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Al-Ubayyid, 
Sudan
659,964 people lived in Al-Ubayyid in 2025. It is the 826th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 4th largest in Sudan.
This is the UN's built-up area, drawn from satellite pictures and census maps rather than from the city limits, and the two can be a long way apart. The rule behind it.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Al-Ubayyid grew
Count 10 people in Al-Ubayyid in 1975 and the same count gives 36.3 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 805,516 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 1980 and 1985.
projected (after 2025) · how sure the UN is: high moderate low
How to read this: one column every five years, 1975 to 2050; its height is the number of people. Hatched columns are the UN's projection. The thin strip beneath says how sure the UN is of each figure: the stronger the colour, the surer. A blank means the place was not on the UN's list of cities that year.
People · your family's years · 1975 to 2050
Al-Ubayyid through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Al-Ubayyid in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Sudan · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Al-Ubayyid is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Sudan in 2025, 105 in all, led by Khartoum, each drawn with an area that matches its people. Countries next door are outlines only.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, Al-Ubayyid covered 85 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 26 km² of it. That is 40 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 6 by 6 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 6.6 times its size, and its people are 3.6 times as many.
How to read this: pale is the whole of the city's land; the stronger square inside it is what is actually built on. The three are drawn to the same scale, so a larger square really is more land, and hatching means the year is the UN's projection rather than a count.
Of every 100 people in Sudan
Its share of Sudan
Of every 100 people in Sudan in 2025, 1 lived in Al-Ubayyid, which is 659,964 people.
How to read this: shrink Sudan to 100 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Al-Ubayyid; the grey ones are everybody else, in other cities, in towns and out in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 822 Jhansi India662,059
- 823 Bogura Bangladesh661,378
- 824 Gqeberha South Africa661,220
- 825 Diyarbakir Türkiye660,826
- 826 Al-Ubayyid659,964
- 827 Siliguri India658,183
- 828 Bacolod Philippines655,836
- 829 Volgograd Russia655,020
- 830 Tamale Ghana654,868
In Sudan, 2025
- 56 Khartoum6,809,355
- 548 Nyala950,803
- 775 Kebkabiya694,415
- 826 Al-Ubayyid659,964
- 855 Al-Fashir633,077
- 944 Ad Da'ein581,730
- 1030 Buram537,169
- 1074 Port Sudan517,023
- 1140 Timerein486,586
How to read this: names are in order of size, the leading number being each city's rank among all 12,138 in 2025; the bars share a scale within a list. A jump in the ranks means a city under 300,000 people, which is not given a page here.
Apparatus
Sources and method
The figures for Al-Ubayyid 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 Al-Ubayyid 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