Topics
Berlin, 
Germany
3,560,908 people lived in Berlin in 2025. It is the 132nd largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the largest in Germany, where it is the capital.
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 Berlin'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 Berlin grew
Count 10 people in Berlin in 1975 and the same count gives 11.8 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 3.4 million people in 2050.
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
Berlin through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Berlin in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Germany · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Germany and its 100 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people. Berlin 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, Berlin covered 686 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 163 km² of it. That is 46 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 7 by 7 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown by 46%, and its people have grown by 18%.
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 Germany
Its share of Germany
Of every 100 people in Germany in 2025, 4 lived in Berlin, which is 3.6 million people.
How to read this: shrink Germany to 100 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Berlin; 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
- 128 Qingdao China3,616,657
- 129 Ankara Türkiye3,612,251
- 130 Kasaï-Oriental Democratic Republic of the Congo3,605,738
- 131 Karaj Iran3,598,661
- 132 Berlin3,560,908
- 133 Savar Bangladesh3,557,381
- 134 Peshawar Pakistan3,554,423
- 135 Lusaka Zambia3,510,723
- 136 Indore India3,476,423
In Germany, 2025
- 132 Berlin3,560,908
- 183 Essen2,717,087
- 275 Munich1,815,022
- 280 Hamburg1,759,377
- 459 Cologne1,125,292
- 570 Dusseldorf907,386
- 573 Frankfurt900,483
- 576 Stuttgart899,103
- 708 Bonn756,044
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 Berlin 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 Berlin 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