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Chingola, 
Zambia
294,193 people lived in Chingola in 2025. It is the 1976th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 5th largest in Zambia.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Chingola 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 Chingola grew
For every 10 people in Chingola in 1985, there were 30.7 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 414,190 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2020 and 2025. The UN first counts it as a city in 1985, 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
Chingola through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Chingola in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Zambia · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Zambia and its 33 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Lusaka). Chingola 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, Chingola covered 64 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 16 km² of it. That is 53 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 7 by 7 metres. Since 1985, its built-up land has grown by 68%, and its people are 3.1 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 Zambia
Its share of Zambia
Of every 100 people in Zambia in 2025, 1 lived in Chingola, which is 294,193 people.
How to read this: shrink Zambia to 100 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Chingola; 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
- 1972 Simferopol Ukraine294,735
- 1973 Kasumbalesa Democratic Republic of the Congo294,623
- 1974 Misrata Libya294,401
- 1975 Lichinga Mozambique294,317
- 1976 Chingola294,193
- 1977 Matala Angola294,087
- 1978 Chhindwara India293,950
- 1979 Anlu China293,857
- 1980 Shahrisabz Uzbekistan293,849
In Zambia, 2025
- 135 Lusaka3,510,723
- 798 Kitwe678,749
- 1034 Ndola535,108
- 1710 Mansa335,503
- 1976 Chingola294,193
- 2177 Kabwe267,618
- 2517 Kasama233,587
- 2926 Livingstone203,972
- 4302 Kapiri Mposhi141,802
How to read this: the figure in front of a name is where that city stands among the 12,138 cities the UN counted in 2025, and each bar is its people, on one scale per list. Numbers are missing where a city has fewer than 300,000 people and so has no page of its own.
Apparatus
Sources and method
The figures for Chingola are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1985 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 Chingola 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