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Bengkulu, 
Indonesia
378,066 people lived in Bengkulu in 2025. It is the 1501st largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 54th largest in Indonesia.
Like every city on this site, Bengkulu is counted as a built-up area seen from above rather than as a city government's territory. Why that changes the number.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Bengkulu grew
For every 10 people in Bengkulu in 1985, there were 46.2 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 367,765 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 1995 and 2000. The UN first counts it as a city in 1985, 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
Bengkulu through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Bengkulu in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Indonesia · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Bengkulu 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, Bengkulu covered 86 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 16 km² of it. That is 43 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 7 by 7 metres. Since 1985, its built-up land has grown by 94%, and its people are 4.6 times as many.
How to read this: pale is the whole of the city's land; the stronger square inside it is what is actually built on. The three are drawn to the same scale, so a larger square really is more land, and hatching means the year is the UN's projection rather than a count.
Of every 100 people in Indonesia
Its share of Indonesia
Of every 1,000 people in Indonesia in 2025, 1 lived in Bengkulu, which is 378,066 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares stand for everyone in Indonesia, one square for every 1,000th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Bengkulu's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 1497 Al-Asafra Egypt379,559
- 1498 Cumana Venezuela379,333
- 1499 Laiwu China379,135
- 1500 Lop Buri Thailand378,160
- 1501 Bengkulu378,066
- 1502 Tripoli Lebanon377,937
- 1503 Kralpora India377,602
- 1504 Matadi Democratic Republic of the Congo377,297
- 1505 Jizzakh Uzbekistan376,607
In Indonesia, 2025
- 1378 Nganjuk409,447
- 1383 Kendari408,731
- 1430 Madiun397,871
- 1460 Rangkasbitung389,934
- 1501 Bengkulu378,066
- 1510 Timika375,910
- 1638 Palu348,948
- 1665 Banda Aceh343,382
- 1706 Duri335,728
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 Bengkulu are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1985 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 Bengkulu 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