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Brighton, 
United Kingdom
467,937 people lived in Brighton in 2025. It is the 1188th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 14th largest in the United Kingdom.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Brighton 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 Brighton grew
Where Brighton had 10 people in 1975, it had 14 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 561,457 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
Brighton through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Brighton in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
United Kingdom · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Brighton is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of the United Kingdom in 2025, 150 in all, led by London, 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, Brighton covered 108 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 23 km² of it. That is 49 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 7 by 7 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown by 43%, and its people have grown by 40%.
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 the United Kingdom
Its share of the United Kingdom
Of every 1,000 people in the United Kingdom in 2025, 7 lived in Brighton, which is 467,937 people.
How to read this: shrink the United Kingdom to 1,000 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Brighton; 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
- 1184 Lüliang China469,647
- 1185 Tétouan Morocco469,642
- 1186 Kurnool India468,997
- 1187 Changge China468,159
- 1188 Brighton467,937
- 1189 Beilun District China467,912
- 1190 Yangquan China467,148
- 1191 Ryazan Russia466,086
- 1192 Ichalkaranji India465,814
In the United Kingdom, 2025
- 1001 Sheffield549,695
- 1046 Leicester530,264
- 1058 Edinburgh521,784
- 1137 Portsmouth488,385
- 1188 Brighton467,937
- 1262 Belfast441,925
- 1308 Coventry427,678
- 1455 Cardiff390,692
- 1473 Bournemouth386,557
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 Brighton 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 Brighton 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