Meanwhile, Ngerulmud, the capital of the Republic of Palau in the western Pacific, has just 400 residents, but at 180 square miles (466 square kilometers), has a larger area than Vatican City, and is regarded as the least-populous capital city in the world (opens in new tab). Vatican City, for example, is the world's smallest independent country and is tiny in terms of its population (just 453 people) and area (0.19 square mile, or 0.49 square kilometer). And neither size nor population are always a factor.
'What constitutes a 'city' varies from one country to another,' Ward noted. Measuring the size of a city is difficult in part because there is no universally accepted way of defining what a city is, or where one begins and ends. In this regard, Ward said, one could claim 'Paris, London or New York' to be the 'biggest.' This is, however, open to individual interpretation. Ward also suggested a possible third option: assessing a city's cultural impact on the rest of the world. (Image credit: Yongyuan Dai via Getty Images) Tokyo is the most populated city in the world.
