City facts: the biggest, oldest and highest
Most people can name perhaps twenty cities and there are several hundred with more than a million people in them. The gap between those two numbers is where most of the surprises on this page live.
Which is the largest city in the world by land area?
Chongqing
Chongqing's municipality covers about 82,000 km2 (larger than Austria), though most of it is rural. By built-up area, Tokyo and New York are far bigger.
Source: Chongqing Municipal Government statistics
Which is often called the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world?
Damascus
Damascus has evidence of settlement going back some 11,000 years. Jericho and Byblos make similar claims; the honest answer is that it depends on what counts as a city.
Source: UNESCO World Heritage listing for Ancient Damascus
Which urban area has the most people?
Tokyo
Greater Tokyo holds roughly 37 million, ahead of Delhi at about 33 million. It has topped the list for decades, though Delhi is projected to overtake it.
Source: UN World Urbanization Prospects
Which major European city has districts several metres below sea level?
Amsterdam
Parts of Amsterdam sit about 2 m below sea level, and Schiphol airport is roughly 4 m below. The whole area is kept dry by dikes and continuous pumping.
Source: Rijkswaterstaat elevation data
Venice is sinking. Roughly how fast?
About 1 to 2 mm a year
Venice subsides roughly 1 to 2 mm a year, having sunk faster last century when groundwater was pumped out. Rising seas contribute about as much again to the relative change.
Source: Italian National Research Council subsidence studies
Why is playing football in La Paz notoriously hard for visiting teams?
The altitude
At about 3,600 m the air holds roughly a third less oxygen than at sea level. FIFA briefly banned high-altitude internationals in 2007 before reversing the decision.
Source: FIFA rulings, 2007; standard altitude physiology
Which city has the most bridges?
Hamburg
Hamburg has well over 2,000 bridges, more than Venice, Amsterdam and London combined. Its port and canal network account for most of them.
Source: Hamburg city authority
Which city is split between two countries and shares a single name?
Nicosia, between Cyprus and the north
Nicosia has been divided since 1974. Other split cities such as Frankfurt an der Oder and Slubice sit either side of a river under different names.
Source: UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus
Bangkok's full ceremonial name is remarkable for what?
Being the longest place name
Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and the rest runs to over 160 characters and holds the Guinness record. Thais call it Krung Thep in everyday speech.
Source: Guinness World Records; Thai Royal Institute
Derinkuyu in Turkey is what?
An underground city
Derinkuyu descends about 60 m through at least eight levels, with stables, chapels and ventilation shafts, and could shelter thousands of people with their livestock.
Source: Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism
Which country has held the record for the world's tallest building longest in the modern era?
The United States
New York and Chicago held the record almost continuously from the 1890s until 1998, when the Petronas Towers took it to Malaysia. Dubai has held it since 2010.
Source: Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat
Which large city is furthest from any ocean?
Urumqi
Urumqi in Xinjiang sits roughly 2,500 km from the nearest coastline, closer to the continental pole of inaccessibility than any other major city.
Source: Pole of inaccessibility calculations; Chinese city coordinates