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`Ar`ar, 
Saudi Arabia
208,320 people lived in `Ar`ar in 2025. It is the 2859th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 15th largest in Saudi Arabia.
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 `Ar`ar'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 `Ar`ar grew
Where `Ar`ar had 10 people in 1995, it had 33 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 307,499 people in 2050. On the UN's projection it passes 250,000 people between 2035 and 2040. The UN first counts it as a city in 1995, when it passed 50,000 people.
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
`Ar`ar through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in `Ar`ar in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Saudi Arabia · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Saudi Arabia and its 44 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Riyadh). `Ar`ar is ringed, in colour; the other cities are grey. Neighbouring countries are outlines.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, `Ar`ar covered 43 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 11 km² of it. That is 51 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 7 by 7 metres. Since 1995, its built-up land has grown to 3.1 times its size, and its people are 3.3 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 Saudi Arabia
Its share of Saudi Arabia
Of every 1,000 people in Saudi Arabia in 2025, 6 lived in `Ar`ar, which is 208,320 people.
How to read this: shrink Saudi Arabia to 1,000 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in `Ar`ar; 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
- 2844 Al Jahra Kuwait209,224
- 2845 Maner India209,055
- 2846 Madhuban India209,032
- 2857 Xai-Xai Mozambique208,703
- 2859 `Ar`ar208,320
- 2861 Uromi Nigeria208,157
- 2864 Kulaura Bangladesh208,075
- 2869 Mellit Sudan207,693
- 2875 Beni Mazar Egypt207,194
In Saudi Arabia, 2025
- 1895 Hafar Al-Batin302,534
- 2266 Zahrat Laban257,467
- 2393 Ash Sharai244,064
- 2479 Ha'il236,744
- 2859 `Ar`ar208,320
- 3025 Unaizah197,665
- 3079 Buraydah195,152
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 `Ar`ar are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1995 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 `Ar`ar 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