Topics
Cali, 
Colombia
2,700,232 people lived in Cali in 2025. It is the 184th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 3rd largest in Colombia.
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 Cali grew
For every 10 people in Cali in 1975, there were 23.5 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 2.8 million 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
Cali through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Cali in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Colombia · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: every dot is one of the 81 cities in Colombia in 2025, and a dot's area is how many people live there, the biggest being Bogotá. The ringed dot in colour is Cali; 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, Cali covered 188 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 54 km² of it. That is 20 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 4 by 4 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown by 71%, and its people are 2.3 times as many.
How to read this: pale is the whole of the city's land; the stronger square inside it is what is actually built on. The three are drawn to the same scale, so a larger square really is more land, and hatching means the year is the UN's projection rather than a count.
Of every 100 people in Colombia
Its share of Colombia
Of every 100 people in Colombia in 2025, 5 lived in Cali, which is 2.7 million people.
How to read this: 100 squares, one for every 100th person in Colombia; the coloured squares live in Cali. 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
- 180 Agra India2,786,762
- 181 Naples Italy2,767,923
- 182 Conacry Guinea2,727,684
- 183 Essen Germany2,717,087
- 184 Cali2,700,232
- 185 Guiyang China2,686,949
- 186 Semarang Indonesia2,679,349
- 187 Montreal Canada2,668,723
- 188 Izmir Türkiye2,650,237
In Colombia, 2025
- 31 Bogotá10,624,315
- 139 Medellín3,350,384
- 184 Cali2,700,232
- 228 Barranquilla2,208,021
- 510 Cartagena1,008,584
- 555 Bucaramanga939,291
- 617 Cúcuta848,408
- 902 Pereira602,831
- 954 Valledupar574,824
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 Cali 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 Cali 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