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Garoua, 
Cameroon
678,769 people lived in Garoua in 2025. It is the 797th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 3rd largest in Cameroon.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Garoua 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 Garoua grew
Count 10 people in Garoua in 1975 and the same count gives 43.4 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 947,023 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 1985 and 1990.
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
Garoua through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Garoua in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Cameroon · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Garoua is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Cameroon in 2025, 44 in all, led by Yaoundé, 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, Garoua covered 67 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 15 km² of it. That is 22 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 5 by 5 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 2.1 times its size, and its people are 4.3 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 Cameroon
Its share of Cameroon
Of every 100 people in Cameroon in 2025, 2 lived in Garoua, which is 678,769 people.
How to read this: shrink Cameroon to 100 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Garoua; 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
- 793 San Juan Puerto Rico681,030
- 794 Youyi China680,993
- 795 Jamnagar India680,589
- 796 Winnipeg Canada679,037
- 797 Garoua678,769
- 798 Kitwe Zambia678,749
- 799 Jingzhou China678,632
- 800 Ankang China678,483
- 801 Yamunanagar India677,536
In Cameroon, 2025
- 79 Yaoundé5,106,087
- 109 Douala4,104,516
- 797 Garoua678,769
- 1052 Maroua526,702
- 1442 Bamenda394,155
- 1658 Ngaoundéré345,148
- 1745 Kumba329,340
- 1789 Bafoussam321,489
- 2389 Kousseri244,247
How to read this: the figure in front of a name is where that city stands among the 12,138 cities the UN counted in 2025, and each bar is its people, on one scale per list. Numbers are missing where a city has fewer than 300,000 people and so has no page of its own.
Apparatus
Sources and method
The figures for Garoua 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 Garoua 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