How many years of comparable data are there for ARM and SWZ?

5 years are reported by both, from 1995 to 2015.

ARM vs SWZ: Number of people living in cities with more than 1 million residents

ARM

1.06 million people

in 2020

SWZ

0 people

in 2015

ARM rank

125th

SWZ rank

127th

Number of people living in cities with more than 1 million residents over time

How they compare

ARM currently reports 1.06 million people against 0 people in SWZ, a difference of 1.06 million people.

Across all 5 years both countries report, ARM has been ahead every year.

ARM ranks 125th and SWZ ranks 127th of 182 countries.

ARM has averaged higher in every one of the 3 decades both report.

Head to head by decade

Decade	ARM	Difference	Ahead
1990s	1.21 million people	1.21 million people	ARM
2000s	1.14 million people	1.14 million people	ARM
2010s	1.11 million people	1.11 million people	ARM

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher number of people living in cities with more than 1 million residents, ARM or SWZ?: ARM, at 1.06 million people against 0 people in SWZ as of 2020.
What is the difference in number of people living in cities with more than 1 million residents between ARM and SWZ?: 1.06 million people, with ARM ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for ARM and SWZ?: 5 years are reported by both, from 1995 to 2015.
How do ARM and SWZ rank globally for number of people living in cities with more than 1 million residents?: ARM ranks 125th and SWZ ranks 127th of 182 countries.
Where does this data come from?: European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as Number of people living in cities with more than 1 million residents. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator: Number of people living in cities with more than 1 million residents
Unit: people
Source: European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 182 places, 2,532 data points, 1950–2020
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026

Total population living in cities with 1 million or more people. City boundaries are defined using a consistent global approach based on satellite imagery and population data.