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Guatemala City, 
Guatemala
Ciudad de Guatemala
2,837,708 people lived in Guatemala City in 2025. It is the 175th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the largest in Guatemala, where it is the capital.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Guatemala City governs, so it may be far from the number the city publishes about itself. How the UN measures a city.
In its own language: Ciudad de Guatemala.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Guatemala City grew
Count 10 people in Guatemala City in 1975 and the same count gives 26.2 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 3.3 million people in 2050.
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
Guatemala City through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Guatemala City in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Guatemala · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Guatemala City is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Guatemala in 2025, 31 in all, 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, Guatemala City covered 458 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 105 km² of it. That is 37 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 6 by 6 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 2.3 times its size, and its people are 2.6 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 Guatemala
Its share of Guatemala
Of every 100 people in Guatemala in 2025, 15 lived in Guatemala City, which is 2.8 million people.
How to read this: 100 squares stand for everyone in Guatemala, one square for every 100th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Guatemala City's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 171 Fuzhou China2,910,985
- 172 Pyongyang North Korea2,901,588
- 173 Tamluk India2,894,484
- 174 Hyderabad Pakistan2,863,633
- 175 Guatemala City2,837,708
- 176 Lubumbashi Democratic Republic of the Congo2,832,853
- 177 Tasikmalaya Indonesia2,827,255
- 178 Dalian China2,796,248
- 179 Yogyakarta Indonesia2,793,747
In Guatemala, 2025
- 175 Guatemala City2,837,708
- 1995 Quetzaltenango291,105
- 2564 Cobán229,017
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 Guatemala City 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 Guatemala City 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