World's Third Largest City: Shanghai (26.3 Million)

By city proper population (administrative boundaries), Shanghai, China ranks third globally with 26.32 million residents (2022).

Top 5 City Proper (2022 Estimates)

1. Chongqing, China — 32.1M (vast administrative area = province-sized)
2. Shanghai, China — 26.3M
3. Beijing, China — 21.9M
4. Delhi, India — 20.3M (NCT)
5. Karachi, Pakistan — 16.5M

Critical Caveat: "City Proper" vs. "Metro" vs. "Urban Agglomeration"

• Metro (functional): Tokyo (37.4M), Delhi (32M), Shanghai (28M), São Paulo (22M), Mexico City (22M)
• Urban agglomeration (built-up): Tokyo, Jakarta, Delhi, Guangzhou-Foshan, Mumbai
• Chongqing's #1 rank is administrative fiction — 82,400 km² (size of Austria), mostly rural

Shanghai Context

• Area: 6,340 km² (municipality)
• Density: ~3,800/km² (core districts >25,000)
• Role: China's financial capital, busiest container port (47M TEU), maglev, 19M metro ridership/day
• Growth: Slowed — hukou restrictions, aging, decentralization to Yangtze River Delta integration

For most comparative purposes, metro/urban agglomeration is the meaningful metric — where Tokyo leads decisively.