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Dessie, 
Ethiopia
306,979 people lived in Dessie in 2025. It is the 1876th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 12th largest in Ethiopia.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Dessie 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 Dessie grew
For every 10 people in Dessie in 1975, there were 30.4 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 454,120 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2010 and 2015.
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
Dessie through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Dessie in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Ethiopia · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Ethiopia and its 259 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Addis Ababa). Dessie 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, Dessie covered 28 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 5.8 km² of it. That is 19 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 4 by 4 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 4.5 times its size, and its people are 3 times as many.
How to read this: each pale square is the city's whole area, the strong square inside it the part that is built on; one scale for all three, so a bigger square is more land. Hatched is the UN's projection.
Of every 100 people in Ethiopia
Its share of Ethiopia
Of every 1,000 people in Ethiopia in 2025, 2 lived in Dessie, which is 306,979 people.
How to read this: shrink Ethiopia to 1,000 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Dessie; 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
- 1872 Jinshan China307,246
- 1873 Damoh India307,218
- 1874 Ughelli Nigeria307,005
- 1875 Juliaca Peru306,990
- 1876 Dessie306,979
- 1877 Wakefield United Kingdom306,684
- 1878 Bankura India306,650
- 1879 Cenxi China306,146
- 1880 Golapganj Bangladesh306,017
In Ethiopia, 2025
- 1327 Jijiga422,225
- 1448 Gonder392,767
- 1583 Dilla360,925
- 1698 Jimma336,448
- 1876 Dessie306,979
- 1881 Mek'elē305,037
- 2012 Kombolcha288,941
- 2185 Bule Hora267,051
- 2209 Arsi Negelle264,039
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 Dessie 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 Dessie 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