The 10 largest cities in the world

This is a list of the world's largest cities in population, ordered by several ranking methods. Determining the world's largest cities depends on which definitions of "city" and "size" are used, and how those definitions are applied. The "size" of a city can refer to its land area, but it is more typically the population.

How one defines the land area of a city, however, is key to determining its population. 


1) Tokyo, Japan

Metropolitan area: 34 million people Population: 12.5 million Tokyo is by far the largest urban area in the world. Despite its size and complexity, it has a network of highly efficient public transport accounting for nearly 80% of all megalopolis daily trips.


2) Mexico City, Mexico

Metropolitan area: 22 million people Population: 8.7 million Mexico is ten times larger than what it was in 1940. Now, with nearly 22 million people in the metropolitan area, the Mexican capital contributes about a quarter to the country's wealth. However, with a low population growth of 0.99%, it is expected that the number of retirees will grow rapidly in the coming decades.


3) New York, United States

Metropolitan Area: 21.9 million people Population: 8.2 million New York City, especially Manhattan, is a role model for balancing dense development with good public transport and access to open spaces. Different in many ways, New York is the American city where most households do not have a car.


4) Sao Paulo, Brazil

Metropolitan Area: 19.6 million people City: 11 million people Sao Paulo, the sixth largest metropolis in the world, is also the richest city in Brazil and the most important financial center in Latin America. Poverty and crime, however, remain a big problem. An average of 6,000 people is killed each year.


5) Shanghai, China

Metropolitan Area: 17.8 million people Population: 9.8 million people With the increase of interior gross production and the economic capacity of China, Shanghai has become the financial and commercial center of the country with one of the world’s busiest ports largest bus system, with about a thousand lines.


6) Jakarta, Indonesia

Metropolitan area: 15 million people Population: 9.3 million Jakarta had to suffer major setbacks during the last decade due to the 1998 economic crisis and natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes. Since 2005, Jakarta has experienced a significant economic recovery, boosting the economy of Indonesia to a growth rate of 6%.


7) Moscow, Russia

Metropolitan Area: 13.4 million people Population: 11.3 million people For the second consecutive time, Moscow was named the most expensive city for expatriates in 2007. With a subway passenger whose amount exceeds that of New York and London combined, it is considered the public transport network the most widely used, circulating more than 9 million people a day.


8) Seoul, South Korea

Metropolitan Area: 23.9 million people Population: 10.3 million Seoul has grown rapidly since the war between the two Koreas (1950-1953). Today, almost half of the population lives in Seoul and its suburbs. In recent years, Seoul has modernized the transport system of the city and created a lot of public green spaces.


9) Mumbai, India

Metropolitan area: 21 million people City: 13 million people Mumbai -also known as Bombay until the name was officially changed in 1995- is the most populous city in the world. With high birth rates and the constant influx of immigrants, it is expected that the population of this city will experience a tremendous growth over the next ten years.


10) Los Angeles, United States

Metropolitan Area: 17.9 million people Population: 3.9 million Los Angeles is the second largest city in the United States for its size in square kilometers. It has an extensive network of roads, streets, avenues and small neighbourhoods in the center of the city.

20 Best Education Systems In The World

Education is one of those things that is considered pretty important throughout the world, but it still remains that not every country does it the same and indeed some countries are better at it than others. In the west we often assume that our own education systems are the best, but that may not actually be true. An education group called Pearson periodically test such assumptions by comparing measurable things like grades and attempt to rank different countries according to the success of their education system.

Needless to say, results vary, but the results are still interesting, particularly when you learn that the USA has recently been ranked in 17th Position, a long way below many European countries.

So Who Is At The Top?

Well interestingly the top is very close between two very different countries:

Finland & South Korea

These two countries have similarities in their education systems, but many differences too. South Korea it could be argued is one of the most dedicated countries in the world. Children often attend school 7 days a week and do homework from a very young age.

In both Korea and Finland though, education is held in high regards and teachers are treated with great respect (equal to how we revere doctors or lawyers in the west).

Interestingly, South Korea also score ‘moderately proficient’ in English speaking ability, which is a good result for an Asian country. They actually speak English better than the French do, which is probably due in part to their strong emphasis of English learning and a high number of native TEFL teachers working over there.

Ok, so here are the top 20 countries:

  1.     Finland
  2.     South Korea
  3.     Hong Kong
  4.     Japan
  5.     Singapore
  6.     UK
  7.     Netherlands
  8.     New Zealand
  9.     Switzerland
  10.     Canada
  11.     Ireland
  12.     Denmark
  13.     Australia
  14.     Poland
  15.     Germany
  16.     Belgium
  17.     USA
  18.     Hungary
  19.     Slovakia
  20.     Russia

Achieving Educational Success

The report has compared the best and worst educational systems and has found what seem to be the strongest factors in determining the success of the education system and interestingly money spent is not all that important!

All of the best educated countries have education of one of the most culturally important parts of life. In other words, education is prized and parents, teachers and even students care about the results.

Traits Of Educational Success

Teaching is held in high regard as a career and brings elevated social status, even if not necessarily being a well-paid career choice.

A good education is also prized socially and even children want to do well so that they can be considered to be well educated.

But before you move to Asia seeking a better education for your family, you may be interested to hear how Finland do things. Oh and if you were wondering, Finland scored 4th position in terms of English speaking ability in 2012, so if you want to teach English abroad, there may be some valuable career options there too.

  •     School starts at 7 years
  •     No homework for young children
  •     No exams until you turn 13
  •     All classes are mixed ability
  •     Max 16 students in science class
  •     Lots of break time every day
  •     Teacher training to masters level
  •     Teacher training is paid for by government

About Robert Poakden: Hi there, my name is Robert, I am a TEFL teacher and I work for ICALTEFL.com who provide these accredited TEFL courses for anyone who wants to teach overseas. Thanks for reading!