The thousand-year-old city of Cairo, the capital of Egypt, commands this ranking considering the urban agglomerations, while it is bypassed by Kinshasa as regards only the city borders.A feature in common to almost all African cities is their rapid growth in recent decades, which still continues at a very rapid pace, with the consequent birth of slums in the peripheral suburbs; Lagos, for example, had just over two and a half million inhabitants in 1980, Kinshasa about 2 million.
Nigeria, with 15 cities, is the most represented country, also because it is the most populated, and by far, of the whole continent, followed by Morocco with 5 cities.
There are also several countries represented by a single city, in most cases the capital, usually the economic as well as political fulcrum of that country.
| City | Urban aggl. | Population | Urban area | Country | Other cities in urban area |
| Cairo | 22,679,000 | 10,312,000 | 2,696 Kmē | Egypt | Giza, Shubra al-Khaymah |
| Johannesburg | 15,551,000 | 2,026,000 | 4,040 Kmē | South Africa | Soweto, Pretoria, Benoni, Tembisa |
| Lagos | 14,540,000 | 9,000,000 | 2,585 Kmē | Nigeria | Ikeja, Mushin, Ikorodu |
| Kinshasa | 13,493,000 | 13,493,000 | 518 Kmē | Democratic Rep. of the Congo |
|
| Luanda | 10,914,000 | 2,572,000 | 1,005 Kmē | Angola | |
| Dar es Salaam | 7,965,000 | 5,384,000 | 961 Kmē | Tanzania | |
| Onitsha | 7,205,000 | 1,499,000 | 1,943 Kmē | Nigeria | Asaba, Nkpor |
| Addis Ababa | 7,185,000 | 4,030,000 | 673 Kmē | Ethiopia | |
| Khartoum | 7,155,000 | 1,411,000 | 1,031 Kmē | Sudan | Omdurman, Khartoum North |
| Nairobi | 6,929,000 | 4,828,000 | 1,085 Kmē | Kenya | Ruiru |
| Accra | 5,785,000 | 1,782,000 | 1,222 Kmē | Ghana | Ashiaman, Tema |
| Abidjan | 5,678,000 | 5,678,000 | 376 Kmē | Ivory Coast | |
| Alexandria | 5,552,000 | 5,552,000 | 293 Kmē | Egypt | |
| Kumasi | 4,794,000 | 444,000 | 650 Kmē | Ghana | |
| Kampala | 4,679,000 | 1,794,000 | 772 Kmē | Uganda | Nansana, Kira, Makindye Ssabagabo |
| Kano | 4,670,000 | 3,626,000 | 326 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Yaoundé | 4,642,000 | 3,659,000 | 228 Kmē | Cameroon | |
| Cape Town | 4,595,000 | 3,433,000 | 839 Kmē | South Africa | |
| Casablanca | 4,499,000 | 3,640,000 | 469 Kmē | Morocco | |
| Bamako | 4,228,000 | 4,228,000 | 422 Kmē | Mali | |
| Mogadishu | 4,219,000 | 1,650,000 | 127 Kmē | Somalia | |
| Douala | 3,751,000 | 3,714,000 | 202 Kmē | Cameroon | |
| Ibadan | 3,657,000 | 3,565,000 | 471 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Dakar | 3,510,000 | 1,182,000 | 194 Kmē | Senegal | Pikine, Guediawaye |
| Mbuji-Mayi | 3,493,000 | 3,493,000 | 137 Kmē | Democratic Rep. of the Congo |
|
| Algiers | 3,462,000 | 2,365,000 | 443 Kmē | Algeria | Rouïba |
| Durban | 3,452,000 | 3,120,000 | 1,072 Kmē | South Africa | |
| Port Harcourt | 3,429,000 | 1,149,000 | 433 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Lusaka | 3,202,000 | 2,204,000 | 313 Kmē | Zambia | |
| Ouagadougou | 3,181,000 | 2,415,000 | 471 Kmē | Burkina Faso | |
| Brazzaville | 2,860,000 | 2,146,000 | 238 Kmē | Congo | |
| Conakry | 2,781,000 | 2,211,000 | 409 Kmē | Guinea | |
| Lubumbashi | 2,750,000 | 2,750,000 | 433 Kmē | Democratic Rep. of the Congo |
|
| Maputo | 2,735,000 | 1,136,000 | 417 Kmē | Mozambique | Matola |
| Tunis | 2,686,000 | 599,000 | 451 Kmē | Tunisia | At-Tadaman, Sukrah |
| Antananarivo | 2,673,000 | 1,274,000 | 181 Kmē | Madagascar | |
| Lomé | 2,572,000 | 1,350,000 | 414 Kmē | Togo | |
| Abuja | 2,420,000 | 1,236,000 | 927 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Harare | 2,353,000 | 1,492,000 | 834 Kmē | Zimbabwe | Chitungwiza, Epworth |
| Rabat | 1,982,000 | 509,000 | 189 Kmē | Morocco | Salé, Témara |
| Benin City | 1,905,000 | 1,125,000 | 482 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Kaduna | 1,880,000 | 1,647,000 | 300 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Cotonou | 1,863,000 | 679,000 | 215 Kmē | Benin | Godomey, Abomey-Calavi |
| Freetown | 1,836,000 | 1,319,000 | 184 Kmē | Sierra Leone | |
| N'Djamena | 1,769,000 | 1,769,000 | 220 Kmē | Chad | |
| Monrovia | 1,768,000 | 1,768,000 | 202 Kmē | Liberia | |
| Kigali | 1,620,000 | 1,517,000 | 490 Kmē | Rwanda | |
| Banjul | 1,556,000 | 31,100 | 319 Kmē | The Gambia | |
| Niamey | 1,492,000 | 1,492,000 | 135 Kmē | Niger | |
| Mombasa | 1,446,000 | 1,340,000 | 135 Kmē | Kenya | |
| Nouakchott | 1,444,000 | 1,325,000 | 174 Kmē | Mauritania | |
| Warri | 1,403,000 | 1,055,000 | 163 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Hargeisa | 1,401,000 | 741,000 | 65 Kmē | Somalia | |
| Kananga | 1,355,000 | 1,355,000 | 73 Kmē | Democratic Rep. of the Congo |
|
| Fčs | 1,329,000 | 1,233,000 | 91 Kmē | Morocco | |
| Ilorin | 1,321,000 | 1,233,000 | 254 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Port Elizabeth | 1,281,000 | 968,000 | 391 Kmē | South Africa | |
| Oran | 1,270,000 | 803,000 | 153 Kmē | Algeria | |
| Bangui | 1,264,000 | 812,000 | 145 Kmē | Central African Rep. | |
| Lubango | 1,247,000 | 601,000 | 218 Kmē | Angola | |
| Tripoli | 1,242,000 | 1,242,000 | 502 Kmē | Libya | |
| Tangier | 1,225,000 | 1,159,000 | 96 Kmē | Morocco | |
| Lilongwe | 1,200,000 | 1,200,000 | 251 Kmē | Malawi | |
| Maiduguri | 1,160,000 | 822,000 | 155 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Uyo | 1,152,000 | 848,000 | 181 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Enugu | 1,145,000 | 1,145,000 | 205 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Touba | 1.137.000 | 1.137.000 | 184 Kmē | Senegal | |
| Mwanza | 1,105,000 | 1,105,000 | 111 Kmē | Tanzania | |
| Aba | 1,084,000 | 1,084,000 | 91 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Sekondi-Takoradi | 1,058,000 | 245,000 | 98 Kmē | Ghana | |
| Bujumbura | 1,040,000 | 793,000 | 78 Kmē | Burundi | |
| Nsukka | 1,012,000 | 444,000 | 342 Kmē | Nigeria | |
| Agadir | 1,007,000 | 538,000 | 117 Kmē | Morocco | Aït Melloul |
| Tamale | 1,000,000 | 375,000 | 179 Kmē | Ghana |
* data on urban agglomerations updated to 2023 (estimates), those on population according to official data or more recent estimates of the national statistical services, when different from urban agglomerations.