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Cities · Kazakhstan · capital
Astana, 
Kazakhstan
1,065,387 people lived in Astana in 2025. It is the 481st largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 3rd largest in Kazakhstan, where it is the capital.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Astana governs, so it may be far from the number the city publishes about itself. How the UN measures a city.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Astana grew
Where Astana had 10 people in 1975, it had 45.4 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 1.1 million people in 2050. It passed a million people between 2015 and 2020.
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
Astana through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Astana in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Kazakhstan · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: every dot is one of the 34 cities in Kazakhstan in 2025, and a dot's area is how many people live there, the biggest being Almaty. The ringed dot in colour is Astana; 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, Astana covered 161 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 38 km² of it. That is 35 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 6 by 6 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 3.9 times its size, and its people are 4.5 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 Kazakhstan
Its share of Kazakhstan
Of every 100 people in Kazakhstan in 2025, 5 lived in Astana, which is 1.1 million people.
How to read this: 100 squares, one for every 100th person in Kazakhstan; the coloured squares live in Astana. 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
- 477 Zhangjiagang China1,068,192
- 478 Sofia Bulgaria1,067,136
- 479 Rostov-on-Don Russia1,065,880
- 480 Leeds United Kingdom1,065,607
- 481 Astana1,065,387
- 482 João Pessoa Brazil1,064,481
- 483 Honghuagang China1,062,992
- 484 Naha Japan1,060,017
- 485 Bangui Central African Republic1,056,949
In Kazakhstan, 2025
- 208 Almaty2,367,611
- 437 Shymkent1,184,337
- 481 Astana1,065,387
- 1351 Aktobe416,455
- 1831 Karaganda313,529
- 1850 Aktau310,607
- 1924 Semey298,847
- 2322 Kyzylorda250,557
- 3335 Taraz180,844
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 Astana 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 Astana 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