Primate city

A primate city is a city that is the largest in its country, province, state, or region. It is much bigger than any other city in the area, often more than twice the size of the next largest one. This big city usually plays a very important role in many parts of the country's life, such as its money, government, culture, and schools.

The idea of a primate city was first talked about by a geographer named Mark Jefferson in 1939. He said a primate city should be at least twice as big as the next largest city and also more important in many ways. Because it is so big and important, many people from other places in the country often move to live there.

When most of the people and development in a country or area are focused in just one big city, this is called urban primacy or urban macrocephaly. This can sometimes mean that other smaller places in the area do not grow as much.

Measurement

Urban primacy can be measured by looking at how many people in a country live in the biggest city. We can also compare the size of the biggest city to the second biggest city to see just how much larger the main city is.

Significance

There is some discussion about whether a very large city in a country helps or harms the areas around it. Sometimes, this big city might take most of the jobs and resources, leaving smaller places with fewer opportunities. But having a big city doesn’t always mean a country isn’t doing well.

Big cities often grow because more people work in jobs like government, money, news, and schools. These jobs need education and skills, so many educated people move to the biggest city where these jobs are found.

Examples

Some very big cities are also called primate cities because they are much larger than any other cities in their country. For example, Istanbul in Turkey is a primate city. It has more people, money, and culture than any other city in Turkey, like the capital Ankara or İzmir.

Other examples of primate cities are Mexico City, Paris, Cairo, Jakarta, and Seoul. Not every country has a primate city. In the United States, the biggest city, New York City, is not much bigger than the second-biggest city, Los Angeles.

Some smaller areas, like states or provinces, can also have primate cities. For example, New York City is much bigger than any other city in the State of New York. In Alaska, most people live in Anchorage. Some places, like China, don’t have a national primate city, but some of its provinces do. For instance, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, and Chengdu are much larger than any other cities in their provinces.

Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, is often called the biggest example of a primate city. In the year 2000, it was 40 times bigger than the next largest city, Nakhon Ratchasima. Even today, Bangkok is much larger than Chiang Mai, the second-largest city in Thailand.

Sometimes, a country’s leader chooses a new capital city to balance growth, but the old biggest city stays important. In Tanzania, Dar es Salaam is still the biggest city, even though the capital was moved to Dodoma in 1996. Similarly, in New Zealand, Wellington became the capital in 1865, but Auckland remains the largest city.

List

Africa

Asia

Colombo is the largest city in Sri Lanka, much bigger than the next largest city, Kandy.

In the Philippines, Metro Manila is the biggest area, and Metro Cebu is also very large. Metro Manila is part of a bigger area called Mega Manila, which has about 25 million people.

In Malaysia, numbers for Kuala Lumpur include nearby areas, and numbers for George Town include parts of nearby states.

In Vietnam, Hanoi is the largest city in the north, and Ho Chi Minh City is the largest in the south. But in the central part of Vietnam, cities like Da Nang and Huế are about the same size.

Europe

In Germany, Munich is much larger than the next biggest city, Nuremberg. In Hesse, Frankfurt is also much bigger than Wiesbaden.

In Italy, Rome is very big compared to other cities in its area. Milan in Lombardy is also much larger than the next city, Brescia. Other big cities in Italy include Turin in Piedmont, Naples in Campania, and Genoa in Liguria.

Other examples in Europe include Gothenburg in Sweden, Bergen in Norway, Trondheim in Norway, Tampere in Finland, and Aarhus in Denmark.

In Portugal, Lisbon and Porto are both much larger than any other city.

North and Central America

In the United States, many states have one very big city. For example, in California, Los Angeles is nearly three times bigger than San Diego. In Illinois, Chicago is much larger than any other city in the state. In New York, New York City is more than 30 times bigger than the next largest city, Buffalo.

In Canada, cities like Vancouver in British Columbia, Winnipeg in Manitoba, Toronto in Ontario, Montreal in Quebec, Halifax in Nova Scotia, and St. John's in Newfoundland and Labrador are each much larger than any other city in their province.

Oceania

In Australia, each state’s capital city is the largest in that state.

South America

In Brazil, each state’s capital city is usually the largest in that state.