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Dhanbad, 
India
2,020,181 people lived in Dhanbad in 2025. It is the 245th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 36th largest in India.
The UN measures every city in the world the same way, by where the buildings are rather than where the boundary runs, so this figure and Dhanbad's own can differ widely. What counts as a city here.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Dhanbad grew
For every 10 people in Dhanbad in 1975, there were 22.8 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 2.2 million people in 2050. It passed a million people between 1980 and 1985.
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
Dhanbad through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Dhanbad in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
India · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: India and its 2,054 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is New Delhi). Dhanbad 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, Dhanbad covered 262 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 34 km² of it. That is 17 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 4 by 4 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 2.4 times its size, and its people are 2.3 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 India
Its share of India
Of every 1,000 people in India in 2025, 1 lived in Dhanbad, which is 2.0 million people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares stand for everyone in India, one square for every 1,000th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Dhanbad's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 241 Basra Iraq2,033,553
- 242 Vienna Austria2,031,326
- 243 Maracaibo Venezuela2,030,633
- 244 La Paz Bolivia2,024,413
- 245 Dhanbad2,020,181
- 246 Mehsi2,018,610
- 247 Nashik1,996,763
- 248 Hohhot China1,993,292
- 249 Santa Cruz de la Sierra Bolivia1,980,432
In India, 2025
- 219 Vadodara2,270,298
- 224 Ludhiana2,245,106
- 227 Meerut2,209,886
- 236 Madurai2,138,746
- 245 Dhanbad2,020,181
- 246 Mehsi2,018,610
- 247 Nashik1,996,763
- 253 Jamshedpur1,956,840
- 264 Bibhutpur1,904,411
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 Dhanbad 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 Dhanbad 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