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Bannu, 
Pakistan
620,328 people lived in Bannu in 2025. It is the 869th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 23rd largest in Pakistan.
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 Bannu grew
Count 10 people in Bannu in 1975 and the same count gives 62.1 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 1.2 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
Bannu through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Bannu in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Pakistan · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Bannu is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Pakistan in 2025, 323 in all, led by Karachi, 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, Bannu covered 138 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 17 km² of it. That is 27 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 5 by 5 metres. Since 1980, its built-up land has grown to 15.4 times its size, and its people are 4.6 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 Pakistan
Its share of Pakistan
Of every 1,000 people in Pakistan in 2025, 2 lived in Bannu, which is 620,328 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares stand for everyone in Pakistan, one square for every 1,000th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Bannu's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 865 Zagreb Croatia623,091
- 866 Pingxiang China623,055
- 867 Xiashan China622,080
- 868 Chiclayo Peru620,622
- 869 Bannu620,328
- 870 Hengshui China618,465
- 871 Larkana618,408
- 872 Malegaon India618,133
- 873 West Palm Beach United States617,035
In Pakistan, 2025
- 706 Taxila757,451
- 733 Sahiwal730,463
- 777 Rahim Yar Khan693,373
- 787 Okara683,747
- 869 Bannu620,328
- 871 Larkana618,408
- 890 Kasur609,468
- 956 Dera Ghazi Khan572,505
- 959 Jhang571,359
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 Bannu 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 Bannu 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