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Burao, 
Somalia
427,013 people lived in Burao in 2025. It is the 1310th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 4th largest in Somalia.
This is the UN's built-up area, drawn from satellite pictures and census maps rather than from the city limits, and the two can be a long way apart. The rule behind it.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Burao grew
Where Burao had 10 people in 1975, it had 35.1 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 768,795 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 1995 and 2000.
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
Burao through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Burao in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Somalia · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: every dot is one of the 53 cities in Somalia in 2025, and a dot's area is how many people live there, the biggest being Mogadishu. The ringed dot in colour is Burao; 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, Burao covered 31 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 6.9 km² of it. That is 16 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 4 by 4 metres. Since 1985, its built-up land has grown to 5.8 times its size, and its people are 2 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 100 people in Somalia in 2025, 2 lived in Burao, which is 427,013 people.
How to read this: 100 squares stand for everyone in Somalia, one square for every 100th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Burao's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 1306 Samadon Egypt428,126
- 1307 Khansahib India428,041
- 1308 Coventry United Kingdom427,678
- 1309 Wiesbaden Germany427,270
- 1310 Burao427,013
- 1311 Hanchuan China426,922
- 1312 Orenburg Russia426,263
- 1313 Gresik Indonesia426,246
- 1314 Longquanyi China426,144
In Somalia, 2025
- 95 Mogadishu4,399,430
- 310 Hargeisa1,593,542
- 1207 Kismayo461,302
- 1310 Burao427,013
- 1339 Baidoa420,281
- 1571 Borama363,753
- 1823 Wanlaweyn314,824
- 1915 Merca299,906
- 1992 Beledweyne291,630
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 Burao 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 Burao 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