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Balikpapan, 
Indonesia
728,771 people lived in Balikpapan in 2025. It is the 736th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 28th largest in Indonesia.
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 Balikpapan'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 Balikpapan grew
For every 10 people in Balikpapan in 1975, there were 41.1 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 1.1 million people in 2050. On the UN's projection it passes a million people between 2040 and 2045.
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
Balikpapan through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Balikpapan in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Indonesia · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Balikpapan is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Indonesia in 2025, 389 in all, led by Jakarta, 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, Balikpapan covered 116 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 22 km² of it. That is 30 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 6 by 6 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown by 79%, and its people are 4.1 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 Indonesia
Its share of Indonesia
Of every 1,000 people in Indonesia in 2025, 3 lived in Balikpapan, which is 728,771 people.
How to read this: shrink Indonesia to 1,000 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Balikpapan; 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
- 732 Columbus United States731,335
- 733 Sahiwal Pakistan730,463
- 734 Lu'an China729,998
- 735 Tulungagung728,924
- 736 Balikpapan728,771
- 737 Zhumadian China727,923
- 738 Al Ahsa Saudi Arabia725,760
- 739 Suqian China725,070
- 740 Louhajang Bangladesh725,057
In Indonesia, 2025
- 528 Pekalongan978,519
- 557 Banjarmasin930,711
- 655 Pontianak808,759
- 735 Tulungagung728,924
- 736 Balikpapan728,771
- 751 Jepara714,514
- 810 Kudus671,940
- 844 Magelang640,707
- 850 Kuningan636,447
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 Balikpapan 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 Balikpapan 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