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Chiang Mai, 
Thailand
626,629 people lived in Chiang Mai in 2025. It is the 864th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 2nd largest in Thailand.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Chiang Mai 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 Chiang Mai grew
For every 10 people in Chiang Mai in 1990, there were 70.8 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 574,130 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 1995 and 2000. The UN first counts it as a city in 1990, when it passed 50,000 people.
projected (after 2025) · how sure the UN is: high moderate low
How to read this: read it left to right, 1975 to 2050, one column every five years, the height being people. Hatching marks the projected years. Below, a strip of the UN's confidence: strong colour where the census maps are recent and detailed, pale where they are not, blank where the place was not counted as a city.
People · your family's years · 1975 to 2050
Chiang Mai through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Chiang Mai in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Thailand · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Chiang Mai is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Thailand in 2025, 56 in all, led by Bangkok, 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, Chiang Mai covered 213 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 43 km² of it. That is 68 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 8 by 8 metres. Since 1990, its built-up land has grown to 4.6 times its size, and its people are 7.1 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 Thailand
Its share of Thailand
Of every 1,000 people in Thailand in 2025, 9 lived in Chiang Mai, which is 626,629 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares stand for everyone in Thailand, one square for every 1,000th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Chiang Mai's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 860 Benghazi Libya630,479
- 861 Seeb Oman630,072
- 862 Lokoja Nigeria629,547
- 863 Lviv Ukraine627,280
- 864 Chiang Mai626,629
- 865 Zagreb Croatia623,091
- 866 Pingxiang China623,055
- 867 Xiashan China622,080
- 868 Chiclayo Peru620,622
In Thailand, 2025
- 14 Bangkok18,180,280
- 864 Chiang Mai626,629
- 1387 Hat Yai407,059
- 1465 Phuket389,376
- 1500 Lop Buri378,160
- 1943 Chon Buri297,276
- 2527 Nakhon Pathom232,416
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 Chiang Mai are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1990 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 Chiang Mai 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