Topics
Geneva, 
Switzerland
436,587 people lived in Geneva in 2025. It is the 1277th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 2nd largest in Switzerland.
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 Geneva'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 Geneva grew
For every 10 people in Geneva in 1975, there were 19.8 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 452,921 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 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
Geneva through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Geneva in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Switzerland · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: every dot is one of the 17 cities in Switzerland in 2025, and a dot's area is how many people live there, the biggest being Zurich. The ringed dot in colour is Geneva; 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, Geneva covered 79 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 17 km² of it. That is 38 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 6 by 6 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 2.2 times its size, and its people are 2 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 Switzerland
Its share of Switzerland
Of every 100 people in Switzerland in 2025, 5 lived in Geneva, which is 436,587 people.
How to read this: shrink Switzerland to 100 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Geneva; 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
- 1273 Tây Ninh Vietnam437,816
- 1274 Ardabil Iran437,757
- 1275 Matsuyama Japan437,355
- 1276 Titi Nigeria436,744
- 1277 Geneva436,587
- 1278 Kaliningrad Russia436,555
- 1279 Cuddalore India436,495
- 1280 Chiayi Taiwan436,393
- 1281 Oron Nigeria436,247
In Switzerland, 2025
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 Geneva 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 Geneva 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