Topics
Cairo, 
Egypt
Al-Qahirah
25,566,102 people lived in Cairo in 2025. It is the 7th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the largest in Egypt, where it is the capital.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Cairo governs, so it may be far from the number the city publishes about itself. How the UN measures a city.
In its own language: Al-Qahirah.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Cairo grew
Count 10 people in Cairo in 1975 and the same count gives 34.4 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 32.4 million people in 2050. It passed ten million people between 1985 and 1990.
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
Cairo through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Cairo in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Egypt · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Egypt and its 219 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people. Cairo 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, Cairo covered 1,645 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 385 km² of it. That is 15 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 4 by 4 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 3 times its size, and its people are 3.4 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 Egypt
Its share of Egypt
Of every 100 people in Egypt in 2025, 22 lived in Cairo, which is 25.6 million people.
How to read this: shrink Egypt to 100 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Cairo; 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
- 3 Tokyo Japan33,412,512
- 4 New Delhi India30,222,405
- 5 Shanghai China29,558,908
- 6 Guangzhou China27,563,372
- 7 Cairo25,566,102
- 8 Manila Philippines24,735,305
- 9 Kolkata India22,549,738
- 10 Seoul South Korea22,490,482
- 11 Karachi Pakistan21,422,590
In Egypt, 2025
- 7 Cairo25,566,102
- 48 Alexandria7,266,957
- 104 Luxor4,188,023
- 239 Banha2,088,520
- 285 El Mansura1,712,781
- 356 Al Zaqaziq1,416,734
- 357 Asyut1,406,963
- 442 El Mahalla El Kubra1,156,501
- 461 Suhaj1,123,349
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 Cairo 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 Cairo 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