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Bratislava, 
Slovakia
288,533 people lived in Bratislava in 2025. It is the 2020th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the largest in Slovakia, where it is the capital.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Bratislava 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 Bratislava grew
Where Bratislava had 10 people in 1975, it had 9.5 in 2025, fewer than it started with.
On the UN's projection it will have 270,737 people in 2050.
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
Bratislava through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Bratislava in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Slovakia · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: every dot is one of the 7 cities in Slovakia in 2025, and a dot's area is how many people live there. The ringed dot in colour is Bratislava; the grey dots are the rest. The outlines around them are neighbouring countries.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, Bratislava covered 72 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 17 km² of it. That is 60 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 8 by 8 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown by 35%, and its people have fallen by 5%.
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 Slovakia
Its share of Slovakia
Of every 100 people in Slovakia in 2025, 5 lived in Bratislava, which is 288,533 people.
How to read this: shrink Slovakia to 100 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Bratislava; 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
- 2013 Mayiladuthurai India288,923
- 2017 Huilai China288,590
- 2018 Weinan China288,582
- 2019 Nag Hammadi Egypt288,576
- 2020 Bratislava288,533
- 2021 Bhiwani India288,360
- 2025 Timergara Pakistan287,866
- 2026 Manta Ecuador287,756
- 2027 Vinh Long Vietnam287,685
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 Bratislava 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 Bratislava 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