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Dire Dawa, 
Ethiopia
483,674 people lived in Dire Dawa in 2025. It is the 1146th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 4th largest in Ethiopia.
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 Dire Dawa'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 Dire Dawa grew
For every 10 people in Dire Dawa in 1975, there were 35.1 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 706,304 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 1990 and 1995.
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
Dire Dawa through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Dire Dawa in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Ethiopia · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Dire Dawa is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Ethiopia in 2025, 259 in all, led by Addis Ababa, 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, Dire Dawa covered 38 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 8.8 km² of it. That is 18 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 3.5 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 Ethiopia
Its share of Ethiopia
Of every 1,000 people in Ethiopia in 2025, 4 lived in Dire Dawa, which is 483,674 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares stand for everyone in Ethiopia, one square for every 1,000th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Dire Dawa's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 1142 Enshi China485,222
- 1143 Haifa Israel484,770
- 1144 Cooch Behar India484,313
- 1145 Kagoshima Japan484,164
- 1146 Dire Dawa483,674
- 1147 Huzhou China483,361
- 1148 Yar Hussain Pakistan483,239
- 1149 Cuenca Ecuador482,272
- 1150 Tahta Egypt482,194
In Ethiopia, 2025
- 59 Addis Ababa6,705,705
- 937 Adama584,854
- 1107 Bahir Dar498,735
- 1146 Dire Dawa483,674
- 1230 Shashamane452,945
- 1250 Hawassa444,909
- 1257 Bishoftu442,776
- 1327 Jijiga422,225
- 1448 Gonder392,767
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 Dire Dawa 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 Dire Dawa 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