Topics
Ardabil, 
Iran
437,757 people lived in Ardabil in 2025. It is the 1274th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 19th largest in Iran.
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 Ardabil grew
For every 10 people in Ardabil in 1975, there were 29 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 489,308 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
Ardabil through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Ardabil 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 Ardabil; 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, Ardabil covered 75 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 18 km² of it. That is 42 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 6 by 6 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 3.5 times its size, and its people are 2.9 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 1,000 people in Iran in 2025, 5 lived in Ardabil, which is 437,757 people.
How to read this: shrink Iran to 1,000 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Ardabil; 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
- 1270 Dindigul India438,809
- 1271 Quelimane Mozambique438,554
- 1272 Buenaventura Colombia438,063
- 1273 Tây Ninh Vietnam437,816
- 1274 Ardabil437,757
- 1275 Matsuyama Japan437,355
- 1276 Titi Nigeria436,744
- 1277 Geneva Switzerland436,587
- 1278 Kaliningrad Russia436,555
In Iran, 2025
- 1043 Zahedan531,482
- 1073 Kerman517,216
- 1109 Hamedan498,337
- 1141 Yazd485,381
- 1274 Ardabil437,757
- 1359 Sareyn413,772
- 1467 Pishva388,154
- 1492 Bandar Abbas381,008
- 1539 Zanjan370,993
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 Ardabil 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 Ardabil 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