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Gwangju, 
South Korea
1,441,495 people lived in Gwangju in 2025. It is the 351st largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 5th largest in South Korea.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Gwangju 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 Gwangju grew
Count 10 people in Gwangju in 1975 and the same count gives 26.4 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 1.3 million people in 2050. It passed a million 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
Gwangju through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Gwangju in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
South Korea · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Gwangju is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of South Korea in 2025, 49 in all, led by Seoul, 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, Gwangju covered 190 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 50 km² of it. That is 35 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 6 by 6 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 3.6 times its size, and its people are 2.6 times as many.
How to read this: pale is the whole of the city's land; the stronger square inside it is what is actually built on. The three are drawn to the same scale, so a larger square really is more land, and hatching means the year is the UN's projection rather than a count.
Of every 100 people in South Korea
Its share of South Korea
Of every 100 people in South Korea in 2025, 3 lived in Gwangju, which is 1.4 million people.
How to read this: 100 squares stand for everyone in South Korea, one square for every 100th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Gwangju's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 347 Xiuying District China1,458,377
- 348 Mombasa Kenya1,456,207
- 349 Jilin City China1,448,955
- 350 Angeles Philippines1,445,721
- 351 Gwangju1,441,495
- 352 Dushanbe Tajikistan1,440,787
- 353 Valencia Venezuela1,435,894
- 354 Medina Saudi Arabia1,432,287
- 355 Aba Nigeria1,428,069
In South Korea, 2025
- 10 Seoul22,490,482
- 146 Busan3,263,221
- 213 Daegu2,334,446
- 331 Daejeon1,517,299
- 351 Gwangju1,441,495
- 588 Ulsan881,858
- 780 Cheongju-si690,333
- 814 Changwon665,772
- 848 Jeonju637,082
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 Gwangju 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 Gwangju 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