metadata
license: cc-by-4.0
language:
- en
tags:
- geography
- cities
- population
- geospatial
- geonames
- coordinates
size_categories:
- 1K<n<10K
task_categories:
- tabular-classification
- feature-extraction
pretty_name: World Cities Dataset 2026 (Population >= 100K)
World Cities Dataset 2026
Structured dataset of 5,979 cities worldwide with population above 100,000. Includes coordinates, timezone, elevation, and country association.
Dataset Description
- Source: Bamwor — based on GeoNames data, curated and enriched
- Records: 5,979 cities (population >= 100,000)
- Countries represented: 171
- Full dataset: 13.4M cities (available via API)
- Format: CSV and Parquet
- License: CC BY 4.0
- Last Updated: March 2026
Fields
| Column | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| geoname_id | int | GeoNames unique identifier |
| name | string | City name (ASCII English) |
| country_code | string | ISO 2-letter country code |
| population | int | City population |
| latitude | float | Latitude |
| longitude | float | Longitude |
| timezone | string | IANA timezone |
| elevation | int | Elevation in meters (if available) |
| feature_code | string | GeoNames feature code (PPLC=capital, PPLA=admin center, etc.) |
Quick Stats
- 5,979 cities across 171 countries
- Population range: 100,000 to 24,874,500 (Shanghai)
- Top countries by city count: China (641), India (534), Brazil (382), US (356), Japan (293)
Usage
from datasets import load_dataset
ds = load_dataset("bamwor/world-cities")
df = ds["train"].to_pandas()
# Top 20 largest cities globally
print(df.nlargest(20, "population")[["name", "country_code", "population"]])
# Cities in Brazil above 500K
brazil = df[(df["country_code"] == "BR") & (df["population"] >= 500000)]
print(brazil.sort_values("population", ascending=False))
What's NOT included (available via API)
- 13.4M+ cities (this dataset only includes cities >= 100K population)
- Multilingual city names (Spanish, Portuguese, Italian)
- Administrative region / province names
- URL slugs for web integration
- Nearby cities search (PostGIS-powered)
Full Data Access
- REST API: bamwor.com/developers — free tier: 1,000 requests/day
- MCP Server: bamwor-mcp-server — AI agent integration
- Complete country data: bamwor/world-countries
- GitHub: bamwor-dev/bamwor-mcp-server
Citation
@misc{bamwor2026cities,
title={World Cities Dataset 2026},
author={Bamwor},
year={2026},
url={https://bamwor.com},
note={Based on GeoNames, curated by Bamwor}
}