Mexico vs Philippines: Number of people living in cities with more than 1 million residents

Mexico
34.17 million people
in 2020
Philippines
29.67 million people
in 2020
Mexico rank
11th
Philippines rank
13th

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

  • Mexico
  • Philippines
010.0M20.0M30.0M40.0M195019852020

How they compare

Mexico currently reports 34.17 million people against 29.67 million people in Philippines, a difference of 4.50 million people.

That makes Mexico's figure about 1.2 times Philippines's.

Across all 15 years both countries report, Mexico has been ahead every year.

Mexico ranks 11th and Philippines ranks 13th of 182 regions.

Mexico has averaged higher in every one of the 8 decades both report.

Head to head by decade

Decade Mexico Philippines Difference Ahead
1950s 4.10 million people 2.99 million people 1.11 million people Mexico
1960s 7.08 million people 4.88 million people 2.20 million people Mexico
1970s 13.31 million people 7.45 million people 5.86 million people Mexico
1980s 18.51 million people 10.78 million people 7.73 million people Mexico
1990s 24.13 million people 16.32 million people 7.81 million people Mexico
2000s 30.68 million people 20.87 million people 9.81 million people Mexico
2010s 34.91 million people 26.15 million people 8.77 million people Mexico
2020s 34.17 million people 29.67 million people 4.50 million people Mexico

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, Mexico or Philippines?
Mexico, at 34.17 million people against 29.67 million people in Philippines as of 2020.
What is the difference in number of people living in cities with more than 1 million residents between Mexico and Philippines?
4.50 million people, with Mexico ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Mexico and Philippines?
15 years are reported by both, from 1950 to 2020.
How do Mexico and Philippines rank globally for number of people living in cities with more than 1 million residents?
Mexico ranks 11th and Philippines ranks 13th of 182 regions.
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

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.