Topics
Guilin, 
China
973,970 people lived in Guilin in 2025. It is the 531st largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 78th largest in China.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Guilin 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 Guilin grew
For every 10 people in Guilin in 1975, there were 17.9 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 869,245 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
Guilin through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Guilin in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
China · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: China and its 2,082 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Shanghai). Guilin 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, Guilin covered 167 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 36 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 3.3 times its size, and its people have grown by 79%.
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 China
Its share of China
Of every 1,000 people in China in 2025, 1 lived in Guilin, which is 973,970 people.
How to read this: shrink China to 1,000 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Guilin; 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
- 527 Zhuzhou979,244
- 528 Pekalongan Indonesia978,519
- 529 Arequipa Peru977,496
- 530 Omsk Russia975,485
- 531 Guilin973,970
- 532 Malanje Angola973,086
- 533 Glasgow United Kingdom970,320
- 534 Baoding970,162
- 535 Duhok Iraq969,701
In China, 2025
- 518 Shiyan992,165
- 520 Shunqing990,466
- 522 Linyi987,615
- 527 Zhuzhou979,244
- 531 Guilin973,970
- 534 Baoding970,162
- 536 Xiangyang969,011
- 537 Fushan968,359
- 553 Linfen945,174
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 Guilin 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 Guilin 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