Topics
Gwoza, 
Nigeria
220,641 people lived in Gwoza in 2025. It is the 2679th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 98th largest in Nigeria.
This is the UN's built-up area, drawn from satellite pictures and census maps rather than from the city limits, and the two can be a long way apart. The rule behind it.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Gwoza grew
Where Gwoza had 10 people in 1975, it had 26.8 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 323,012 people in 2050. On the UN's projection it passes 250,000 people between 2030 and 2035.
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
Gwoza through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Gwoza in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Nigeria · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: every dot is one of the 457 cities in Nigeria in 2025, and a dot's area is how many people live there, the biggest being Lagos. The ringed dot in colour is Gwoza; 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, Gwoza covered 15 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 2.6 km² of it. That is 12 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 3 by 3 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 2.2 times its size, and its people are 2.7 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 Nigeria
Its share of Nigeria
Of every 1,000 people in Nigeria in 2025, 1 lived in Gwoza, which is 220,641 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares stand for everyone in Nigeria, one square for every 1,000th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Gwoza's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 2663 Mzuzu Malawi221,840
- 2670 Charlotte United States221,000
- 2674 Az Zubayr Iraq220,737
- 2675 Rustenburg South Africa220,723
- 2679 Gwoza220,641
- 2680 Chlef Algeria220,634
- 2693 Gagnoa Côte d’Ivoire219,607
- 2694 Dhampur India219,479
- 2706 Omuo-Obadore218,751
In Nigeria, 2025
- 2529 Biliri232,398
- 2531 Oke Iho232,348
- 2571 Jega228,584
- 2624 Ile Oluji224,781
- 2679 Gwoza220,641
- 2706 Omuo-Obadore218,751
- 2713 Okitipupa218,097
- 2789 Auchi212,634
- 2861 Uromi208,157
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 Gwoza 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 Gwoza 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