Topics
Ahwaz, 
Iran
1,639,321 people lived in Ahwaz in 2025. It is the 297th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 5th largest in Iran.
The UN measures every city in the world the same way, by where the buildings are rather than where the boundary runs, so this figure and Ahwaz's own can differ widely. What counts as a city here.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Ahwaz grew
Where Ahwaz had 10 people in 1975, it had 37.7 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 1.8 million people in 2050. It passed a million people between 1995 and 2000.
projected (after 2025) · how sure the UN is: high moderate low
How to read this: each column is one of the UN's five-yearly estimates, 1975 through 2050, and taller means more people. Where a column is hatched the year has not happened yet. The strip under the columns is the UN's own confidence in each figure, palest where it is least sure; where it is blank the city was not on the list at all.
People · your family's years · 1975 to 2050
Ahwaz through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Ahwaz in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Iran · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: every dot is one of the 210 cities in Iran in 2025, and a dot's area is how many people live there, the biggest being Tehran. The ringed dot in colour is Ahwaz; the grey dots are the rest. The outlines around them are neighbouring countries.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, Ahwaz covered 229 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 52 km² of it. That is 31 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 6 by 6 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 3 times its size, and its people are 3.8 times as many.
How to read this: each pale square is the city's whole area, the strong square inside it the part that is built on; one scale for all three, so a bigger square is more land. Hatched is the UN's projection.
Of every 100 people in Iran
Its share of Iran
Of every 100 people in Iran in 2025, 2 lived in Ahwaz, which is 1.6 million people.
How to read this: 100 squares, one for every 100th person in Iran; the coloured squares live in Ahwaz. The grey rest live in other cities, in towns or in the countryside.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 293 Mosul Iraq1,665,214
- 294 Pointe-Noire Republic of the Congo1,662,537
- 295 Visakhapatnam India1,641,957
- 296 Boston United States1,639,797
- 297 Ahwaz1,639,321
- 298 Bareilly India1,635,214
- 299 Campinas Brazil1,631,432
- 300 Wuhu China1,631,043
- 301 Zibo China1,620,676
In Iran, 2025
- 38 Tehran9,174,964
- 75 Mashhad5,398,248
- 131 Karaj3,598,661
- 272 Isfahan1,844,409
- 297 Ahwaz1,639,321
- 393 Tabriz1,309,004
- 491 Sarvestan1,039,168
- 523 Kharameh983,056
- 566 Shiraz914,496
How to read this: the number before each name is its place among all 12,138 cities in the world in 2025; bars are people, on one scale per list. Only cities that reach 300,000 people have a page here, so a gap in the numbers is a smaller city.
Apparatus
Sources and method
The figures for Ahwaz are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1975 to 2025, then projection to 2050. Projected years are drawn hatched, and the UN publishes no range of uncertainty for a city. What a city means here, how the UN measures one, and why that number can differ from the one Ahwaz publishes about itself: how the figures here are put together.
Sources: UN WUP 2025 · Natural Earth · flag-icons. Every source, its licence and how to cite it →
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries