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Buea, 
Cameroon
222,996 people lived in Buea in 2025. It is the 2649th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 12th largest in Cameroon.
Like every city on this site, Buea 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 Buea grew
For every 10 people in Buea in 1995, there were 27.6 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 510,955 people in 2050. On the UN's projection it passes 250,000 people between 2025 and 2030. 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: 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
Buea through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Buea in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Cameroon · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Cameroon and its 44 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Yaoundé). Buea 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, Buea covered 42 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 8.5 km² of it. That is 38 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 6 by 6 metres. Since 1995, its built-up land has grown to 2.7 times its size, and its people are 2.8 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 Cameroon
Its share of Cameroon
Of every 1,000 people in Cameroon in 2025, 7 lived in Buea, which is 222,996 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares, one for every 1,000th person in Cameroon; the coloured squares live in Buea. The grey rest live in other cities, in towns or in the countryside.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 2639 Habiganj Bangladesh223,874
- 2641 Songea Tanzania223,567
- 2647 Mongo Chad223,205
- 2648 Ahmedpur East Pakistan223,056
- 2649 Buea222,996
- 2652 Sambrial Pakistan222,828
- 2657 Toba Tek Singh Pakistan222,349
- 2661 Hossana Ethiopia221,895
- 2662 Sahebganj India221,858
In Cameroon, 2025
- 1789 Bafoussam321,489
- 2389 Kousseri244,247
- 2491 Bertoua235,399
- 2519 Limbe233,212
- 2649 Buea222,996
- 3154 Mokolo190,418
- 3214 Guider187,887
- 3422 Nkongsamba176,511
- 3495 Ebolowa173,565
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 Buea 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 Buea 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