan Region	India[7]
31	Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl	1,110,565	2010C	Mexico City	Mexico[9]
32	Changwon	1,106,081	2012E	Busan-Ulsan	South Korea[4]
33	Howrah	1,072,161	2011C	Kolkata	India[7]
34	São Gonçalo	1,025,507	2013E	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil[11]
35	Bogor	1,022,002	2014E	Jakarta	Indonesia[6]
36	Shubra El-Kheima	1,016,722	2006C	Cairo	Egypt
37	Khartoum North	1,012,211	2008C	Khartoum	Sudan[8]
38	Farwaniya	1,003,003	2012E	Kuwait City	Kuwait[12]
39	Callao	996,455	2014E	Greater Lima	Peru[13]
40	Seongnam	994,271	2012C	Seoul	South Korea[4]
41	Goyang	981,220	2012E	Seoul	South Korea[4]
42	Chiba City	964,314	2014E	Tokyo	Japan[2]
43	El Alto	953,300	2010C	Greater La Paz	Bolivia[14]
44	Yongin	930,058	2012E	Seoul	South Korea[4]
45	Matola	893,000	2014E	Maputo	Mozambique[15]
46	Sharjah	890,000	2010E	Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area	United Arab Emirates
47	Bucheon	885,949	2012E	Seoul	South Korea[4]
48	Duque de Caxias	873,921	2013E	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil[11]
49	Sakai	841,012	2014E	Osaka	Japan[2]
50	Naucalpan de Juárez	833,779	2010C	Mexico City	Mexico[9]
51	Hawalli	820,829	2012E	Kuwait City	Kuwait[12]
52	Seberang Perai	818,197	2010C	Penang	Malaysia[16]
53	Mira-Bhayander	814,655	2011C	Mumbai Metropolitan Region	India[7]
54	São Bernardo do Campo	805,895	2013E	São Paulo	Brazil[11]
55	Nova Iguaçu	804,815	2013E	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil[11]
56	Kajang	795,522	2010C	Greater Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia[16]
57	Ansan	758,573	2012E	Seoul	South Korea[4]
58	Noida/Greater Noida	750,057	2011C	Delhi NCR	India[7]
59	Biên Hòa	749,000	2013E	Saigon	Vietnam[17]
60	Klang	744,062	2010C	Greater Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia[16]
61	Sagamihara	721,155	2014E	Tokyo	Japan[2]
62	Mississauga	713,443	2010C	Greater Toronto Area	Canada[18]
63	Bhiwandi	711,329	2011C	Mumbai Metropolitan Region	India[7]
64	Subang Jaya	708,296	2010C	Greater Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia[16]
65	Santo André	704,942	2013E	São Paulo	Brazil[11]

Suburbs in the People's Republic of China

Cities in People's Republic of China and Republic of China are often defined in way as prefectures/counties. Their prefecture/county limits often are physically more extensive than entire metropolitan areas, encompassing large rural areas and outright separate cities. "Suburbs" may be located both within the municipality and/or adjacent to it, depending on how the area agglomerated. Some urban districts, as in the case of Wanzhou Urban District in Chongqing Municipality (Province Level), are separated by farmlands from the core metropolitan area and functions as a suburban city in spite of naming.

As to what constitutes a "city" in the PRC, there exist other definitions of city limits are in actual usage, such as combination of several districts where urban area of the central city is dominant, or roads, railways, natural boundaries, or a combination thereof. This is commonly designated by the central statistics bureaus as "urban districts" (区), however some counties(县) are also included, as well as some cities opt for towns (镇) rather than counties. Some counties/districts (e.g. Handan County, Handan City(Prefecture level)) are indeed suburbs of their respective central cities (e.g. Congtai,Hanshan,Fuxing districts of Handan City(Prefecture level) are a common definition of true urban area of Handan, although this definition now often also involves Handan County as the city expands).

In the case of Chaoshan Metropolitan Area, Jiēyáng (Prefecture-level city) urban districts border that of the central city of Shantou (Prefecture-level city), effectively spanning neighboring municipalities. Complicating the matter is the nesting of city structures, as Jieyang municipality itself is a suburb of Shantou, even though Puning city (County level city, and can be a suburb of Shantou) lies within Jieyang's jurisdiction. Suzhou, despite having cities within it that could be considered "suburbs", could itself be considered a suburb of Shanghai as commute patterns are indicative of it.

References