Topics
Durban, 
South Africa
3,177,927 people lived in Durban in 2025. It is the 153rd largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 3rd largest in South Africa.
Like every city on this site, Durban is counted as a built-up area seen from above rather than as a city government's territory. Why that changes the number.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Durban grew
Where Durban had 10 people in 1975, it had 55.8 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 3.2 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: 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
Durban through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Durban in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
South Africa · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: every dot is one of the 95 cities in South Africa in 2025, and a dot's area is how many people live there, the biggest being Johannesburg. The ringed dot in colour is Durban; the grey dots are the rest. The outlines around them are neighbouring countries.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, Durban covered 724 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 176 km² of it. That is 55 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 7 by 7 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 5.2 times its size, and its people are 5.6 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 South Africa
Its share of South Africa
Of every 100 people in South Africa in 2025, 5 lived in Durban, which is 3.2 million people.
How to read this: 100 squares, one for every 100th person in South Africa; the coloured squares live in Durban. The grey rest live in other cities, in towns or in the countryside.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 149 Fortaleza Brazil3,244,260
- 150 Kathmandu Nepal3,231,516
- 151 Kunming China3,228,117
- 152 Ouagadougou Burkina Faso3,206,222
- 153 Durban3,177,927
- 154 Maputo Mozambique3,166,328
- 155 San Francisco United States3,163,486
- 156 Kalyan-Dombivli India3,163,424
- 157 Guayaquil Ecuador3,157,825
In South Africa, 2025
- 50 Johannesburg7,077,175
- 93 Cape Town4,508,921
- 153 Durban3,177,927
- 273 Pretoria1,836,166
- 396 Klipgat1,300,816
- 398 Tembisa1,298,512
- 688 Evaton773,229
- 824 Gqeberha661,220
- 1056 Masetjhaba View522,402
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 Durban 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 Durban 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