Topics
Damascus, 
Syria
Dimashq
4,287,746 people lived in Damascus in 2025. It is the 99th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the largest in Syria, where it is the capital.
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.
In its own language: Dimashq.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Damascus grew
Count 10 people in Damascus in 1975 and the same count gives 35.7 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 6.3 million people in 2050. On the UN's projection it passes five million people between 2030 and 2035.
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
Damascus through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Damascus in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Syria · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Damascus is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Syria in 2025, 37 in all, 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, Damascus covered 370 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 86 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 to 3.2 times its size, and its people are 3.6 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 Syria
Its share of Syria
Of every 100 people in Syria in 2025, 17 lived in Damascus, which is 4.3 million people.
How to read this: 100 squares stand for everyone in Syria, one square for every 100th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Damascus's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 95 Mogadishu Somalia4,399,430
- 96 Harbin China4,376,259
- 97 Kanpur India4,329,973
- 98 Kumasi Ghana4,297,984
- 99 Damascus4,287,746
- 100 Jeddah Saudi Arabia4,284,080
- 101 Kuwait City Kuwait4,265,132
- 102 Medan Indonesia4,245,895
- 103 Bamako Mali4,244,881
In Syria, 2025
- 99 Damascus4,287,746
- 168 Aleppo2,922,277
- 554 Homs940,460
- 920 Latakia591,300
- 1520 Hama374,643
- 2010 Qamishli289,200
- 2246 Deir Ez Zor259,771
- 2471 Raqqa237,106
- 2494 Al-Hasakah235,085
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 Damascus 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 Damascus 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