Topics
Berbera, 
Somalia
167,119 people lived in Berbera in 2025. It is the 3615th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 14th largest in Somalia.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Berbera 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 Berbera grew
Where Berbera had 10 people in 1995, it had 30 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 349,503 people in 2050. On the UN's projection it passes 250,000 people between 2035 and 2040. The UN first counts it as a city in 1995, 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
Berbera through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Berbera in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Somalia · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Somalia and its 53 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Mogadishu). Berbera is ringed, in colour; the other cities are grey. Neighbouring countries are outlines.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, Berbera covered 16 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 2.4 km² of it. That is 14 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 4 by 4 metres. Since 1995, its built-up land has grown to 2 times its size, and its people are 3 times as many.
How to read this: the outer pale square stands for all the land the city covers, and the solid square inside it for the part with buildings, roads and the like on it. All three squares share a scale, so you can compare them by eye. A hatched one is a year the UN has projected.
Of every 100 people in Somalia
Its share of Somalia
Of every 1,000 people in Somalia in 2025, 9 lived in Berbera, which is 167,119 people.
How to read this: shrink Somalia to 1,000 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Berbera; 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
- 3593 Mukubu Democratic Republic of the Congo168,033
- 3607 Gao Mali167,417
- 3611 Ulipur Bangladesh167,347
- 3613 Ngozi Burundi167,196
- 3615 Berbera167,119
- 3622 Battagram Pakistan166,956
- 3628 Unguwar Arewa Nigeria166,817
- 3631 Zalmat Hubaysh Yemen166,653
- 3652 Matta Pakistan165,993
In Somalia, 2025
- 1992 Beledweyne291,630
- 2273 Jowhar257,210
- 2528 Bosaso232,410
- 3241 Balcad186,328
- 3615 Berbera167,119
- 4305 Buulo Mareer141,522
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 Berbera are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1995 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 Berbera 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