The simplest definition of density is the amount of people divided by the land they occupy. Whenever the folks living in Dhaka think about the densest place on earth, they have no other city in mind other than their own.
And the UN’s Habitat data, collected from national census offices, very accurately, gives the number one spot to Dhaka. With a density of 44,500 people per sq km Dhaka is the densest city on earth.
Among other cities, it’s mostly Asian cities in the top of the list: Mumbai is second, while Manila is fourth, with Singapore high up as well, according to a report published in The Guardian.
This measurement of density was calculated on the administrative city proper including adjacent suburbia.
But different measures give different results. The UN’s Demographic Yearbook has data for only the “city proper”. This smaller measurement of area makes Manila the world’s most densely populated city, with the centres of Paris, Athens and Barcelona topping the European list. New York is the densest city in North America, while sprawling Sydney is Australia’s, says the report in The Guardian.