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El Oued, 
Algeria
265,408 people lived in El Oued in 2025. It is the 2197th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 13th largest in Algeria.
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.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How El Oued grew
For every 10 people in El Oued in 1985, there were 39.9 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 311,925 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2015 and 2020. The UN first counts it as a city in 1985, when it passed 50,000 people.
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
El Oued through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in El Oued in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Algeria · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Algeria and its 109 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Algiers). El Oued 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, El Oued covered 51 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 14 km² of it. That is 54 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 7 by 7 metres. Since 1985, its built-up land has grown to 4.9 times its size, and its people are 4 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 Algeria
Its share of Algeria
Of every 1,000 people in Algeria in 2025, 6 lived in El Oued, which is 265,408 people.
How to read this: shrink Algeria to 1,000 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in El Oued; 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
- 2189 Bijnor India266,240
- 2192 Porlamar Venezuela265,905
- 2195 Nazareth Israel265,611
- 2196 Kaithal India265,502
- 2197 El Oued265,408
- 2200 Jining China265,293
- 2203 Nautan India264,437
- 2204 Shikohabad India264,322
- 2205 Tima Egypt264,280
In Algeria, 2025
- 1636 Setif349,825
- 1898 Tlemcen301,980
- 1912 Biskra300,313
- 2109 Koléa274,748
- 2197 El Oued265,408
- 2235 Sidi Bel Abbes261,103
- 2288 Skikda255,379
- 2313 Tiaret251,576
- 2680 Chlef220,634
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 El Oued are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1985 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 El Oued 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